(6) And G!d said to Cain, “Why are you distressed, And why is your face fallen? (7) Surely, if you do right, There is uplift. But if you do not do right Sin couches at the door; Its urge is toward you, Yet you can be its master.” (8) Cain said to his brother Abel … and when they were in the field, Cain set upon his brother Abel and killed him.
According to verse 7, wrongful action brings sin close. We’re more accustomed to thinking the inverse: that the temptation of sin induces wrongful action. What does this text teach about the consequences of our actions?
(א) הַמַּחֲשָׁבָה בְּיַד הָאָדָם לְהַטּוֹתָהּ כִּרְצוֹנוֹ לְמָקוֹם שֶׁהוּא רוֹצֶה, וְכַמְבֹאָר בְּמָקוֹם אַחֵר, שֶׁאִי אֶפְשָׁר שֶׁיִּהְיוּ שְׁנֵי מַחֲשָׁבוֹת בְּיַחַד כְּלָל,
(ב) וַאֲפִלּוּ אִם לִפְעָמִים הוֹלֶכֶת מַחֲשַׁבְתּוֹ וּפוֹרַחַת וּמְשׁוֹטֶטֶת בִּדְבָרִים אֲחֵרִים וְזָרִים, הוּא בְּיַד הָאָדָם לַחֲזֹר וּלְהַטּוֹתָהּ בְּעַל־כָּרְחָהּ אֶל הַדֶּרֶךְ הַיָּשָׁר, לַחֲשֹׁב מַה שֶּׁרָאוּי.
(ג) וְהוּא מַמָּשׁ כְּמוֹ סוּס שֶׁפּוֹנֶה מִן הַדֶּרֶךְ וְסָר לְדֶרֶךְ אַחֵר, שֶׁתּוֹפְסִין אוֹתוֹ בְּאַפְסָר וְכַיּוֹצֵא, וּמַחֲזִירִין אוֹתוֹ בְּעַל־כָּרְחוֹ אֶל הַדֶּרֶךְ הַיָּשָׁר, כְּמוֹ־כֵן בְּמַחֲשָׁבָה מַמָּשׁ, שֶׁיְּכוֹלִין לְתָפְסָהּ בְּעַל־כָּרְחָהּ לְהָשִׁיבָהּ אֶל הַדֶּרֶךְ הָרָאוּי:
(1) Thought is in a person’s control to direct to wherever he wishes. And, as explained elsewhere, it is utterly impossible for two thoughts to be simultaneous.
(2) Thus even if his mind occasionally flies off and wanders in other, foreign matters, a person has the power to direct it back, against its will, to the straight path, to think what is proper.
(3) It is exactly like a horse that strays from the path and turns to another one. We grab hold of it by the reins or something similar, and bring it back, against its will, to the correct path. It is exactly the same with thought. It is possible to grab it against its will and bring it back to the proper path.
What influence do we have over our own thoughts? What techniques have you used to alter or steer the streams that flow through your mind?
(ב) יצר הרע כיצד אמרו שלש עשרה שנה גדול יצר הרע מיצר טוב ממעי אמו של אדם היה גדל ובא עמו והתחיל מחלל שבתות אין ממחה בידו [הורג נפשות אין ממחה בידו הולך לדבר עבירה אין ממחה בידו] לאחר י״ג שנה נולד יצר טוב כיון שמחלל שבתות א״ל ריקה הרי הוא אומר (שמות ל״א:י״ד) מחלליה מות יומת. הורג נפשות א״ל ריקה הרי הוא אומר (בראשית ט׳:ו׳) שופך דם האדם באדם דמו ישפך. הולך לדבר עבירה אומר לו ריקה הרי הוא אומר (ויקרא כ׳:י׳) מות יומת הנואף והנואפת.
The yetzer hara is thirteen years older than the yetzer hatov. While still in the mother's womb, the yetzer hara begins to develop in a person. If he begins to violate the Sabbath, nothing stops him. If he commits murder, nothing stops him. If he goes off to another sin, nothing stops him.
But, after thirteen years, the yetzer hatov is born. When he violates the Sabbath, it rebukes him, "Airhead [literally: "empty one"]! Don't you know it says 'Everyone who violates it will surely be put to death' (Exodus 31:14)?" If he is about to commit murder, it rebukes him, "Airhead! Don't you know it says 'Whoever sheds a man's blood, by man will his blood be shed' (Genesis 9:6)?" If he is about to engage in a sexual sin, it rebukes him, "Airhead! Don't you know it says 'Both the adulterer and the adulteress will surely be put to death' (Leviticus 20:10)?"
What regulates our mind? Values? Social environment? Commitments/responsibilities? Which regulating factors are helpful and which are less so?
Sigmund Freud (1933)
[The Id] is the dark, inaccessible part of our personality; what little we know of it we have learnt from our study of the dream-work and of the construction of neurotic symptoms and most of that is of a negative character and can be described only as a contrast to the ego. We approach the id with analogies: we call it a chaos, a cauldron full of seething excitations. We picture it as being open at its end to somatic influences, and as there taking up into itself [p.499] instinctual needs which find their psychical expression in it but we cannot say in what substratum. It is filed with energy reaching it from the instincts, but has no organisation, produces no collective will, but only a striving to bring about the satisfaction of the instinctual needs subject to the observance of the pleasure principle. The logical laws of thought do not apply in the id, and this is true above all of the law of contradiction.
Similarities may be drawn between the Id and the Yetzer Hara. How is the Freudian notion of Id helpful? How is the notion of the Yetzer Hara helpful? In what ways do the two relate and differ?
Rabbi David Jaffe
Hergesh: In order to begin directing our Yetzer Harah, we need to become aware of how our inclination works, so we need to be aware of our feelings, thoughts, triggers, and motivations, we need to be sensitive to our own emotions. What triggers us and why? We need to look for little moments of when we are feeling vulnerable and get triggered. This means slowing down to notice our feelings.
Kibbush: Once we are are able to notice our vulnerabilities and triggers, we can make a conscious decision whether to follow our inclinations. When something comes up, we use self-restraint, which is not an easy task always, to make a decision that lines up with what we know as the right thing to do rather than the decision that will fulfill the urges of our yetzer. This is about self-restraint in the face of the desire for some kind of instant gratification.
Tikkun: This is about using our desires and urges for the good. Unlike the Kibbush, it doesn't involve saying no, but instead it’s about putting that same inclination in the service of something productive. The classic rabbinic example is the person with a murderous instinct becomes a kosher butcher. Or someone who loves competition and winning competes with themselves to do more and more acts of Hesed or loving-kindness.
Relate a personal experience with one or multiple of the three strategies for dealing with one’s Yetzer.
(7) Rabbi Nahman said in Rabbi Samuel's name: 'Behold, it was good' refers to the Good Desire; 'And behold, it was very good' refers to the Evil Desire. Can then the Evil Desire be very good? That would be extraordinary! But without the Evil Desire, however, no man would build a house, take a wife and beget children; and thus said Solomon: 'Again, I considered all labour and all excelling in work, that it is a man's rivalry with his neighbour.' (Ecclesiastes 4:4).
Are you sold that the “Evil Desire” should at times be characterized as “very good?” If yes, when? If no, why?
אותיבו בתעניתא תלתא יומין ותלתא לילואתא מסרוהו ניהליהו נפק אתא כי גוריא דנורא מבית קדשי הקדשים ... אמר להו חזו דאי קטליתו ליה לההוא כליא עלמא חבשוהו תלתא יומי ובעו ביעתא בת יומא בכל ארץ ישראל ולא אשתכח אמרי היכי נעביד נקטליה כליא עלמא ניבעי רחמי אפלגא פלגא ברקיעא לא יהבי כחלינהו לעיניה ושבקוהו ואהני דלא מיגרי ביה לאיניש בקריבתה
They (The Ancient Sages) ordered a fast of three days and three nights, whereupon he (The Yetzer HaRa) was surrendered to them. He came forth from the Holy of Holies like a young fiery lion. He (one of the rabbis) said to them: Realize that if you kill him, the world goes down. They imprisoned him for three days, then looked in the whole land of Israel for a fresh egg and could not find it. Thereupon they said: What shall we do now? Shall we kill him? The world would then go down. Shall we beg for half-mercy? They do not grant ‘halves’ in heaven. They put out his eyes and let him go. It helped inasmuch as he no more entices men to commit incest.
The mishna articulates a general principle: One is obligated to recite a blessing for the bad that befalls him just as he recites a blessing for the good that befalls him, as it is stated: “And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might” (Deuteronomy 6:5). The mishna explains this verse as follows: “With all your heart” means with your two inclinations, with your good inclination and your evil inclination, both of which must be subjugated to the love of God. “With all your soul” means even if God takes your soul. “And with all your might” means with all your money, as money is referred to in the Bible as might. Alternatively, it may be explained that “with all your might” means with every measure that He metes out to you; whether it is good or troublesome, thank Him.
How does one unite good inclination and evil inclination?
Maggid of Mezeritch Maggid Devarav le-Yaakov no 26
If a king has a son in a filthy place, he will go there out of love for his son in order to remove him from it. So too at times, a thought originated in the worlds above will will come to someone. If she is wise and can discern the locus of the thought, whether love (chesed), fear (yirah), or glory (tiferet), she is able to elevate it even if the thought is this-worldly in the sense of physical desire. She must realize that the thought needs to be repaired at this specific time. Whether it comes from the world of love or the fear or glory, which degenerated because of the Breaking of the Vessels, now is its time to be elevated.
This is the very reason why this thought descended from th eupper worlds and came to her: in order to be raised from its state of brokenness. Thi sis accomplished with a person cleaves unto G!d through this quality (or sefirah) whether it be love, fear, glory or any of the seven lowest sefirot. Therefore a person should always contemplate the sefirah from which the thought was engendered... in order to be able to elevate. The same holds for drinking and eating. When love is engendered in someone in the course of eating and drinking, she should take this pleasure and elevate it to the Creator. The Creator emanates into everything "for the whole earth is full of G!d's glory" (Isaiah 6:3). She must elevate the sense of the thing, each according to with the quality of the seven lower sefirot, thus causing the inner essence to cleave unto the Creator.
What does this story suggest about the state of the Heavens? How much in contrast is it to the Earth? Does this perhaps renewed understanding of what is on Earth and what is in Heaven empower human striving for change?