The Evil Inclination: How We Approach the Other

(6) And the LORD said unto Cain: ‘Why are you distressed? and why is your face fallen? (7) If you improve yourself, you will be forgiven? But if you do not improve yourself, sin rests at the door; and its desire is toward you, yet you can conquer it.’

(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 neighbour.' (Ecclesiastes 4:4).

(31) And God saw every thing that God had made, and, behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

(7) the LORD God formed (יצר) man from the dust of the earth. He blew into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being.

(5) The LORD saw how great was man’s wickedness on earth, and how every plan devised (יצר) by his mind was nothing but evil all the time. (6) And the LORD regretted that He had made man on earth, and His heart was saddened. (7) The LORD said, “I will blot out from the earth the men whom I created—men together with beasts, creeping things, and birds of the sky; for I regret that I made them.”

(21) The LORD smelled the pleasing odor, and the LORD said to Himself: “Never again will I doom the earth because of man, since the devisings (יצר) of man’s mind are evil from his youth; nor will I ever again destroy every living being, as I have done.

(21) . מנעריו FROM HIS YOUTH — This word is written without a Vav after the ע so that it may be read as מנעריו which would imply that from the moment the embryo bestirs itself to have an independent existence the evil inclination is given to it (Genesis Rabbah 34:10).

The Torah is compared to an elixir of life. There is a parable that illustrates this: A person hit his son with a strong blow and placed a bandage on his wound. And he said to him: My son, as long as this bandage is on your wound and is healing you, eat what you enjoy and drink what you enjoy, and bathe in either hot water or cold water, and you do not need to be afraid, as it will heal your wound. But if you take it off, the wound will become gangrenous. So too the Holy One, Blessed be He, said to Israel: My children, I created an evil inclination, which is the wound, and I created Torah as its antidote. If you are engaged in Torah study you will not be given over into the hand of the evil inclination, as it is stated: “If you do well, shall it not be lifted up?” (Genesis 4:7). One who engages in Torah study lifts himself above the evil inclination. And if you do not engage in Torah study, you are given over to its power, as it is stated: “Sin crouches at the door” (Genesis 4:7). Moreover, all of the evil inclination’s deliberations will be concerning you, as it is stated in the same verse: “And to you is its desire.” And if you wish you shall rule over it, as it is stated in the conclusion of the verse: “But you may rule over it” (Genesis 4:7). The Sages taught: So difficult is the evil inclination that even its Creator calls it evil, as it is stated: “For the inclination of a man’s heart is evil from his youth” (Genesis 8:21). Rav Yitzḥak says: A person’s evil inclination renews itself to him every day, as it is stated: “And that every inclination of the thoughts in his heart was only evil all day [kol hayyom]” (Genesis 6:5). “Kol hayyom” can also be understood as: Every day. And Rabbi Shimon ben Levi says: A person’s inclination overpowers him every day, and seeks to kill him, as it is stated: “The wicked watches the righteous and seeks to slay him” (Psalms 37:32). And if not for the fact that the Holy One, Blessed be He, assists each person in battling his evil inclination, he could not overcome it, as it is stated: “The Lord will not leave him in his hand” (Psalms 37:33). A Sage from the school of Rabbi Yishmael taught: My son, if this wretched one, the evil inclination, encounters you, pull it into the study hall, i.e., go and study Torah. If it is a stone it will melt, and if it is iron it will break, as it is stated with regard to the Torah: “Is not My word like fire, says the Lord, and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?” (Jeremiah 23:29). Just as a stone shatters a hammer, so too one can overcome his evil inclination, which is as strong as iron, through Torah study. With regard to the second part of the statement: If it is a stone it will melt, this is as it is stated with regard to the Torah: “Ho, everyone who thirsts, come for water” (Isaiah 55:1), and it states: “The water wears the stones” (Job 14:19), indicating that water is stronger than stone. §

Antoninus also enquired of Rabbi, 'From what time does the Evil Inclination hold sway over man, from the formation [of the embryo], or from [its] issuing forth [birth]? 'From the formation,' he replied. 'If so,' he objected, 'it would rebel in its mother's womb and go forth [prematurely]. But it is from when it issues [birth].' Rabbi said: This thing Antoninus taught me, and Scripture supports him, for it is said, "At the door [i.e.,where the baby emerges] sin lies in wait."

The Gemara recounts the event described in the verses: The verse states: And they cried with a loud voice to the Lord their God (Nehemiah 9:4). What was said? Rav said, and some say it was Rabbi Yoḥanan who said: Woe, woe. It is this, i.e., the evil inclination for idol worship, that destroyed the Temple, and burned its Sanctuary, and murdered all the righteous ones, and caused the Jewish people to be exiled from their land. And it still dances among us, i.e., it still affects us. Didn’t You gave it to us for solely for the purpose of our receiving reward for overcoming it. We do not want it, and we do not want its reward. We are prepared to forgo the potential rewards for overcoming the evil inclination as long as it departs from us. In response to their prayer a note fell to them from the heavens upon which was written: Truth, indicating that God accepted their request. The Gemara makes a parenthetical observation. Rav Ḥanina said: Learn from this that the seal of the Holy One, Blessed be He, is truth. In response to the indication of divine acceptance, they observed a fast for three days and three nights, and He delivered the evil inclination to them. A 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, as it is stated in the verse that refers to this event: “And he said: This is the evil one” (Zechariah 5:8). The use of the word “this” indicates that the evil inclination was perceived in a physical form. When they caught hold of it one of its hairs fell, and it let out a shriek of pain that was heard for four hundred parasangs. They said: What should we do to kill it? Perhaps, Heaven forfend, they will have mercy upon him from Heaven, since it cries out so much. The prophet said to them: Throw it into a container made of lead and seal the opening with lead, since lead absorbs sound. As it is stated: “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 also concerning the evil inclination for sin in the area of sexual relationships. They prayed, and it was also delivered into their hands. Zechariah the prophet said to them: See and understand that if you kill this evil inclination the world will be destroyed because as a result there will also no longer be any desire to procreate. They followed his warning, and instead of killing the evil inclination they imprisoned it for three days. At that time, people searched for a fresh egg throughout all of Eretz Yisrael and could not find one. Since the inclination to reproduce was quashed, the chickens stopped laying eggs. They said: What should we do? If we kill it, the world will be destroyed. 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, effectively limiting its power, and set it free. And this was effective to the extent that a person is no longer aroused to commit incest with his close relatives.

There were some lawless men living in the neighborhood of R. Meir, and they used to cause him considerable distress. Once R. Meir prayed that they should die. His wife, Beruriah, exclaimed, "Why would you prayer for them to do die? Is it because it is written, 'Let sinners cease out of the earth'? But does the text use the word choteim (implying sinners)? No, it is written chata'im (implying that which caused sin, i.e. the Yetzer Hara). Look also at the end of the verse, which states: 'And let the wicked be no more' — Now is it definitely true that when 'sins will cease,' 'the wicked will be no more?' No because, there will be more sinners. Rather you should for mercy on them that they should repent and turn from their evil inclination (Yetzer Ha'ra) and then the wicked shall be no more. R. Meir heeded his wife's advice and offered prayer on their behalf so they repented.

(1) Angels serve their Creator, and do not have yetser ha'ra. Animals, on the other hand, have yetser ha'ra but lack intelligence. The result is that angels cannot receive reward for their service, as they have no yetser ha'ra to overcome, and animals cannot be punished for their actions, as they do not have the intelligence. (2) Therefore G-d found it necessary to create the human on the sixth day, and God created the human from both sides: God gave him a spiritual soul that enables him to recognize the Creator as does an angel, as the verse states: “God's candle is the human soul…” (Mishlei 27:20). And God created him in a body which is thick material, like a beast, to eat and drink and sleep. As a result, a great battles wage within a person all his days. His animal spirit incites him to desire this world like an animal, and the pure soul battles against him and shows him that he was not born for this, but to serve the Creator like an angel. And even physical things that one must do, like eating and drinking and sleeping -- should be done so as to to serve God.