Making A Joke Out of The Yetzer Hara Makes It Easier to Overcome
Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch (RSRH) says that Moshe powdered up the particles of the Golden Calf to show how foolish and "zero" it is! This is perhaps Moshe’s approach in serving Hashem; like it says about Yosef: "He made a joke out of his Yetzer Hara." This was the path of Novardok; like Eliyahu on Har HaCarmel, who made Leitzanus (mockery) of Avoda Zara. It is important to be discerning and see through the fallacy of our lusts for desire and honor, and this makes it easier to overcome our Yetzer Hara.
We also see how strong Moshe was. After breaking the Luchos, he smashes the Golden Calf. The most humble of men was also super tough, and no pushover! A young man asked for advice about going to a Simcha where many people would besiege him for Tzedaka, and he couldn’t say “No.” The magnitude of his involvement in Tzedaka causes was hurting his spirituality. So I told him to specifically go to the Simcha, and to work on being a “mean” person. It is known that R' Elyashiv Zatzal was very strong in closing his doors to people who were disturbing him. He said that he liked Novardokers for this reason; that people couldn’t push them around.
The world is full of people who can’t say “no,” and who don’t have their own minds. Certainly, there is no Mitzva to be mean. But sometimes, wanting to be “Mr. Nice Guy” can be very detrimental to your whole Yiddishkeit. Many older singles aren’t married because they are holding on to the “apron strings” of their parents’ opinion. Many young men are totally dependent on their wives’ decisions, and they aren’t like a “Gavra” should be. Before Dovid HaMelech was Niftar, he told his son, Shlomo: "Be a man!" (Melachim I 2:2)
If Dovid told Shlomo to be this way, obviously he himself was a "man." When he wanted to fight Golyas, his oldest brother Eliav criticized him sharply, but it made no difference to him. He ignored his brother, and killed Golyas, the giant Pelishti.
