The Essential ‘Stairwell’ Stage
Rabbi Nachman of Breslov, of blessed memory, taught:23
“When a person first feels a thought of teshuvah awaken within him – as a result of the good essence that has stirred inside him – the actions that he takes at this initial stage “kill” his evil inclination of the present. That is, he nullifies the yetzer hara he had before, being that he has killed it through this initial thought of teshuvah and good deeds.
But then afterward, when he wishes to progress further in serving G-d, another evil inclination arises against him. For “whoever is greater than his fellow, his inclination is greater as well,” – now that he is greater, his yetzer hara is likewise greater than what he had at first!
If he does not strengthen himself to face it, this new evil inclination will overpower him and he will descend from the spiritual yearning that he had at the beginning. Now he needs a new, even greater strength to withstand this new yetzer hara that has come his way.”
Let us expand upon his holy words:
When a Jew is settled at a given spiritual level, he enjoys a certain inner calm. The evil inclination has no special interest in contending with him; if he does not go looking for sin, the yetzer will not go looking for him.
But when a Jew awakens and begins moving toward the next level, the forces of impurity immediately rouse themselves against him and attempt to block his ascent.
Thus, an increase in trials and temptations is itself the sign that a person is on the road to conquering the next spiritual rung. And this knowledge is as vital to a Jew’s inner life as the air he breathes...24
This understanding is essential because every person must experience in life not only rises and successes, but also declines and failures. Even a completely righteous person undergoes occasional falls, as it is said: “For though the righteous one may fall seven times, he still gets up” (Proverbs 24:16). A person’s greatness lies in not remaining fallen, but in overcoming, rising again, and returning to his former strength.
This is the praise of the righteous: though they, too, endure sorrow, trials, and setbacks in the service of the Creator, they always “overcome like a lion”—lifting themselves up, rising from the fall, and regaining their original integrity. Thus, even though “the righteous falls seven times,” immediately “he gets up” (ibid.).
Even if, in battling the evil inclination, a person becomes a bit soiled, he must not wave the white flag and surrender. He must shake himself free—“Shake yourself from the dust; arise!”—and keep fighting.
Even in a spiritual downturn, he must not sink into despair. He must not let longing, yearning, desire, and ambition cool for even a moment. He should strive to serve G-d as best he can in his present state...
Even if he has stumbled, he must cry out to himself: “I don’t belong there! I have nothing to do with sin! So I failed—yet that doesn’t make me a captive. Even if I fall, I rise and move on!”
To make peace with sin leads to the tragedy of the “Nephilim.” Therefore, every Jew must shout inwardly: “I am not there! My place is not in tum’ah! I have no connection to filth or impurity!” By the strength of that cry, he merits to lift himself up and return to his true place—the place of the Jewish soul...
Danny (from the beginning of the booklet) lifted his eyes from the Mesilot pamphlet and wiped away a stray tear. Then he continued reading:
The holy Torah taught us all of this with the letter Vav in the word “gachon” (“Gachon” – refers to the snake), as Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Ehrenreich writes (Even Shlomo, p. 45, on Leviticus):
“It was taught by Chazal (Sukkah 52a): ‘Whoever is greater than his fellow, his evil inclination is greater than his fellow’s.’ Therefore, one who occupies himself with Torah and serves G-d – his yetzer is bigger, and the snake grows larger each time, in proportion to how much he increases in fear of G-d and Torah each day.
Consider one who travels by ship on the sea. When he is in the middle of the sea, he is in a more dangerous spot than one who travels by ship near the shoreline, where he is closer to dry land.
So it is exactly with one who toils in Torah. The more he goes down into the depths of the sea of Torah, serving G-d with all his might, the more he is like someone in the open sea – in the deepest place, and in the greatest danger, for his yetzer is much larger.
Therefore, the Vav of “gachon” is the midpoint of the Torah, to hint and teach that whoever delves into the depths of the sea of Torah – then the gachon, which is the snake, grows larger. For that reason the Vav (of “gachon”) is written as an enlarged letter – to teach us that whoever is greater than his fellow, his evil inclination is greater than him...”
From here we understand that it is impossible to eliminate the evil inclination,25 since as a person grows, his yetzer grows together with him! What a Jew can do is to change the realm and arena of his struggle.
For example: at first a person’s yetzer might battle him primarily with temptation for money. After he purifies himself and reaches a level of “Lovers of G-d, who hate evil” (Psalms 97:10), the yetzer will begin to battle him in the area of anger – attempting to make him angry and irritable...
Yet one can be confident that a Jewish soul will, in the end, prevail. The indomitable light of the neshama will ultimately triumph!
23 Likkutei Moharan, Kama, Torah 72.
24 The holy Rabbi Nachman of Breslov, of blessed memory, likewise teaches (Likkutei Moharan, Kama, Torah 25 §5): “And this is where many of the devout go wrong: All of a sudden it seems to them that they have fallen from serving G-d. But in truth this is no fall at all – it is only because they must now ascend from one level to the next, and so the kelipot (impure forces), namely the temptations, distractions, fantasies and hindrances of the new level, are being reawakened. Therefore one needs to muster a fresh effort each time to overcome the kelipot anew, hindrances, etc. of each level. But really, it’s not a fall at all!”
25 There is hardly such a concept as entirely killing the yetzer hara. My father Rabbi Yoram Abargel once explained that what is said that King David “killed his evil inclination through his fasts” (Orchot Tzaddikim, Sha’ar HaTeshuvah), means that he killed the yetzer hara of that day. In other words, King David would accept upon himself a fast, and thereby he would kill the evil inclination of that particular day. But the very next day, he would have a brand-new yetzer hara to contend with...