Yetzer Hara is Reflexive, Neis of learning & Avodas Hashem (Mesilas Yesharim #5, perek 2)

Perek Beis in Mesillas Yesharim, הנה עניין הזהירות הוא שיהיה האדם נזהר במעשיו ובענייניו. Person is careful about his actions, his affairs. כלומר מתבונן ומפקח על מעשיו ודרכיו. He reflects and monitors his actions, his habits,

הטובים הם אם לא ולבלתי עזוב נפשו לסכנת האבדון חס וחלילה.

Lest he abandon his soul to the danger of perishing chas v'shalom ולא ילך במהלך הרגלו כעיוור באפילה. And he doesn't just blindly follow his habits. והנה זה דבר שהשכל יחייבהו ודאי. This type of reflective, introspective living is something that seichel compels, this mode of living.

כי אחרי שיש לאדם דעה והשכל להציל עצמו ולברוח מאבדון נשמתו.

A person is equipped, he's endowed with the understanding and the intelligence to save himself, to flee from rachmana litzlan, the loss, the perishing of his neshama. Eich yitachen, how can it be that a person would want to turn a blind eye, שירצה להעלים עיניו מהצלתו, would want to close his eyes to the possibility of his own self-preservation? So we have here again reflected in Ramchal something that we commented on earlier, that Ramchal tells us the two yetzarim that a person has operate very differently and on very different planes. The yeitzer hara is something which operates and exerts its influence reflexively, instinctively. There doesn't have to be any premeditation for the yeitzer hara to manifest itself. A person doesn't think that he should be misaave. He's naturally, naturally misaave. The same way a person naturally feels the whole range of physical experiences. When a person is fatigued, it's not a, now let me think now, am I tired or am I not tired? A person just feels naturally, automatically, reflexively when he's fatigued. So the same is also true for that attraction to chomriyus that a person has. So the yeitzer hara operates on automatic pilot, reflexively. L'umaso, the yeitzer hatov is activated through hisbonenus, through reflection, which is why if a person sort of just thinks that he'll maintain neutrality, not necessarily align himself with either of the two yetzarim, so minei u'vei the yeitzer hara prevails because the yeitzer hara operates again naturally, reflexively. The yeitzer hatov operates thoughtfully, reflectively. And emes is that's reflected here as well. The definition of zehirus is lehisbonen u'lefakeach, to be, to be reflective. Again, it's a hispail to be reflective, to reflect upon oneself. And the zehirus is necessary because absent the zehirus... The default position is that he's not going to be מציל עצמו ולבו מאבדון נשמתו. That's Ramchal's default position. The default position in absence of this hisbonenus, if a person just sort of lives naturally, the stama of a person's life would see him more influenced by the yetzer hara and more pulled in in that direction. אחרי שיש להם דעה והשכל להציל את עצמו, there's a hatzala that's that's necessary. Otherwise, the current will pull in the wrong direction. אין לך פחיתות והוללות רמי מזה vada'i haoseh kein, a person who lives without reflection, without introspection, which are necessary for his, again, not only flourishing, but self-preservation. הוא פחות מהבהמות מהחיות אשר בטבעם לשמור עצמם. They have a natural instinct for self-preservation.

ועל כן יברחו וינוסו מכל מה שייראה להם היותו מזיק להם. וההולך בעולמו בלי התבוננות,

if a person lives his life without reflection, אם טובה דרכו או רעה, הנה הוא כסומא, again, what's the default position if a person just lives naturally, reflexively, what's the default position? הנה הוא כסומא ההולך על שפת הנהר, like a blind person rachmana litzlan walking on the edge of a river, אשר סכנתו ודאי עצומה ורעתו קרובה מהצלתו. B'feirush, this idea that that we're discussing. Ra'aso krovah me'hatzalaso, a bad outcome is more likely, is probable, rather than than a good outcome.

כי אולם חסרון השמירה מפני העיוורון הטבעי או מפני העיוורון הרצוני,

whether the blindness is natural, involuntary, involuntary because he's rachmana litzlan blind, או מפני העיוורון הרצוני, it's it's a voluntary, self-imposed blindness,

דהיינו סתימת העיניים בבחירה וחפץ אחד הוא. והנה ירמיהו היה מתאונן על רוע בני דורו מפני היותם נגועים בנגע המידה הזאת.

Yirmiyahu bemoaned, bewailed his contemporaries because they were afflicted with this midah.

שהיו מעלימים עיניהם ממעשיהם בלי שישימו לב לראות מה הם היוצא אם היו עוזב.

There was no introspection, no self-monitoring.

ואמר עליהם אין איש ניחם על רעתו לאמור מה עשיתי כולו שב במרוצתם כסוס שוטף במלחמה. היינו שהיו רודפים והולכים במרוצת הרגלם,

they just followed habit, ודרכיהם מבלי שיניחו זמן לעצמם לדקדק על המעשים והדרכים, without allowing themselves time to scrutinize their actions, their habits. ונמצא שהם נופלים ברעה בלי ראותה. Ve'ulam Ramchal continues, הנה זאת באמת אחת מתחבולות היצר הרע וערמתו. One of the key strategies and one cunning approach of the yetzer hara is exactly this:

להכביד עבודתו בתמידות על לבות בני האדם עד שלא יישאר להם רווח להתבונן ולהסתכל באיזה דרך הם הולכים.

To try to keep a person so preoccupied that a person doesn't have time for this indispensable reflection. Ki yodeia hu, the yetzer hara knows, understands very well,

שאילולי היו שמים לבם כמעט קט על דרכיהם ודאי שמיד היו מתחילים להינחם ממעשיהם והיתה החרטה הולכת ומתגברת בהם עד שיעזבו החטא לגמרי.

If only there would be a modicum of reflection, it would induce a charatah about all our bad habits which would ultimately prevail. והרי זה מעין עצת פרעה הרשע. This strategy of the yetzer hara is me'ein. of Paroh's approach.

תכבד העבודה על האנשים ויעשו בה ואל ישעו בדברי שקר.

What was Paroh's strategy to keep the Jews so busy that they shouldn't be able to think? They shouldn't have aspirations.

שהתכוון שלא להניח להם רווח כלל ולא ייתנו לב או ישימו עצה נגדו.

The Gra has the same idea as the Ramchal, he associates it with the pasuk that Ramchal quotes at the end of Parshas Shemos, the Gra quotes in the beginning of Va'eira, that ולא שמעו אל משה מקוצר רוח ומעבודה קשה. So, avoda kasha, again, is the back-breaking labor to which they were subjected. But what's the kotzer ruach? So, the Gra says the kotzer ruach was the lack of time to be able to think and reflect. What did Paroh seek to accomplish by withholding the teven? In comparison to the intensity of the labor of building Pithom and Raamses, to gather some teven doesn't seem to add much to the intensity of the avoda. So, the Gra says: No, what Paroh knew that he couldn't really intensify the labor anymore without killing them off. He wanted his slave workforce, but he wanted to keep them preoccupied. He wanted that the Jews shouldn't have a moment to think. There shouldn't be a few minutes in the day when they think, because if a person thinks, so then he can reflect about what needs to be changed and he can aspire to change and he can look to effect change. Kotzer ruach is when a person doesn't have the time and therefore the ability for that reflection, for that self-assessment. I heard many years ago a very beautiful drasha from Rav Ausband where he mentioned this Gra and he said that our generation doesn't really suffer, most of us don't suffer from the nisayon, don't confront the nisayon of avoda kasha. Very few people are involved in professions where just the physical exertion is so exhausting and so enervating. But our generation is confronted with to a large degree the self-imposed nisayon of kotzer ruach. So, this drasha was when there were beepers and cell phones. That's when the cell phones were tipshim, they were not yet smart the way they are today, and the phones didn't have an alphabet in front of them. So, he described once upon a time a person was outdoors, so he was disconnected, he was away from the phone. So, what did you do? B'les bereira you would think a little bit. B'les bereira a person would reflect on himself, on life, on the direction of life. Now there's been an exponential increase in the, again originally with phones, the exponential increase was just in the kavin sicha ba'olam. Now instead of thinking, so a person takes out his phone and starts schmoozing, not necessarily with hearos on Ramchal. And the more advanced the technology becomes, the greater the self-imposed kotzer ruach is. We don't allow ourselves the time to think. It's not Pharaoh's fault in this generation. We don't allow ourselves the time to think, and mameila we don't have the perspective on what in our lives is right, what in our lives needs to be changed, needs to be overhauled, upgraded, adjusted, improved.

כן היא עצת היצר הרע ממש על בני האדם כי איש מלחמה הוא ומלומד בערמומיות ואי אפשר להמלט ממנו אלא בחכמה רבה והשקפה גדולה. הוא מה שהנביא צורח ואומר,

the Navi cries out, שימו לבבכם על דרכיכם. Pay attention, think, reflect on how you're living your life.

ושלמה אמר בחכמתו אל תתן שינה לעיניך ותנומה לעפעפיך הנצל כצבי מיד וכציפור מיד יקוש וחכמים זכרונם לברכה אמרו כל השם אורחותיו בעולם הזה,

a person who assesses, who appraises his ways ba-olam ha-zeh, he lives introspectively, he lives with reflection, with self-monitoring, זוכה ורואה בישועתו של הקדוש ברוך הוא. Ramchal concludes the perek on a remarkable note. He says u-pashut hu. It's self-evident שאפילו אם פיקח האדם על עצמו. Even if a person does monitor himself,

אין בכוחו להנצל אלולא הקדוש ברוך הוא עוזרו כי היצר הרע תקיף מאוד

u-k'ma'amar hakasuv צופה רשע לצדיק ומבקש להמיתו. The rasha, the here understood as the yetzer hara, is constantly spying, plotting, conspiring against the tzadik u-mivakesh l'hamiso. However,

השם לא יעזבנו בידו. אך אם האדם מפקח על עצמו אז הקדוש ברוך הוא עוזרו וניצל מן היצר הרע אבל אם אינו מפקח על עצמו ודאי שהקדוש ברוך הוא לא יפקח עליו כי אם הוא אינו חס מי יחוס עליו?

There's something which seems to be a little bit of a it doesn't seem to this final paragraph doesn't seem to organically connect, doesn't seem to flow with the rest of the paragraph. I mean le-maiseh, why is Ramchal telling us this? le-mai nafka mina. I mean the bottom line is this, if a person engages in that pikuach atzmi, that self-monitoring, so then he prevails, he'll be auf'n veg the right way. If Rachmana litzlan he doesn't, he heads in the wrong direction. So whether or not the person prevails because בכוחו להציל את עצמו or whether he prevails because when he does his shiur, then Hakadosh Baruch Hu pitches in, practically doesn't seem to make a difference, right? Either way is אין הדבר תלוי אלא בי. Either way. And be-chlal how is this explaining the mida of zehirus? But the emes is once you begin thinking, the question runs much deeper than that. What are we to make of the fact that this is the way the briyah operates? What again can't ask why obviously, but what are we to make of the fact that Hakadosh Baruch Hu designed a system where a person even when he does his utmost הכל בידי שמים חוץ מיראת שמים but the emes is even in yiras shamayim... It’s bidei adam to do his best and do his utmost, but even there, it’s only because it’s chasidei d’istrufai with the Siyata d’Shmaya. Well, what are we to make of that that system? And Ramchal has it he has it again later. Later when Ramchal talks about kedusha towards the very end of the sefer, in Perek Chaf Vav, עניין הקדושה כפול הוא. Kedusha is two-tiered. There's two parts to it. תחילתו עבודה וסופו גמול, תחילתו השתדלות וסופו מתנה. It begins as an avoda. It begins with tremendous exertion and effort but it culminates with a present, with a gift. If if you imagine the attainment of kedusha as as climbing a hundred stories, so a person climbs the first few stories and then Hakadosh Baruch Hu elevates him the rest of the way.

תחילתו הוא מה שהאדם מקדש עצמו וסופו מה שמקדשים אותו מלמעלה.

And he says because the full realization of kedusha is

אי אפשר לאדם שישים הוא את עצמו במצב כזה כי כבד הוא ממנו.

Again, that same phenomenon. So what what are we to make of that? There's something very puzzling about that. Hakadosh Baruch Hu wants that a person should be a ba’al bechira, but the system requires even when a person exercises that bechira correctly, the hatzlacha only happens because הקדוש ברוך הוא עוזרו, only because השם לא יעזבנו בידו, only because Vehiskadishtem and then Vihyishem Kedoshim. So yitachen, yitachen the pshat is as follows, rabosai. The Rambam has in in the Yud Gimmel Ikkarim when he talks about the ikkar of Torah min HaShamayim, so Rambam says Torah min HaShamayim means in terms of the Torah Shebiksav, later in the ikkar he talks about Torah Sheba’al Peh as well, means every word in Chumash. Means every word in Chumash is mipi hagevura, whether it’s the pasuk of Anochi Hashem Elokecha, שמע ישראל השם אלוקינו השם אחד, or whether it’s ובני חם כוש ומצרים ופוט וכנען or ושם אשתו מהיטבאל בת מטרד. הכל תורת השם תמימה. All, every every pasuk is a repository of chochma nifla’a. Ay, but we don’t see it. We see the chochma nifla’a of Anochi Hashem Elokecha, שמע ישראל השם אלוקינו השם אחד, we don’t see the chochma nifla’a of of the other types of psukim. So writes the Rambam, אין לו לאדם אלא להתפלל as did Dovid HaMelech, גל עיני ואביטה נפלאות מתורתך. It's an amazing thing. In the Yud Gimmel Ikkarim, in the Yud Gimmel Ikkarim where the Rambam is so sparing because he's streamlining what's most basic, what's most fundamental, so the Rambam effectively is telling us that above and beyond the chiyuv tefillah that a person has for anything and everything he tries to do in life, there's a special chiyuv tefillah when it comes to Talmud Torah. Special chiyuv tefillah when it comes to Talmud Torah, as modeled and taught by Dovid HaMelech, גל עיני ואביטה נפלאות מתורתך. What's pshat? Pshat is. Existence is a nes. Hakadosh Baruch Hu created the world yesh me’ayin. Existence, everything everything is a nes, but it's a nes b’toch nes. The gap, the chasm between a person, any any yetzur. And the Ribono Shel Olam is infinite. The gap between anyone, between the malachim on the highest madreiga and the Ribono Shel Olam, אל אחת כמה וכמה between us and the Ribono Shel Olam is infinite. How can it be that a person with finite seichel can be tofeis anything from חכמת הקדוש ברוך הוא? So, it's a nes b'toch nes. It's a nes b'toch nes. The entire existence, the entire beriah is a nes. But that ability to apprehend, comprehend, be tofeis eppes from חכמת הקדוש ברוך הוא is a nes b'toch nes. And that's what's reflected in the fact that there's a special chiyuv tefillah. That's the mechanism for how the nes comes about. That's the channel, the conduit for the nes. The tzinnor is tefillah. Ramchal is telling us that that's true more broadly for avodas hashem in general. Given that infinite, infinite distance and gap between physical, finite, mortal man and the Ribono Shel Olam, the whole notion that a person should be able to devote himself, dedicate himself, live a life of avodas hashem is a nes b'toch nes. And that's what's reflected in the metzius of אלמלא הקדוש ברוך הוא עוזרו אינו יכול לו. The mai nafka mina? The nafka mina is twofold. A: A nes is mechayav in hodaah. When a person is the beneficiary of a nes, it's mechayav in hodaah. The same way the fact of life, the blessing of life, the fact of existence, the blessing of existence is one that we should never take for granted, a person wakes up, מודה אני לפניך מלך חי וקיים. We need to recognize that the ability to learn Torah, the ability to be oved hashem is a nes b'toch nes. But there's another crucial nafka mina as well. A practical upshot of what Ramchal is telling us is that yitachen that a person will engage in the hisbonenus that Ramchal is instructing us, and a person will think to himself that the challenges are too great, they're too daunting, the hurdles are insurmountable. And because of that he'll be misyayeish. And Ramchal says, Ramchal tells us, but you have to know you're actually right. The challenges really are too great. Your perception is not skewed. But your reaction is off. Because a person has to recognize that the Ribono Shel Olam's not asking him to clear those hurdles alone. Ribono Shel Olam's asking him to jump as high as he can jump, which is not high enough. Person can't jump high enough. The bar is set too high. The bar... to overcome the Yetzer Hara is set too high. A person cannot jump even cannot jump that high. והקדוש ברוך הוא לא יעזבנו בידו. So when a person sees and a person can be convinced that he's seeing correctly and he's right, he is seeing correctly, that the challenges are too great, too daunting, that's where the nafka mina is, that's where a person has to know that you're right, taka are, but it's not intended to be an entirely natural process. The hishtadlus is entirely natural. The yegia, the amal, is entirely natural. The results are taka supernatural because the whole possibility of learning Torah, the whole possibility of avodas Hashem is a nes betoch nes. And that's why the mahalach is one that it requires a siyata d'shmaya. Rabbeinu Yonah has the the same idea in the very similar, not identical context, the very very first page of Shaarei Teshuva. הוזהרנו על התשובה בכמה מקומות בתורה. Skipping a few lines. Ve-hisber ba-Torah, it's explained in the Torah, כי יעזור השם לשבים כאשר אין יד טבעם משגת. The same thing. Rabbeinu Yonah says a person may be contemplating being chozer b'teshuva, halevai we should all contemplate it. And it will appear to a person: I can't, I can't do it. Says Rabbeinu Yonah, you're taka right, you're taka right. But that's not a reason to be mitya'esh, it's not a reason not to try because ve-hisber ba-Torah כי יעזור השם לשבים כאשר אין יד טבעם משגת. As long as a person does whatever he can, even though aliba d'emes it's taka inadequate to overcome the challenge, to clear the hurdle, but יעזור השם לשבים כאשר אין יד טבעם משגת and when a person does whatever it is beyado la'asos, so then ve-yichadesh bekirbam, so then Hakadosh Baruch Hu completes the process, ויחדש בקרבם רוח טהורה להשיג מעלת אהבתו. It's it's difficult to exaggerate how how important this limmud of Rabbeinu Yonah of Ramchal is because a person is susceptible to being mitya'esh because lema'aseh challenges in life, in avodas Hashem, are objectively very real and very great. And aderaba, it's a sign of insight and sensitivity when a person feels that way, that the challenges are so great and the challenges are so daunting. It means he doesn't have some kind of superficial tfisa. And it can, rachmana litzlan, induce a reaction of ye'ush. But kvar hisber ba-Torah, that's why it's so crucial, ki ya'azor Hashem, that השם לא יעזבנו בידו.