When the Neshamah Is Weak, The Body May Prevail
The city of Yerushalayim was destroyed during the first Churban because the Yidden engaged in the severest aveiros, and the Second Beis HaMikdash was destroyed over sinat chinam, baseless hatred. The Ribbono shel Olam concluded that if Klal Yisrael was being drawn to such things, it was a clear indication that their “inner Yerushalayim” had already been destroyed.
If these temptations are enticing to you, then your inner Yerushalayim has been destroyed. We can understand that the guf is drawn to these things, for that is how the body is calibrated—but why wasn’t your neshamah strong enough to withstand the temptations and to quiet the noise?
The Torah’s plan was never for there not to be a guf.... We all have a body, and it demands what it demands every day, all over again. It wants this and it desires that... it becomes angry, and it has grand designs and aspirations for building its ego, and so forth. It’s all true. But the Ribbono shel Olam armed you with Torah and mitzvos. He has given you a neshamah that you’re meant to feed and sustain and fortify.
If you were close to the Ribbono shel Olam, you would be far less tempted. The entire reason a person didn’t withstand the nisyonos is because his inner Yerushalayim had been destroyed.
