(ז) וַיִּיצֶר֩ יְהוָ֨ה אֱלֹהִ֜ים אֶת־הָֽאָדָ֗ם עָפָר֙ מִן־הָ֣אֲדָמָ֔ה וַיִּפַּ֥ח בְּאַפָּ֖יו נִשְׁמַ֣ת חַיִּ֑ים וַֽיְהִ֥י הָֽאָדָ֖ם לְנֶ֥פֶשׁ חַיָּֽה׃
(7) God formed Adam from the dust of the earth. God blew into his nostrils the breath of life, and Adam became a living being.
Radak on Genesis 2:7
וייצר - the word is written with two letters י as is appropriate. We find this fact commented on allegorically in Bereshit Rabbah (14,2) where it is suggested that these two letters י allude to a human being’s basic urges, contradictory tendencies…
וייצר - the word is written with two letters י as is appropriate. We find this fact commented on allegorically in Bereshit Rabbah (14,2) where it is suggested that these two letters י allude to a human being’s basic urges, contradictory tendencies…
יתבו תלתא יומא בתעניתא בעו רחמי נפל להו פיתקא מרקיעא דהוה כתיב בה אמת אמר רבי חנינא שמע מינה חותמו של הקדוש ברוך הוא אמת נפק כגוריא דנורא מבית קדשי הקדשים אמר להו נביא לישראל היינו יצרא דע"ז בהדי דקתפסי ליה אישתמיט ביניתא מיניה ואזל קליה בארבע מאה פרסי אמרו היכי ניעבד דילמא משמיא מרחמי עליה א"ל נביא שדיוהו בדודא דאברא וכסיוה באברא דשייף קליה דכתיב (זכריה ה, ח) ויאמר זאת הרשעה וישלך אותה אל תוך האיפה וישלך את האבן העופרת אל פיה אמרי הואיל ועת רצון הוא ניבעי רחמי איצרא דעבירה בעו רחמי אימסר בידייהו חבשוהו תלתא יומי איבעו ביעתא בת יומא לחולה ולא אשכחו אמרו היכי נעביד ניבעי פלגא פלגא מרקיעא לא יהבי כחלינהו לעיניה אהני ביה דלא איגרי איניש בקרובתיה
The Gemara continues to relate the story of the prayer in the days of Nehemiah: The people fasted for three days and prayed for mercy. In response to their prayer a note fell for them from the heavens in which was written: Truth, indicating that God accepted their request. The Gemara makes a parenthetical observation. Rabbi Ḥanina says: Conclude from it that the seal of the Holy One, Blessed be He, is truth. The form of a fiery lion cub came forth from the chamber of the Holy of Holies. Zechariah, the prophet, said to the Jewish people: This is the evil inclination for idol worship. When they caught hold of it one of its hairs fell out, and it let out a shriek of pain that was heard for four hundred parasangs [parsei]. They said: What should we do to kill it? Perhaps Heaven will have mercy upon it if we attempt to kill it, as it will certainly scream even more. The prophet said to them: Throw it into a container made of lead and cover it with lead, as lead absorbs sound. As it is written: “And he said: This is the evil one. And he cast it down into the midst of the measure, and he cast a stone of lead upon its opening” (Zechariah 5:8). They followed this advice and were freed of the evil inclination for idol worship. When they saw that the evil inclination for idol worship was delivered into their hands as they requested, the Sages said: Since it is an auspicious time, let us pray for mercy concerning the evil inclination for sin concerning sexual matters. They prayed for mercy, and it was also delivered into their hands. The Sages imprisoned it for three days. At that time, people searched for a one-day-old fresh egg for the sick but could not find one. Since the inclination to reproduce was quashed, the chickens stopped laying eggs. They said: What should we do? If we pray for half, i.e., that only half its power be annulled, nothing will be achieved, because Heaven does not grant half gifts, only whole gifts. What did they do? They gouged out its eyes, and this was effective in limiting it to the extent that a person is no longer aroused to commit incest with his close relatives.
(ז) רַבִּי נַחְמָן בַּר שְׁמוּאֵל בַּר נַחְמָן בְּשֵׁם רַב שְׁמוּאֵל בַּר נַחְמָן אָמַר, הִנֵּה טוֹב מְאֹד, זֶה יֵצֶר טוֹב. וְהִנֵּה טוֹב מְאֹד, זֶה יֵצֶר רָע. וְכִי יֵצֶר הָרָע טוֹב מְאֹד, אֶתְמְהָא. אֶלָּא שֶׁאִלּוּלֵי יֵצֶר הָרָע לֹא בָּנָה אָדָם בַּיִת, וְלֹא נָשָׂא אִשָּׁה, וְלֹא הוֹלִיד, וְלֹא נָשָׂא וְנָתַן. וְכֵן שְׁלֹמֹה אוֹמֵר (קהלת ד, ד): כִּי הִיא קִנְאַת אִישׁ מֵרֵעֵהוּ.
(7) Rabbi Nahman said in Rabbi Samuel's name: 'Behold, it was good' refers to the Good Desire; 'And behold, it was very good' refers to the Evil Desire. (It only says 'very good' after man was created with both the good and bad inclinations, in all other cases it only says 'and God saw that it was good') Can then the Evil Desire be very good? That would be extraordinary! But without the Evil Desire, however, no man would build a house, take a wife and beget children; and thus said Solomon: 'Again, I considered all labour and all excelling in work, that it is a man's rivalry with his neighbor.' (Ecclesiastes 4:4).
Mishneh Torah, Hilchot De'ot 1
All human beings are characterized by many traits which differ from each other profoundly. One man is hot-tempered, constantly angry; another is self-possessed and never angry, or only slightly and rarely so. One man is excessively proud; another is excessively meek. One man indulges in appetites without being sufficiently gratified; another is pure of heart and does not crave even the few essentials that the body requires. One man is so greedy that all the money in the world would not satisfy him, as it is written: "A lover of money will never be satisfied with money" (Ecclesiastes 5:9); another, contented with very little, curtails his desires and does not strive to obtain all that he really needs. One man starves himself while hoarding up wealth, and does not enjoy anything for which he has to pay the least amount; another recklessly squanders all he has. And so it is with all human dispositions, such as hilarity and gloom, stinginess and generosity, cruelty and compassion, cowardice and courage.
And there are between each and every extreme tendency of an opposite vein mean tendencies one distinct from the other. Pertaining to tendencies in general, there are such tendencies which a man acquires at his birth, in keeping with the nature of his body; and there are particular tendencies to which a particular person is by nature prepared to acquire them more aptly than other tendencies; there are among them such which do not come naturally to a person at his birth, but which he learns from others, or by leaning towards them as a result of a thought invented by his heart, or by having heard that this particular tendency is good for him and proper to follow it, and he did follow it until it was set in his heart.
The two extremes in each and every tendency is not a good way, and it is not proper for a man to follow them, nor to have himself instructed in them. If one finds his nature leaning toward one of them, or susceptible to one of them, or if he already acquired one of them and followed it, he should turn himself toward goodness by following the path of the good which is the straight path.
The right way is the middle course in each set of human traits, namely: the disposition which is equally distant from the two extremes. Hence, the ancient sages ordained that every person should always evaluate his dispositions and adjust them in the middle course, so that he may enjoy physical health. Thus a person should be neither hot-tempered and easily provoked to anger, nor should he be like a corpse that has no feeling, but average, getting angry only for a grave cause that rightly calls for indignation, in order to prevent anything similar from occurring again. Furthermore, he should desire only that which the body needs for its sustenance and cannot do without, as it is written: "The good man eats enough to satisfy his needs" (Proverbs 13:25). He should exert himself at his vocation only enough to obtain what is necessary for his livelihood, as it is written: "The little that a good man has is good" (Psalm 37:16). He should be neither tight-fisted nor too lavish, but give charity according to his means, and extend suitable loans to those who are in need. He should be neither hilarious nor gloomy, but always quietly cheerful. This applies to all other dispositions; it is the way of the wise. He who avoids extremes and follows the middle course in all things is a wise man.
One who controls himself with increased restrictions, and distances himself even from the mean tendency, a little one way or a little the other way, is called devout. How may one do it? One who will distance himself from the extreme point of arrogance and become exceedingly humble is called devout for, this is the tendency of piety. If one distances himself to the mean point only and practices meekness he is called a wise man for, this is the tendency of wisdom. A like pathway exists in all the rest of the tendencies. The ancient devotees diverged their tendencies from the middle-path facing the two extremes; some tendency they bent opposite to the last extreme and some tendency they bent opposite the first extreme. This is more than being within the limits of the law. As for us, we are charged to walk in these middle-paths, which are the good and straight paths, even as it is said: "And thou shalt walk in His ways" (Deut. 28 9)….
How shall a man train himself in these traits so that they become ingrained in him? Let him keep practicing time and again the actions that are prompted by the middle-course dispositions, repeating them continually, till they become easy for him rather than burdensome and work into his moral constitution. Now, since the Creator is referred to by these terms, that represent the middle path in which we are to walk, this path is called the way of God. Our forefather Abraham taught it to his children, as it is written: "Indeed, I have chosen him, that he may charge his children and his household after him to observe the way of the Lord, doing what is good and right." Whoever walks in this path secures for himself happiness and blessedness, as it is written in the same verse: "So that the Lord may fulfill for Abraham what he has promised him" (Genesis 18:19).
All human beings are characterized by many traits which differ from each other profoundly. One man is hot-tempered, constantly angry; another is self-possessed and never angry, or only slightly and rarely so. One man is excessively proud; another is excessively meek. One man indulges in appetites without being sufficiently gratified; another is pure of heart and does not crave even the few essentials that the body requires. One man is so greedy that all the money in the world would not satisfy him, as it is written: "A lover of money will never be satisfied with money" (Ecclesiastes 5:9); another, contented with very little, curtails his desires and does not strive to obtain all that he really needs. One man starves himself while hoarding up wealth, and does not enjoy anything for which he has to pay the least amount; another recklessly squanders all he has. And so it is with all human dispositions, such as hilarity and gloom, stinginess and generosity, cruelty and compassion, cowardice and courage.
And there are between each and every extreme tendency of an opposite vein mean tendencies one distinct from the other. Pertaining to tendencies in general, there are such tendencies which a man acquires at his birth, in keeping with the nature of his body; and there are particular tendencies to which a particular person is by nature prepared to acquire them more aptly than other tendencies; there are among them such which do not come naturally to a person at his birth, but which he learns from others, or by leaning towards them as a result of a thought invented by his heart, or by having heard that this particular tendency is good for him and proper to follow it, and he did follow it until it was set in his heart.
The two extremes in each and every tendency is not a good way, and it is not proper for a man to follow them, nor to have himself instructed in them. If one finds his nature leaning toward one of them, or susceptible to one of them, or if he already acquired one of them and followed it, he should turn himself toward goodness by following the path of the good which is the straight path.
The right way is the middle course in each set of human traits, namely: the disposition which is equally distant from the two extremes. Hence, the ancient sages ordained that every person should always evaluate his dispositions and adjust them in the middle course, so that he may enjoy physical health. Thus a person should be neither hot-tempered and easily provoked to anger, nor should he be like a corpse that has no feeling, but average, getting angry only for a grave cause that rightly calls for indignation, in order to prevent anything similar from occurring again. Furthermore, he should desire only that which the body needs for its sustenance and cannot do without, as it is written: "The good man eats enough to satisfy his needs" (Proverbs 13:25). He should exert himself at his vocation only enough to obtain what is necessary for his livelihood, as it is written: "The little that a good man has is good" (Psalm 37:16). He should be neither tight-fisted nor too lavish, but give charity according to his means, and extend suitable loans to those who are in need. He should be neither hilarious nor gloomy, but always quietly cheerful. This applies to all other dispositions; it is the way of the wise. He who avoids extremes and follows the middle course in all things is a wise man.
One who controls himself with increased restrictions, and distances himself even from the mean tendency, a little one way or a little the other way, is called devout. How may one do it? One who will distance himself from the extreme point of arrogance and become exceedingly humble is called devout for, this is the tendency of piety. If one distances himself to the mean point only and practices meekness he is called a wise man for, this is the tendency of wisdom. A like pathway exists in all the rest of the tendencies. The ancient devotees diverged their tendencies from the middle-path facing the two extremes; some tendency they bent opposite to the last extreme and some tendency they bent opposite the first extreme. This is more than being within the limits of the law. As for us, we are charged to walk in these middle-paths, which are the good and straight paths, even as it is said: "And thou shalt walk in His ways" (Deut. 28 9)….
How shall a man train himself in these traits so that they become ingrained in him? Let him keep practicing time and again the actions that are prompted by the middle-course dispositions, repeating them continually, till they become easy for him rather than burdensome and work into his moral constitution. Now, since the Creator is referred to by these terms, that represent the middle path in which we are to walk, this path is called the way of God. Our forefather Abraham taught it to his children, as it is written: "Indeed, I have chosen him, that he may charge his children and his household after him to observe the way of the Lord, doing what is good and right." Whoever walks in this path secures for himself happiness and blessedness, as it is written in the same verse: "So that the Lord may fulfill for Abraham what he has promised him" (Genesis 18:19).
Mishneh Torah, Hilchot De'ot 3
One may possibly say: "Since envy and lust and the like are evil and shorten a man's life, I will keep clear of them excessively and withdraw myself to the other extreme." Such a person will not eat meat nor drink wine, nor marry nor live in a decent home, nor dress neatly, but will wear sackcloth and coarse wool like non-Jewish monks. This too is the wrong way, and must not be followed. Whoever takes this course is referred to as a sinner. The Torah says concerning the consecrated Nazirite, who was prohibited from using wine and cutting the hair: "Atonement should be made for him for the sin he has committed against the soul" (Numbers 6:11). The sages therefore asserted: "If the Nazirite who only kept away from wine stands in need of atonement, how much more so one who deprives himself of all legitimate enjoyments" (Ta'anit 11a). Hence, the sages ordained that one should refrain merely from things that the Torah has prohibited, and must not bind himself by vows and oaths concerning the use of things permitted. They said: "Are not the prohibitions in the Torah sufficient for you, that you are adding others for yourself?" Included in this are those who make a habit of fasting; they are not following the right way; the sages prohibited tormenting oneself by fasting. Concerning these and similar excesses Solomon charged, saying: "Be not over-good, be not over-wise; why expose yourself to trouble?" (Ecclesiastes 7:16).
One may possibly say: "Since envy and lust and the like are evil and shorten a man's life, I will keep clear of them excessively and withdraw myself to the other extreme." Such a person will not eat meat nor drink wine, nor marry nor live in a decent home, nor dress neatly, but will wear sackcloth and coarse wool like non-Jewish monks. This too is the wrong way, and must not be followed. Whoever takes this course is referred to as a sinner. The Torah says concerning the consecrated Nazirite, who was prohibited from using wine and cutting the hair: "Atonement should be made for him for the sin he has committed against the soul" (Numbers 6:11). The sages therefore asserted: "If the Nazirite who only kept away from wine stands in need of atonement, how much more so one who deprives himself of all legitimate enjoyments" (Ta'anit 11a). Hence, the sages ordained that one should refrain merely from things that the Torah has prohibited, and must not bind himself by vows and oaths concerning the use of things permitted. They said: "Are not the prohibitions in the Torah sufficient for you, that you are adding others for yourself?" Included in this are those who make a habit of fasting; they are not following the right way; the sages prohibited tormenting oneself by fasting. Concerning these and similar excesses Solomon charged, saying: "Be not over-good, be not over-wise; why expose yourself to trouble?" (Ecclesiastes 7:16).