Rebbe Nachman was once sitting with his Chassidim discussing avodas Hashem. Suddenly, a soldier knocked on the window and said he’s searching for a certain defector. The Chassidim replied that the defector wasn’t there, and the soldier went away. Then, a little while later, there were more insistent knocks on the door, and another soldier demanded to know if the defector was hiding there. Once again, they told the soldier that he wasn’t there, and the soldier left. This happened a number of times until it finally stopped.
Afterwards, Rebbe Nachman commented that this is the way of the yetzer hara. In the beginning, he comes and knocks at our door, and when we turn away from him and tell him that “he has no soldiers here,” he goes away. But then, he comes back and knocks again, and he returns time after time. Nonetheless, if we continue to push him out, he will eventually leave us alone completely (Chayei Mohoran, Avodas Hashem).
This concept is essential for anyone who truly wants to enter in avodas Hashem. It seems to us that because we keep having the same foreign thoughts, we haven’t accomplished anything. However, we must know that this is a mistake. The truth is that every time that we strengthen ourselves to ignore the yetzer hara, we get rid of him. But nonetheless, the way of the yetzer hara is that he comes back and pretends like he’s really a part of our minds, making it appear as if it is impossible to separate from him. Therefore, we must be very stubborn and not pay attention to him, time after time.
Not Becoming Sheep at the Slaughter
This also applies to attaching ourselves to good thoughts, especially during davening. When we try to think about the greatness of Hashem and truly enter the words of tefillah, very often, we are suddenly met with a bunch of unwanted thoughts and worries. And even when we try to ignore these thoughts and focus on our prayers, the thoughts come back again and again, until it seems like it is impossible for us to daven properly.
This is why our lesson is so essential, since it reveals wonderous advice that is absolutely necessary to our lives. These are not just plain words of motivation to strengthen us to stubbornly defeat the yetzer hara. Rather, this lesson is a profound explanation of the strategy of the enemy and how to overcome him. The main reason that people allow themselves to be “sheep at the slaughter” by their negative thoughts of confusion, desire, worry, discouragement, guilt, and so on, is that it seems like there is no way to separate from them, since they come back time after time. So, people give up completely on fighting to purify their minds.
But someone who still is trying to do his job and battle his improper thoughts can sense the powerful medicine that this teaching contains. The first step in overcoming the yetzer hara is knowing that any thought that doesn’t bring us closer to Hashem is mamash an illusion that the enemy sends us to knock us down. However, even after we clearly realize the stupidity of these thoughts, we get completely astounded when we see that they continue to come back, again and again. This can cause us to feel incredible bitterness.
Therefore, we must know that Hashem gives permission to the yetzer hara to tempt us with negative thoughts, time after time. Hashem allows him to stand before us like a soldier and say, “I’m coming to take over your house.” On the other hand, we must also know that Hashem gives every Jew the power to lock the door and disregard his unwanted thoughts. And every single time we do so is a victory in and of itself.
Therefore, we shouldn’t get discouraged when the same thought attacks us again and again, since Hashem gave it permission to do so, much like the soldiers in the story with Rebbe Nachman. If we are strong and persistent to not give in, then eventually, these thoughts will stop bothering us.
Tailor Made Challenges
This idea relates to Likutei Mohoran I, 25, where Rebbe Nachman reveals that each time a person ignores his yetzer hara he goes up to a higher level. But then, in order to enter that level, it is necessary for him to overcome the yetzer hara again, and this time, the yetzer hara is even stronger than before.
However, the yetzer hara hides this reality and makes it seem like it’s the same powerful enemy both times. Thus, the person falls when he sees that he’s unable to eliminate him.
In short, a person doesn’t have to be a great chacham to defeat his foreign thoughts. Rather, he just needs to have simple persistence and not let himself get disappointed. We must understand that the yetzer hara has permission to attack us, time after time. But we have the strength to fight back. If he shoots at us, we shoot in return.
On a deeper level, the reality is that all the challenges we face in this war are tailor made for us by Hashem to help us fulfill our precise mission in life and achieve the tikkun for our neshamos. Once we understand this, we can find the inspiration to consistently do hisbodedus and teshuvah in order to overcome the yetzer hara time after time. Then, eventually, the enemy will see that we’re not paying any attention to him at all, and he will leave us alone completely—ken yehi ratzon!
