We are now in Chodesh Elul, blowing the shofar and waging war against the yetzer hara. Like every war, strategies are required to help us win this great battle.
Let's begin by understanding that the nature of this war is unlike any other war. The goal of a war fought between countries is to conquer the enemy. When the opposing army is defeated, the war is over. But it isn't so with the war against the yetzer hara. When we win one battle, we are confronted with yet another war. It is a never-ending fight. Chazal (Brachos 61.) call the yetzer hara "a fly" because, like a fly, after you chase it away, it returns.
The beginning of this week's parashah (21:10) states, למלחמה תצא כי, "If you go out to war against your enemies..." and the pasuk alludes to the war we wage against the yetzer hara. Take note that the pasuk doesn't state, לנצחון תצא כי, "When you go out to win," rather, the pasuk says when "you go out to war." The Tiferes Shlomo explains that this is because even when we win a round, the war goes on. There is always another battle.
We quote the Tiferes Shlomo (beginning of this week's parashah):
"There are righteous people who battle against their yetzer hara and win, and a few days later, the yetzer hara returns, and they must wage war with the yetzer hara once again! This confuses them, and they ask, 'What is this all about? I already had this war with the yetzer hara and won!' They think they were finished with the yetzer hara, but the yetzer hara returns. They wonder what will be with them. The Torah discusses this situation and explains, תצא כי, the reason you came down to this world, למלחמה is for war. This is your life's mission. For this, you were created."
You cannot win the war once and for all and be at peace with the yetzer hara because then life wouldn't have a purpose. There are always new battles to be fought.
Although we try our best to win all wars, the nature of the world is to lose sometimes. You win some, and you lose some. It is unrealistic to expect to be victorious every time.
The Ruzhiner Rebbe zt'l said, "A potch for a potch, the main thing is that you give the final potch." Sometimes, the yetzer hara wins a battle, and sometimes, you win. The main thing is that you should win in the end.
Reb Yitzchok Hutner zt'l writes in a letter, "When we discuss the greatness of tzaddikim, we have a bad habit to begin at the end [of their lives], focusing on the great levels the tzaddikim achieved. We skip the many years they struggled with their yetzer hara, and we think they were born tzaddikim. [For example], everyone praises the Chofetz Chaim's shemiras halashon, but who speaks about his struggles and ups and downs he encountered until he reached this level? Leaving out the early chapters of their lives creates a problem because when a bachur has a strong desire to grow in avodas Hashem and is confronted with a challenge or a downfall, he thinks he will never reach the level of the tzaddikim he wishes to emulate. He thinks that if he faces challenges, he has no hope. But that is ridiculous. Know, my friend, you will fall time and again, and there will be battles that you will lose. But in the end, you will emerge victorious and wear the crown of success on your head. The wisest of all men said, וקם צדיק יפול שבע, 'A tzaddik falls seven times and rises.' The wise understand that the tzaddik rises because he fell seven times [and he kept lifting himself again]. I beg you, don't think of tzaddikim as people who are at peace with their yetzer tov. Rather, when the yetzer hara is burning inside you, and you're struggling to overcome it, those moments are when you are most similar to the gedolim, even more than when you are at peace with the yetzer hara."
