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.