One of the spiritual mentors of my youthful days in the Yeshiva was in the habit of repeating the following observation: “Amongst the many items that are numerated in the confession prayer, which is recited on the holy day of Yom Kippur, is ‘The sins which we have committed before You with the evil inclination.’” “But”, he would muse, “Aren’t all sins committed with the Yetzer Hara – evil inclination? Surely no sins are committed with the ‘Good inclination.’”
He would then offer the following rejoinder: “’The sins which we have committed before You with the evil inclination’ refers not to the sins which the evil inclination manages to drag us into, but rather to the sins into which we manage to drag our evil inclination”.
Sometimes the Yetzer Hara lies dormant and does not bother us, yet we go ahead and agitate it: “Nu what’s the matter with you, wouldn’t this or that indulgence be pleasurable, come on get to work”!
Where’s the Beef? – What Really Lurks Behind All The Kvetching
One of the spiritual mentors of my youthful days in the Yeshiva was in the habit of repeating the following observation: “Amongst the many items that are numerated in the confession prayer, which is recited on the holy day of Yom Kippur, is ‘The sins which we have committed before You with the evil inclination.’” “But”, he would muse, “Aren’t all sins committed with the Yetzer Hara – evil inclination? Surely no sins are committed with the ‘Good inclination.’”
He would then offer the following rejoinder: “’The sins which we have committed before You with the evil inclination’ refers not to the sins which the evil inclination manages to drag us into, but rather to the sins into which we manage to drag our evil inclination”.
Sometimes the Yetzer Hara lies dormant and does not bother us, yet we go ahead and agitate it: “Nu what’s the matter with you, wouldn’t this or that indulgence be pleasurable, come on get to work”!
