When You Feel Tempted by Your Yetzer Hara Make a Joke Out of It

הִתְעַלַלְתִי means making jokes. It is interesting that Yosef HaTzaddik was called: פּוּטִיאֵל “Putiel”, which also means: מְפַּטְפֵּט בְיִצְרו he made a joke of his Yetzer Hara. (Rashi). He did this when he was confronted with the wife of Potiphar, and Hashem makes a joke out of the country of: מ"ט שַעֲרֵי טוּמְאָה 49 gates of Tum'ah (i.e., Mitzrayim). צְפַרְדֵעַ means either frogs or crocodiles; both have permanent smiles on their faces. Both these creatures are... either a major nuisance (a frog), causing havoc all over Mitzrayim and ending up inside Paroh’s belly, etc. Or downright dangerous (a crocodile). Crocodiles are ferocious maneaters. I have seen many pictures of Nazis tormenting Jews and laughing. The Romans used to entertain themselves in large stadiums watching hungry lions attacking Jews. The Mitzri'im used to have a Yid “performing” for them. They put him in a dangerous position with a candle balancing on his head. If he made a wrong move, he was in the danger of being burned. Now the Mitzri would see a picture of his true-self; with smiling, dangerous, and annoying animals entering his house. R' Yehoshua Leib Diskin’s father told a story about how the Polish “Poritzim” who couldn’t sleep at night would go to Jewish homes and have them flogged with painful lashes, as they and their wives would “enjoy the fun” and watch the “show”.