By Rabbi Yoseph Kahanov Jax, Fl.
Destroy man’s desire to sin, our sages tell us, and you would destroy the world.
Not that anyone needs to sin. But one who lacks the desire to sin is not a citizen of this world. And without citizens, who will effect lasting change? (Tzvi Freeman)
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Like it or not, we are each engaged in a battle against our own set of mean genes. They are wily opponents too. Masters of the visceral, they control through satisfaction, pain, and pleasure. (Dr.’s Terry Burnham and Jay Phelan, Mean Genes)
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Rabbi Aryeh Leib of Shpola would plaint to the Almighty in the following manner: “Master of the universe, what do you want from your children? You have, after all, placed them in a benighted world. A world where Satan himself prances amongst them, fanning their evil inclination; where all the things that provoke fleshly desires are ranged before their very eyes, while the warnings of retribution lie hidden between the covers of some moralistic tome. You can be certain that if you had arranged things the other way around – with the place of retribution right in front of their eyes, and all the fleshly desires hidden away in some learned old book, not a single person would ever do anything wrong!”
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