Yetzer hara

In Judaism, yetzer hara (Hebrew: יֵצֶר הַרַע‎, romanized: yēṣer haraʿ‍) is a term for humankind's congenital inclination to do evil. The term is drawn from the phrase "the inclination of the heart of man is evil" (Biblical Hebrew: יֵצֶר לֵב הָאָדָם רַע, romanized: yetzer lev-ha-adam ra), which occurs twice at the beginning of the Torah (Genesis 6:5 and Genesis 8:21).

The Hebrew word yetzer having appeared twice in Genesis occurs again at the end of the Torah: "I knew their devisings that they do". Thus from beginning to end the heart's yetzer (plan) is continually bent on evil. However, the Torah which began with blessing anticipates future blessing which will come as a result of God circumcising the heart in the latter days.

In traditional Judaism, yetzer hara is not a demonic force despite this Samael is considered the source of the yetzer Hara, through man's misuse of things the physical body needs to survive. Thus, the need for food becomes gluttony due to the yetzer hara. The need for procreation becomes promiscuity, and so on.

The Jewish concept of the yetzer hara is similar to the Christian concept of a "sin nature" known as concupiscence, which is the tendency of humans to sin. However, concupiscence stems explicitly from original sin, while the yetzer hara is a natural part of God's creation.

According to the Talmudic tractate Avot de-Rabbi Natan, a boy's evil inclination is greater than his good inclination until he turns 13 (bar mitzvah), at which point the good inclination is "born" and able to control his behavior. Moreover, the rabbis have stated: "The greater the man, the greater his [evil] inclination."

Free will, and the choice between evil and good inclinations

The underlying principle in Jewish thought states that each person – Jew and gentile alike – is born with both a good and an evil inclination. Possessing an evil inclination is considered neither bad nor abnormal. The problem, however, arises when one makes a willful choice to "cross over the line," and seeks to gratify their evil inclination, based on the prototypical models of right and wrong in the Hebrew Bible. This notion is succinctly worded in the Babylonian Talmud: "Everything is determined by heaven, except one's fear of heaven," meaning, everything in a person's life is predetermined by God—except that person's choice to be either righteous or wicked, which is left to their free will.

The Bible states that every person on some occasion succumbs to their evil inclination: "For there is not a righteous man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not." The Talmud speaks of the difficulty in overcoming the evil inclination: "To what is it like, the evil inclination in man? It is like a father who takes his small son, bathes him, douses him with perfume, combs his hair, dresses him up in his finest accoutrements, feeds him, gives him drink, places a bag of money around his neck, and then goes off and puts his son at the front door of a brothel. What can the boy do that he not sin?" In recognition of this difficulty, repentance (and in some cases, affliction) is said to atone for most sins, while the preponderance of good works keeps one within the general class of good people.

Maimonides gave instructions for how to view the evil inclination and ensuing hardships on that account:

...Therefore, let a man prepare his own mind and request from God that anything that should ever happen to him in this world, whether of the things that are by God's providence good, or of the things that are by Him evil, that the reason [for their occurrence] is so that he might attain true happiness. Now this was stated with regard to the Good Inclination [in man] and with regard to [his] Evil Inclination, that is to say, that he might lay to his heart the love of God and his [continued] faith in Him, even at an hour of rebellion or of wrath or of displeasure, seeing that all of this revolves around [man's] evil inclination, just as they have said: 'In all your ways acknowledge Him', [meaning], even in a matter involving transgression.

Moshe Chaim Luzzatto wrote in Derech Hashem that "Man is the creature created for the purpose of being drawn close to God. He is placed between perfection and deficiency, with the power to earn perfection. Man must earn this perfection, however, through his own free will... Man's inclinations are therefore balanced between good (Yetzer HaTov) and evil (Yetzer HaRa), and he is not compelled toward either of them. He has the power of choice and is able to choose either side knowingly and willingly".

The power within man to overcome sin

While God has created mankind with both good and evil inclinations, the two powers or tendencies that pull one in opposite directions, God commands each person to choose the good and right path over the evil. In the narrative of Cain and Abel, God tells Cain: "Isn't it true that if you do good, you shall be forgiven? However, if you will not do good, it is because sin crouches at the entrance [of your heart], and to you shall be its longing, although you have the ability to subdue it." Medieval commentator Rashi explains: "and to you shall be its longing," meaning, the longing of sin—i.e., the evil inclination—which constantly longs and lusts to cause one to stumble, "although you have the ability to subdue it," meaning, if a person wishes, they will overpower it.

The implication is that each person is capable of overcoming sin if they really wish to do so. This may or may not be difficult, and may require some reconditioning, but it is still possible.

Although there are many vices, the Sages of Israel have said that most people are drawn to "stealing" what does not belong to them (גזל), while fewer people are inclined to "uncover the nakedness" of others (גלוי עריות), a euphemism for lechery. On lust, Shalom Shabazi (1619 – c. 1720) calls it "a phenomenon of the soul," and lays out ways in which a person tempted by lust can overcome the urge, without being swept into its clutches.

Idolatry

In rabbinic literature, the yetzer hara is seen as a fundamental force driving humans toward sin, particularly idolatry. This inclination is viewed as an inherent aspect of human nature, leading people away from divine worship and towards the veneration of false gods.

According to a well-known legend from the Talmud, the rabbis at the beginning of the Second Temple period recognized the destructive power of the yetzer hara for idolatry and decided to eliminate it. They engaged in intense prayer and fasting, asking God to remove this inclination from the world. In response, God granted their request, and the rabbis were able to capture the evil inclination for idolatry.

However, the aftermath of this act showed the complexity of their decision; the absence of the yetzer hara also diminished the human drive for other essential aspects of life, such as procreation (see below). How exactly this reality shift played out and continues to be manifest, has been discussed by many scholars including such thinkers as Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak Kook, Rabbi Zadok HaKohen of Lublin, and others.

Positive role of the evil inclination

Rabbinic sources also describe the yetzer hara (when properly channeled) as necessary for the continuation of society, as sexual lust motivates the formation of families, and greed motivates work:

Rabbi Nahman bar Samuel bar Nachman said in the name of Rabbi Samuel bar Nachman: [...] "And behold it was very good" (Genesis 1:31)—this refers to the yetzer hara. But is the yetzer hara indeed very good?!—Were it not for the yetzer hara, a man would not build a home, or marry a woman, or have children, or engage in business.

The Mishnah interprets the Biblical command to love God "with all your heart" to mean "with your two inclinations - good inclination and evil inclination". The latter half of this interpretation has been interpreted in various ways. According to some, it indicates that physical pleasures such as eating and drinking can be a form of service to God, if one's intention is to thereby strengthen the body in order to better serve God.

The yetzer hara is also seen positively in that its existence allows for free will, which in turn allows for reward for those who choose good deeds.

Chassidut

Be concerned with doing good… and evil will automatically diminish

— Nachman of Breslov

Rebbe Nachman of Breslov used to say: judge everyone on the positive side. He then stated that it was everyone's obligation to cast away bad thoughts. As a leader, a Rebbe must be able to dialogue and engage in discussions with anyone who wants to: it is true... he, as well as Reb Noson, had many adversaries, in many cases therefore joining them becoming chassidim, in others even honoring them with kavod, finally establishing a dialectical relationship however after having recognized their greatness. This fact was with Mitnagdim and with Haskalah, in first time against Chassidim.

It is true that the evil inherent even in a single individual can aggravate an already precarious condition and, in the case of the spirit or even the intellectual faculties, then the goodness of the service to God would also be compromised; the Hasidim already knew at the dawn of Hasidism that evil could take root to the point of affecting all the people: it is studied from early childhood in Jewish schools or in the Yeshivot, as in the case of Korah against Aaron or in the Hasidic story of the evil-hermit about whom the common people would later tell, far from him, of scorpions, spiders and every kind of witchcraft that remained from the memory about him. Solitude is a virtue in Judaism and in Hasidut but a hermit like that had evil repercussions on anyone who approached him: evil is in today's Hasidism almost personified as something that must be defeated after having fought against its temptations:

We as Jews are fighting a constant battle against our evil inclination (yetzer hara). In fact, our very purpose in this physical and mundane world is to ultimately triumph in this principal battle. This is achieved through the steadfast observance of Torah and mitzvahs. Our ultimate reward for persevering in this battle is the final redemption, a time where there will be no battles, a time when the world will finally be at peace.

One fact remains: one goal of the religious Jew is good… but at all times, both in thought, and therefore in the soul, as in the Mitzvot, that is in the “action”. One end, good, it must be sought and lived in every Mitzvah in addition to being an intrinsic value to the soul, it is therefore an integral part of its existence: it is the Yetzer ha-Tov, commonly translated as "inclination to good".

“Know what is above you.” “Know, what is above, is of you. And what is that above? Ezekiel says: Έ on the form of the throne a form in the form of a man is above it.” How can this be said of God? It is also written: Ά whom will you liken and compare and equal that I may be like him?’ But it is so, that the form in the form of a man is ours. It is the form that we form with the service of our true heart. With it we create a human form for our Creator, for him who has no image or likeness, for him himself, blessed be his name. When one shows compassion and offers loving help, he contributes to forming the right hand of God. And when one fights the holy war and repels evil, he works on the left hand of God. He who is above the throne is made by you.”

— Rabbi of Apta

Its opposite is the Yetzer ha-ra, that is, evil or "the perverse instinct", as in Christianity it concerns temptation. Indeed, the Yetzer ha-ra is present in almost all human beings from the origin of Creation because of the original sin, a concept widely discussed in Jewish Kabbalah. Hasidism then made it a radical issue to the point of a moral imperative in the religious obligation to "conquer and definitively defeat the Yetzer ha-ra"; good is thus, together with joy and religious duty, a concomitant factor with religiosity and its level of devotion: the greater the true "attachment to God", the Devekut, the greater the beneficial influence of God, precisely the Merciful Father. In this regard, the 13 attributes of divine Mercy refer to the merits of man, only for punishments does the aspect of rigor prevail (in Hebrew Ghevurah).

The Hassidim have already discussed whether the Yetzer ha-ra is present since early childhood, after birth: in Judaism the Bar Mitzvah also sanctions the awareness of the theological difference between good and evil. The child does not yet present the Yetzer ha-ra, he is practically devoid of it… and yet there exist forms of “rebellion” even at a “tender age” to the point of leading some Rabbis of the current modern-age to affirm that children are either only all Yetzer ha-Tov or “almost all Yetzer ha-ra” because “Nefesh bahamit” (“animal soul”) is part of body from birth thereby leaving the doubt on the matter since the theological-mystical figure of the Tzaddik remains a foundation of the Chassidut:

Rabbi Pinḥas, entering the School one day, saw that the students, engaged in a passionate speech, were startled at his arrival. He asked: «What are you talking about?» «Rabbi», they said, «we are talking about our concern that the Evil Instinct runs after us.» «Do not worry», he replied, «you have not yet arrived so high for it to run after you; first you will run after him.»

So the base-soul (Nefesh) is present at birth but this can be divine with Torah and Mitzvot; after that a jew can have also Ruach, Neshamah and Chaya so with Yechidah souls:

The animal soul naturally gravitates towards that which it perceives as pleasurable and gratifying. As physical beings, our default pleasures are physical, and often of the forbidden variety. It is our task to reprogram the animal soul, to teach it that while it is fine to satisfy its selfish cravings—it should crave that which is infinitely better and sweeter than anything this world can offer—namely, a connection with God.

However, while good comes directly from God in the ways of grace and mercy according to divine goodness, evil was instead created by God, it was added; for example, pain or suffering initially should have been tests for the Tzaddik. As for “the possibility of choosing”, Chassidut and Judaism generally consider the possibility or not of fulfilling the Mitzvot and not that of the risk of harming oneself, someone or in any case of causing damage voluntarily: this means that Jewish theology does not consider evil as part of being a Jew, apart from suffering, but Teshuvah includes repentance for errors in fulfilling the precepts, often involuntary or due to force majeure.

Kabbalah

In Kabbalah, evil arises created by the breaking of the vessels (“Tohu and Tikkun”) that could not contain the divine light: this was the first imperfection from the beginning, before the time of “the work of Creation”.

Subsequently, Adam then transgressed the first divine commandment with the original sin; similarly, Kabbalah expresses the spread of the first sin with “the contamination of the snake's venom”, which was notably cursed and which, in Kabbalah again, was struck especially in the body affected by “leprosy” for which this animal changes its skin: this punishment is due to the Lashon hara, that is the slander against God perpetrated by the snake.

In Kabbalah, the divine Sefirot are the seal of the imitatio dei that the human being must pursue throughout his existence:

Understand the meaning, son. Preserve it through the creation of a world of joy. Joy that will make your heart modulate understanding and joy. Then a great pleasure will transform them into a flaming multidirectional rotating sword ready to fight the aggressors. Because the chimeras and the disconnected thoughts that arise from the mind, under the impulse of the Yetzer hara, are the first to emerge from the mental dispersions. They surround you like cutthroats. They “cloud” the Daat (“knowledge”) of the modest people because of the mistake of Adam and Eve. In fact, Adam has only one solution: to return to eat the fruit produced by the Tree called “Life” and which eternally animates him. Because “life” [החיים] is “Wisdom” (Chokhmah [חכמה])

— Abraham Abulafia

The poison of the serpent, from which for example Mose as first and Aaron only with the initiation as high priest (“Kohen Gadol”) were cleansed and free, has thus contaminated all humanity as well as some animals: it constitutes the paradigm of every sin and every severe divine punishment but is at the same time intrinsic to beings… although the Tikkun olam is the only way to remedy the shortcomings and deficiencies resulting from the original sin.

Kabbalah is also expressed in this way in Jewish eschatological theology: the serpent that tempted Adam and Eve also represents Amalek, defeated only in the messianic realization.

Pentateuch

Parashah Re'eh:

Look, I place before you today the blessing and the curse... behold, I place before you life and death, good and evil... but you will choose life

The Torah hints at the fact that the human being can truly choose something beyond earthly faculties, something spiritual that even reaches the point of definitively uniting with God; in the Pentateuch, that is in the Torah, faith and devotion acquire a mystical value in its deepest meaning: one can even adhere to the will of Almighty God with an intention and this goes beyond the common intention of communion with God during prayer, in Judaism constituted by the kavvanah and the Devekut. The Brit ("pact") is for the Jew more than a normal oath, it is a real marriage, of which the Torah is the marriage contract, as mentioned. Furthermore, the union with God also allows one to consider oneself a collaborator with Him in Creation, for example with Shabbat and with the Kiddush, as mentioned: "be holy... because I am Holy".

Personification of evil

Although certain ancient groups of Jews appear to have believed in the existence of supernatural evil, in particular fallen angels (as in the Dead Sea scrolls), the yetzer hara in non-apocryphal sources is presented as a personification of evil distinct from the supernatural Devil of traditional Christianity and Islam. This tendency to demythologize Satan is found in the Babylonian Talmud and other rabbinical works, e.g.: "Resh Laqish said: Satan, the evil inclination, and the Angel of Death are all one." Notably, however, this and other passages of the Talmud do not deny the external existence of Satan, but create a synthesis between external and internal forces of evil. Similar tendencies can also be found in some Enlightenment Christian writers, such as in the religious writings of Isaac Newton.

Countering the effects of yetzer hara

Many of the enactments made by the rabbis throughout the centuries are actual "safeguards" to distance a person from their natural inclination and make it harder for them to sin. David's prohibition against yichud (the decree which forbids a man to be secluded in a room with a woman unrelated to him), and the rules outlining the conduct of Jews when entering a public bath house, are a just a few examples.

See also

• Anger in Judaism
• Concupiscence
• Devil
• Lashon hara, evil tongue
• Original sin
• Repentance in Judaism
• Satan

Further reading

• Buber, Martin (1952), Images of Good and Evil, in: Good and Evil. Two Interpretations..

External links

• "The Birth of the Good Inclination" at My Jewish Learning
• Judaism 101—A Glossary of Basic Jewish Terms and Concepts
• The Role of the Yetzer HaRa
• Ohr Somayach - Ask The Rabbi / Is man intrinsically evil?