When the Yetzer Hara Fights for its Life

Translated from Rabbi Arush’s feature article in the weekly Chut shel Chessed newsletter. The articles focus on his main message: “Loving others as yourself” and emuna. 

 

 

Moshe Rabbeinu at His Best 

A Jewish leader’s real greatness becomes apparent to everyone when he faces the most difficult crisis of his career, and there is no greater challenge than when people display gross ingratitude toward him, when they attack him on a personal level and accuse him of crimes that he did not commit. 

 

No one ever matched Moshe Rabbeinu’s selfless and unstinting dedication to Bnei Yisrael. As he declared, “I never made personal use of anyone’s donkey, and I never harmed a single person among them.” Everything he did as leader of the people was exactly what Hashem commanded him to do, just as he declared, “Hashem sent me to do all these things; they never came from my own heart.” Moreover, Moshe sacrificed everything he had on behalf of the nation of Yisrael, to the point that he was willing to have himself wiped out of existence as long as that would benefit them. 

 

Despite all this, Korach and dozens of the people’s greatest scholars “spit in his face,” smeared his reputation, and accusing him of doing all that he did only to advance his own greatness, honor, and influence. Such a display of ingratitude would be a very difficult challenge for even an extraordinary leader. 

 

But Moshe Rabbeinu stood up to it. His love for the people of Yisrael was not diminished whatsoever. How do we know this? Because Hashem’s reaction to Korach’s revolt was to tell Moshe and Aharon, “Separate yourselves from this assembly, and I will wipe them out in an instant!” Why was it necessary for Moshe to separate himself from the people? Couldn’t Hashem surgically wipe them out even while Moshe stood among them? 

 

But the idea was that Hashem was telling Moshe and Aharon to separate  themselves emotionally from the people of Yisrael, and not to be disturbed by their deaths. But Moshe and Aharon refused to do that. In fact, they did just the opposite: They fell on their faces and prayed, “Can it be that You act with anger toward the entire assembly because one person sinned?” 

 

Moshe then pleaded with Korach to reconsider, and he personally went over to Dasan and Aviram, who had feuded with him long before, when they were back in Egypt. Moshe did not take his personal honor into consideration. He was not willing to give up on Bnei Yisrael or even one individual among them. He placed his life on the line for even the worst among Bnei Yisrael. 

 

A Danger to the Torah 

We must ask, however, how did Korach succeed in selling his lies to Bnei Yisrael? Did they not  witness how Moshe split the sea for them? Did they not witness Hashem speaking to him? Didn’t Hashem promise him that “they will believe in you forever”? 

 

The answer to all these questions is that the yetzer hara fights hardest to create discord between the people and the generation’s tzaddik, their spiritual leader. Once the yetzer hara creates a barrier between the people and Moshe Rabbeinu so that people do not consider him to be their spiritual authority, it has paved the way to undermining the entire Torah and the people’s basic emunah. The people’s trust in their Torah leaders is the foundation of their emunah, the basis of the Torah and its mitzvot. 

 

Moshe Rabbeinu, therefore, threw aside all personal considerations and fought to reestablish the people’s emunah in Hashem and in the Torah. He announced that Hashem was going to create a new, special punishment for the rabble-rousers, a punishment that no one could ever have imagined. This was crucial, for if he would not demonstrate clearly that every word he spoke was according to Hashem’s directives, the entire Torah was endangered. 

 

Moshe Rabbeinu announced, “Through this you will know that Hashem directed me to do all these things, that none of them comes from my own heart. If these individuals die in the way everyone else dies, or if they are stricken the way other people are stricken, then Hashem did not send me. But if Hashem creates something new, and the earth opens its mouth and swallows them and all their possessions so that they descend to the grave while still alive, then you will know that these people have despised Hashem.” 

 

This was the most difficult challenge that anyone has ever faced in all of history. The yetzer hara that inspires people to disagree with the tzaddik of the generation is the strongest yetzer hara of all, and it threatens the continued existence of Torah and mitzvot. Anyone who cares for the welfare of his soul must flee like an arrow from such disagreements. The Torah specifically commands us, “Don’t be like Korach!” 

 

The Yetzer Hara’s Existential Struggle 

We have witnessed many, many tzaddikim who were the victims of strong opposition during their lifetimes, but once they passed away they were recognized as Torah leaders by the entire nation of Yisrael. One exception to this was Rabbeinu Nachman of Breslov. The opposition to his Torah leadership continued for generations after his passing. 

 

Why did this happen? It is because the survival of the Torah depends on the teachings of Rabbeinu, especially his lesson about hitbodedut. The Rebbe declared that every single Jew, whether great or small, can be a kosher Jew only if he practices hitbodedut. This is what the Mesillas Yesharim states: “This is the only true path to lead man to what is good; there is no other.”¹ The opposition to Rebbe Nachman of Breslov has always been focused on preventing people from practicing hitbodedut. 

 

In one of Rebbe Nachman’s stories², he relates that before his soul descended to this world, the yetzer hara pleaded with Hashem, saying, “Master of the universe, listen to my prayer! If he will descend  to the physical world, what will be left for me to accomplish? What will be the purpose for which I was created?”

 

Heaven replied, “This soul certainly must descend to the world, and you will have to figure out for yourself what to do.” 

 

The yetzer hara found what to do – to spawn opposition that would hide the brilliant light of Rabbeinu. 

 

Fulfilling the Threat 

In light of this, our main struggle to maintain the path of hitbodedut is to strengthen our trust in the tzaddikim as our Torah authorities. We must have full faith in the Rebbe, who tried every other way and concluded that this method (hitbodedut) is proper for everyone, great or small. 

 

I speak to many Jews about the importance of setting aside an hour for hitbodedut every day. They always tell me, “I don’t have time for that,” but my response is, “You apparently think that you are greater than, or at least as great as, Rebbe Nachman of Breslov!” 

 

You certainly have time for the things that are most important in your lives. If you have time constraints, then you should give up on things that are low on the ladder of their importance. Rebbe Nachman taught that hitbodedut is the number-one activity of the day, that it is the most important of all. So if you are less wise than Rebbe Nachman, you ought to listen to what he said and make hitbodedut your top priority. It is something sacred, something that we don’t sacrifice for any price. 

 

If you say that you don’t have time for hitbodedut, that means that you are busy with things that are more important than hitbodedut. If you think this way, it means that you understand life better than Rebbe  Nachman did. You believe that hitbodedut is a nice thing, but that it is not the most important thing of all. 

 

“Why do I need to give it an entire hour?” you might ask. “If I give it 40 minutes, that’s not good enough?” Well, Korach also challenged Moshe Rabbeinu with strong questions about the need to fulfill the mitzvot, but Chazal tell us that Korach’s questions were simply foolishness. Moshe Rabbeinu told him, “If Hashem commanded us to perform them, then we fulfill them without asking questions.” 

 

Faith in our Torah leaders and faith in the Torah and mitzvot means to fulfill them without asking questions, with simple, unquestioning faith. Hashem said, “Do these things,” and the tzaddikim echo His words, telling us, “Do these things!” 

 

We learn from the parshah that when someone disagrees with Moshe Rabbeinu, his intention is to distance the people of Yisrael from Hashem. Moshe said, “You will understand that these people despised Hashem!” He told them, “Don’t think that they are just disagreeing with me – they despise Hashem!” In the same way, anyone who opposes Rebbe Nachman of Breslov and his path of hitbodedut is following the path forged by the yetzer hara to prevent people from spiritual success. 

 

The most important lesson for us from parshat Korach (Bamidbar (Numbers) 16:1–18:32) is to flee from any sort of strife, but especially to flee from any opposition to our tzaddikim. Our entire mission in life depends on our following the instructions given to us by the tzaddikim. We pray that Hashem will help us become obedient students and follow the path of hitbodedut, giving it at least an hour every single day. 

 

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Editor’s Note:

¹ Chapters 5 and 21 of Mesillat Yesharim, the Ramchal writes about the value of perishut (abstention/ separation) and hitbonenut (deep mental contemplation). He explains that a person needs to step away from the busy rush of the world to look at their own actions and think about God’s greatness.

² This profound account is found at the conclusion of Rebbe Nachman’s story titled The Spider and the Fly (Story #7 from his classic collection, Sippurei Maasiyot / Rabbi Nachman’s Stories).