5784/2023
In this week's Parashah we see that Avraham tells Eliezer to find a
wife for Yitzchak. The Torah introduces Eliezer as “המשל ביתו זקן עבדו
בכל־אשר־לו” “The senior servant of his household,who ruled over
everything he owned.
The Kli Yakar comments that this phrase actually means that Eliezer
ruled over everything that he himself had had.
We all have many outside and inside “influences” and these
“influences” can come to define and shape us in a way that we are
almost controlled by them. When Hashem created us he gave the
ultimate gift of freedom of choice, of being in control of what we do,
how to decide, how to be defined and how to relate to what exists
inside and around us. Eliezer, a person in control of himself, was really
able to choose who he was and how he wanted to act despite his
“influences”.
The Gemara in Bava Batra suggests that righteous people are called
"rulers'' because they have control over their desires. This idea aligns
well with Kli Yakar's perspective. Additionally, the Vilna Gaon points
out a subtle difference between a "ruler" (משל (and a "king" (מלך(. A
king leads with the approval of his subjects, while a ruler might assert
authority more forcefully. Sometimes, we can think of our inner
struggles as being led by a "king," where our feelings and desires
support our actions. But there are times, as taught by Eliezer and
other righteous individuals, when we need to take a more forceful
approach and "rule" over our inner urges. In simple terms, is all of this
just a fancy way of talking about our internal struggles, often referred
to as the "Yetzer Hara"!? If so, what is the best way to control these
urges like Eliezer did?
The Gemara in Sukkah (52b) quotes a teaching of Rabbi Yishmael. He
says that if the Yetzer Hara is tempting you to sin, take it to the Beit
HaMidrash and learn Torah. If it is like a stone, it will be dissolved by
the Torah; if it is like iron, it will be shattered.
The Gaon of Vilna (Mishlei 7:13-14) asks, Why does the Gemara say
that one should drag the Yetzer Hara to the Beit HaMidrash? One
should leave the Yetzer Hara alone and run away from it to the Beit
HaMidrash!
The Vilna Gaon answers that the Yetzer Hara does not attempt to
conquer a person by tricking him to sin. The Yetzer Hara knows that
his victim would not submit to such tactics. Rather, the Yetzer Hara
attempts to convince a person to do a Mitzvah, Lo Lishma (not for the
right reasons). For example, the Yetzer Hara entices a person to eat the
meat of a Korban (which is a Mitzvah) in order to enjoy the meat, and
not in order to do the Mitzvah. Once the Yetzer Hara succeeds in that
small measure, it is able to entice the person to do more severe acts of
sin.
The way to defend oneself against this method is as follows. When a
person feels the Yetzer Hara attempting to persuade him to do a
Mitzvah Lo Lishma, he should learn Torah. The Gemara (Pesachim
50b) encourages one to learn Torah, even Lo Lishma, because learning
Lo Lishma will lead to Lishma. (Although the Gemara there refers to
all Mitzvos as well, the Lo Lishma act of learning Torah provides
spiritual pleasure, and not physical pleasure, and therefore it tends to
draw the person to learn Torah Lishma.) This is what the Gemara here
means when it says that one should "drag" the Yetzer Hara itself into
the Beit HaMidrash. One should use the Yetzer Hara's strategy of
enticing a person to do a Mitzvah Lo Lishma to learn Torah Lo Lishma
which will lead to learning Lishma.
Now for the take home message, Sometimes when we feel like we
don’t want to do the right thing, we don’t want to do the mitzvah, we
don’t want to learn Torah for five minutes, we should push ourselves
just to do it even if it’s for the wrong reasons because then we will
complete the mitzvah with proper intentions like Eliezer did, Which
will IY’H lead to the coming of Mashiach Bimheira B’Yameinu.