The Midrash Tanchuma on Parshas Tzav (2) states as follows: “And in the future, when the Holy One, blessed be He, comes to exact retribution from Eisav, what [will] Eisav do? Wrapped in a prayer shawl like an elder, he will come and take his seat beside Yaakov. It is so stated, (Ovadiah 1:4), ‘and though your nest is set among the stars.’ [The ‘nest’ refers to Eisav] and ‘stars’ can only mean Israel (Yaakov), since [Hashem told Avraham as] it is stated (Bereishis 15:5), ‘Look towards the heavens and count the stars... so shall your seed be.’
Yaakov responds to Eisav, ‘My brother, you shall not be like me.’ Accordingly, it is stated (Hoshea 13:14), ‘My brother, your words are death; my brother, your descent is to Sheol.’” The Midrash then continues to explain how Eisav’s words are “words of death” to Yaakov.
The message that the Midrash conveys is that Eisav dresses, “in a prayer shawl, like an elder” and thinks of himself as a righteous person, when in reality, he is evil. The Rebbe of Lublin in his Sefer, “Zichron Zos” (Vayishlach “Katonti”) explains that there are times that the Yetzer Hara (evil inclination) attempts to convince a person that a given course of action is a Mitzvah – when in fact, it is an Aveirah (sin). If a person becomes convinced by the Yetzer Hara that he is doing a Mitzvah, this is a most difficult situation because the person has no knowledge of his Aveirah. Therefore, he does not realize that he needs to do Teshuvah (repent). This is one of the explanations of the prayer of Yaakov, “Hashem, save me please from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Aisav.” Why does the verse say, “from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Aisav”? We already know that Aisav was Yaakov’s brother so the verse should have just said, “from the hand of Aisav”? The understanding is that the verse is emphasizing that Yaakov is praying to Hashem to be saved when the Yetzer Hara appears to him “as a brother”, pretending to look out for his benefit but, in reality, looking to cause him to sin.
In a similar vein, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Hager ZT”L, the first Vishnitzer Rebbe (1830-1884) writes in his “Tzemach Tzaddik” that the future event described in the Midrash above, regarding Eisav dressing up and appearing to be righteous, is quite prevalent today when falsehood has become so prevalent in our world. Like Aisav, everyone wishes to appear as a great Tzaddik, and the Holy One blessed be He removes him from there.
We see from the Vishnitzer Rebbe’s words that we all have, to some degree or another, an internal Aisav that strives to sow sin within us and make it appear as if it is the highest form of a Mitzvah. If Yaakov, despite his righteousness, still felt the need to pray fervently to Hashem to give him the strength to overcome this tendency of the Yetzer Hara, then all the more so, we should do the same.
Rav Michel Twerski Shlita suggests (and we do not recall whether he said this suggestion on his own or cited another), that the way to determine whether a given course of action is the Yetzer Tov (good inclination) speaking and honestly trying to convince you to do a Mitzvah or whether it is the Yetzer Hara using his tendency to convince you to sin, but making it appear to be a Mitzvah is by using the following litmus test. When it is really the Yetzer Tov speaking, he advises you once, and in a straightforward manner, e.g. “This is something that should be done, period.” When the Yetzer Hara speaks, he advises you on the merits of a course of action repeatedly. He tries to convince you from differing angles, using differing rationales. He pushes you and he prods you. Then you know that you are being, “worked on” by the Yetzer Hara.
