In the Gemara (Sukkah 52a) our Sages taught: “Whoever is greater than his fellow, his evil inclination is greater than his fellow’s.”20
Rabbi Eliyahu Eliezer Dessler, of blessed memory, explained:21
The greater a person is, the more difficult his tests become. The reason for these challenges is to raise his “point of free will.” If his tests were to remain small, as those of an ordinary person, he would have hardly any spiritual work at all.
If people knew what trials the truly great tzaddikim endure, they would not understand how it’s possible for them to survive. On the outside everything looks fine, but those who know a bit of what goes on inside the hearts of others understand that there are tzaddikim who endure extremely difficult and bitter tests. On the one hand, their trials are enormous; on the other hand, G-d assists and helps them.
The battle against the evil inclination is like a pendulum. To the extent you raise it to one side, it will swing to an equal height on the opposite side. Were it not so, choosing the good would be easier for the righteous than for ordinary people, and the value of the tzaddik’s deeds would be diminished.22
For there are two types of evil inclination. The first is the natural evil inclination, which operates through a person’s bad character traits. The second is a spiritual evil inclination, which manufactures tests for a person not via his innate traits, but in other ways.
A person of low spiritual level is simply left in the hands of his bad middot and character traits, and that is sufficient — those traits will mislead him to think that what is bad is good, and that a sin is actually a mitzvah, and his challenge is set before him.
But people of elevated stature, who clearly know the truth — for them, the evil inclination arouses within them a powerful desire that can momentarily push aside their clear vision of the truth. The souls of tzaddikim and great Torah scholars are immense, and they recognize the truth completely. Therefore, their primary battle is against the spiritual kind of evil inclination that may cloud their judgement and urge them to err.
This is as we often see with a patient who knows full well that he must listen to his doctor’s instructions if he genuinely wants to recover and not cause further harm — yet when the urge grows strong, it may drive away all other considerations from his mind.
Likewise with the righteous in refined and lofty matters: since their holy deeds produce immense effects in the upper worlds, a corresponding fierce incitement of the evil inclination is aroused against them. Just as a violently swung pendulum returns, an equally strong opposing force comes back against their valiant spiritual efforts.
Thus, the holier a person is, the more brazen are the spiritual enemies that confront him. There are tzaddikim for whom the entire celestial chariot of impurity with all of its forces stands opposite and battles against them...
A similar dynamic occurs with every Jew who awakens to do teshuvah, who rouses his heart to draw closer to his Creator...
We will conclude our discussion by expanding upon this phenomenon.
Wellsprings of Wisdom
20. The Gemara (Sukkah 52a) continues: Abaye said, “And with Torah scholars, the evil inclination incites them more than anyone.”
As in the incident with Abaye, who once overheard a man saying to a woman, “Let’s get up early and hit the road together.”
Abaye said to himself, “I’ll follow them and keep them from sin.”
He followed behind them for three parsa’ot (a few miles) through a meadow. When they finally parted ways (as they were from different towns and had reached a crossroads where each went their own way), he overheard them say, “The road is long and our company was pleasant; if only we could continue together...”
Abaye said: “If that had been my worst enemy [i.e. if I were the one in that situation], I would not have been able to restrain myself from sinning!” Feeling weak, he went and leaned against a doorpost, distressed regarding his spiritual state, until a certain elder came and taught him: “Whoever is greater than his fellow, his inclination is greater than him.”
21. Michtav MeEliyahu, vol. 5, p. 143, 412.
22. Rabbi Dessler continues (ibid.): “A great tzaddik feels a great swinging of the pendulum; whereas for a simple person, the swing is smaller. There is even a person at a very low level who feels no pendulum movement at all. This is extremely undesirable — for it means he is completely in the grip of his bad traits, and the Satan says about him, ‘He’s mine.’ Since he is not fighting his evil inclination, the evil inclination sees no need to fight him...”