The words entered the heart of Yakum, man of Tzeroros, like the venom of a snake, and he immediately did Teshuva, and accepted upon himself the four death penalties of Bais Din and died. Just then Yosi ben Yoezer dozed off, and saw his bier floating in the air, and said, “In such a short time, this one preceded me to Gan Eden.”
This story arouses wonder, if Yakum was so wicked, to the point that he was brazen enough to embarrass his righteous uncle, and mock him when he was being taken out to be killed, what was so admirable about his Teshuva? At first, he did not believe in reward and punishment, and as a result of his uncle’s response was only on the belief that there is reward and punishment, but he was not rebuked with reward and punishment. Nevertheless, because of this he did Teshuva which impressed him to the extent that he immediately accepted upon himself the four death penalties of Bais Din. We must say that he still had a spark of emunah, and if so, then how was he able to disparage reward and punishment at first, after all, at first glance it seems that it is not possible for any person to dare to mock so much about the matter of reward and punishment unless he is a complete nonbeliever.
The answer to this is that Yakum was not really all that bad by nature, however, the yetzer found an opening to confuse him and demonstrate by showing him that there are righteous ones and it is bad for them and there are wicked ones and it is good for them. This incident bullied him, and with this the yetzer succeeded to tempt him to follow his heart. However, when he saw his righteous uncle attain ‘tzaddik v’ra lo’, and even so he justified the judgment and strengthened his emunah even as they were taking him out to kill him, so he concluded that his uncle had the answer to his bewilderment, for another would not have been able to justify the judgment. Therefore, he hastened to meet his uncle on his horse, so that the uncle would understand the gap between them and respond with something conceivable. And so, his uncle responded with an answer that settled his mind. It caused him to immediately do Teshuva, for at first, he was not looking to do bad, rather it was the result of the confusion of the yetzer, however when the matter was settled, he regretted very much having listened to his yetzer, and he was immediately prepared and ready to return to his Maker, and even pay with his life.
We learn a great general principle from here, the yetzer always tries to confuse the person with many confusions and wonders, with the purpose of bringing the person to be a denier, to make him sin or to relax his avodah. Sometimes the answer to his complaint is clear and plain, however, since the person is being tested by Heaven, he does not see this. However, the person must be strong and understand that this is test before him. The Torah says regarding times like this (Devorim 18:13) 'תמים תהיה עם ה' אלקיך' – ‘You shall be wholehearted with Hashem, your G-d’, one must fulfill the will of his Creator without question.
The truth is, sometimes the yetzer uses rational arguments, and it is very hard to overpower it. However, the wise know that the only way the yetzer can make him lax in avodah is with a claim like this, so with every moment of avodah one earns eternal reward, why listen to the yetzer? This is only a ploy of the yetzer to bring the person to a test, and this is why the person receives reward when he overpowers it, reward is based on effort.
חיזוק להתגבר על היצר
The encouragement to overcome the yetzer
Moshe said to Aharon, ”Of this did Hashem speak, saying, ‘I will be sanctified through those who are close to Me, and I will be honored before the entire people’”, and Aharon fell silent. (10:3)
Rashi explains: ‘And I will be honored before the entire people – When HaKadosh Baruch Hu carries out judgment against the righteous, He is feared, and exalted, and lauded. If so with these, all the more so against the wicked. And so it says (Tehillim 68:36) 'נורא אלקים ממקדשיך' – ‘G-d is feared from Your Sanctuary.’ Do not read ‘from Your Sanctuary’, but rather, ‘from Your sanctified ones’.’
These words of Rashi come to straighten the intellect and with this, strengthen emunah. When the trait of Justice is stretched over the tzaddikim, the yetzer wants to turn the situation to its benefit, and plant seeds of rebellion in the hearts of Israel. It tells the person, “See how that tzaddik is suffering so much, while at the same time that rasha has everything good, everywhere he turns he sees blessing. Is this not a proof that the world is ownerless, there is no justice and no judge?” This is how it entices the person to raise questions one is not supposed to ask.
Rashi comes to settle the mind of the one who was tempted and tells him the opposite is correct, not just that there is no substance to the proof of the yetzer, rather, the facts have to arouse additional yireh to his yireh. If the Attribute of Justice found an opening to punish the tzaddikim, then surely with the intermediate and the wicked. And this that we find that there is a rasha and it is good for him, the Gemara (Berachos 7a) has already responded that we are talking about a rasha who is not completely bad, and he has some merit which deserves to be rewarded, and his reward is given to him in this world. In contrast, the tzaddik who is suffering is not completely righteous, and in order to merit the good in the World to Come he is punished in this world.
We find in the Medrash (Bereishis Rabbah Parsha 65) that this answer is also applied to one who was completely wicked in the past. This was Yakum, a man of Tzeroros, the son of the sister of the holy Tanna Yosi ben Yoezer. Yakum threw off the yoke of the Kingdom of Heaven from upon him and followed the will of his heart. Yakum was also close to the wicked kingdom, and the palace gave him his heart’s desire.
One day, his uncle Yosi ben Yoezer was arrested because of words of Torah, and the kingdom sentenced him to death. As they were walking him to the gallows, Yakum, his sister’s son met him while riding on a fine horse given to him by the palace and he bragged to his righteous uncle, “See the fine horse my master gave me to ride on, what horse has your Master given you to ride on?” That is, in the merit of the mitzvos that you kept, your Master is bringing you to the place of your death...
Yosi ben Yoezer was not moved by the arrogant words of his nephew, and replied, “If to those who do His will Heaven is so meticulous to punish, then how much more so those who go against His will, will be punished and repaid for their evilness, and if to those who go against His will are rewarded for their minimal good deeds, how much more so will those who do His will, will receive an abundance of good in the World to Come.”
