The Battle Royale

Every morning in Elul, the call of the shofar reminds us to use this special time wisely and fully. The yetzer hara adroitly keeps us distracted with the still lazy days of summer coupled with the hectic, frenetic madness of schooling, bussing, doctoring, dentisting, shopping, and everything else that comes with the beginning of a new season. To combat this interference, let’s fortify ourselves with the realization of, “L’fum tzara agra – According to the difficulty is the reward,” and Hashem appreciates every effort we make to stay focused on the upcoming Yom HaDin, Day of Judgment.

Here’s a Medrashic comment that should help us start thinking about the job of Elul. The Medrash says, “Yitzro shel adam misgaber alov b’chol yom um’vakeish l’hamiso – One’s evil inclination prevails upon him every day and wants to kill him. V’im ein HaKadosh Baruch Hu ozro, eino yacholo – And if Hashem didn’t come to his assistance, he wouldn’t be able to overcome his inclination.”

Let’s analyze the first part of this powerful statement. “One’s evil inclination prevails upon him every day.” Do we realize that, on a daily basis, we are being tempted to do what is wrong? Do we recognize that every 24 hours we face a raging battle? That is the reality. If we are unaware of this, it means we’ve already lost. If we don’t think so, it means that we are spiritually naïve to the pitfalls that confront us constantly.

In the beginning of Masechtas Berachos, the Gemara demands from us, “L’olam yirgaz adam yetzer tov al yetzer hara – A person should always incite the good inclination against his evil inclination.” (Just to let you know: In about 283 days, the global Daf Yomi cycle will be starting Berachos again! If you’re not already a part of learning the daily daf, start thinking now about joining us.) The key word here is l’olam, always. The temptation to do what is wrong is not something that comes occasionally. It is with us regularly and requires our constant vigilance and pushback.

The second part of the powerful Medrash says, “If Hashem doesn’t help us, we wouldn’t prevail.” The question is: How do we get Hashem’s assistance? What must we do to receive His Siata d’Shmaya, Divine support? Obviously, not everybody gets this help, as so many people succumb to temptation and end up sinning.

The answers to these questions are revealed in a fundamental Ohr HaChaim HaKadosh, zt”l, zy”a. On the verse, “Ki seitzei l’milchamah al oivecha – When you go to battle against your enemy,” the Ohr HaChaim says this also refers to one’s battle against his oyev ha’imiti, his true enemy, the yetzer hara. Then, the posuk concludes, ‘U’n’sano Hashem Elokecha b’yadecha – And Hashem will deliver him (the yetzer hara) into your hands.” In other words, if we go to battle with the yetzer hara and fight to do what is right, that is the faucet that releases the Divine assistance that will enable us to vanquish the evil inclination.

Our work is cut out for us. We must first identify what our daily challenges are and then begin our fight against them. When Hashem sees that, He will come to our rescue and help us finish the job. But it’s not so easy to recognize what we are doing wrong.

First of all, “Ein adam ro’eh nigei atzmo – A person doesn’t see his own flaws.” Hashem made us teflon-coated so we shouldn’t get depressed. Furthermore, to complicate things, we are taught, “Ovar v’shana naaseh lo k’heter – When we do things repeatedly, it seems to us like permissible behavior.” It’s possible we might have failed to pay attention to much of our davening for decades. And since we do it so often, we don’t even realize we’re doing something wrong. This tendency to overlook our own flaws might apply to many behaviors and actions, like screaming at home, like gossiping about our co-workers, like neglecting to call our parents, or like being stingy with our money.

In Elul, we need to identify our shortcomings and start putting up a fight. This is what Hashem wants to see from us. Let’s activate our righteous muscles to go against the grain. Let’s “fight” to smile more often, compliment more regularly, nag and criticize less. Let’s initiate the struggle against laziness and open a sefer more regularly, attend more minyanim, and help out more at home.

If we start by picking up an English siddur to learn the meaning of a prayer, or calling a parent more often, Hashem will give us extra power to continue our campaigns. In the merit of our going to war against our evil inclination, may Hashem help us become much better people and bless us with long life, good health, and everything wonderful.

Transcribed and edited by Shelley Zeitlin.

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