With this understanding, we can interpret the following (Shabbas 31b): "אמר רבא, בשעה שמכניסין אדם לדין אומרים לו, נשאת ונתת באמונה, קבעת עתים לתורה, עסקת בפריה ורביה, צפית לישועה, פלפלת בחכמה, הבנת דבר מתוך דבר". Rava said: When they escort a person to his heavenly judgment, they ask him, “Did you conduct business transactions in good faith? Did you set aside fixed times for Torah-study? Did you engage in procreation? Did you wait with hope for the salvation (coming of Mashiach)? Did you delve into chochmah? Did you infer one thing from another?” Although the last two questions—"פלפלת בחכמה, הבנת דבר מתוך דבר"—seem to be related to Torah-study, they are not juxtaposed to the question: “Did you set aside fixed times for Torah-study?” Why not? In keeping with our current discussion, we can propose that these issues do not apply exclusively to the study of Torah; they also apply to the struggle to overcome the yetzer hara.
As we have explained, the yetzer hara occasionally assists a Jew to fulfill a mitzvah as part of its strategy to prevent him from serving Hashem properly and with fervor. Therefore, they ask him in the heavenly court: “Did you delve into chochmah?”—to ascertain whether a particular mitzvah was from the yetzer hara or not. If you reply that you delved into the matter with chochmah but failed to reveal the duplicity of the yetzer, they ask the additional question: “Did you infer one thing from another?” In other words, did you at least examine the results of the mitzvah? Did it lead to a higher level of serving Hashem or the opposite, chas v’shalom?
