Jewish Inspiration Podcast · Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe

You're listening to Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe of Torch in Houston, Texas. This is the Jewish Inspiration Podcast.

And now, my dear friends, we resume day number 165 in the Orchestra of Tzadik and Ways of the Righteous in the Gate of Repentance. Last segment was day number 164, and we read into day number 165 already, and that is that a person should create a fence to protect themselves from falling into a trap that they know they are weak in.
So whether it's women, whether it's looking at women in a way that's immodest, a person should protect themselves so they don't fall into a trap. Because of Rabbeinu Avram ben David, Zichron HaLebrocha, Vereinu l'arbesenu shehoyu chasidim g'murim. We saw of our sages that were very, very pious. V'hoyu goyderum atzvam bekam agdarim. And they would protect themselves with many fences. V'hoya mehem misheh peirash meishto, akhrey shekiem etzeh s'pir yivrivo, v'chol echad v'echad hoyu goyder atzma, lefim mashahoyim akir s'tiva.
Everyone would know their nature, and according to the nature, would protect themselves with the area they felt was most challenging for them. Okay? That means a person should not put themselves into a place where they know they're going to fail. Ki yesh odam sheyesh lo tava lavera achas, ve'ein lo tava lavera acheres. Some people have a desire and an urge for one sin, but don't have for a different sin. All right?
So for one guy, it might be the food is a big temptation, so you got to make sure you protect yourself. Don't walk into a place that has non-Kosher food. To other person, it could be immodesty. Don't walk into a place that has immodesty. Right? And don't allow yourself to fall into that trap. By the way, this is also with internet. It's also with internet. There's a tremendous problem in our generation where people are suffering from addictions, whether it be pornography, whether it be gambling.
A person has to set themselves up for success, or even shopping, right? Shopping is also an addiction. That's not a healthy one, right? A person has to be very careful, self-aware, and design a protective measure that they don't fall into the trap, whatever it may be. K'gon le'echot she'yesh lo ta'va le'znos, ve'lo le'gnov. One person may have lust for immorality, while his lust is not for stealing, not for theft. Another person desires stealing. He wants to steal money, but he doesn't care about immorality.
He doesn't have that lust. Ve'le'sheni ye'sh ta'va le'gnov, ve'lo le'znos. Lo'chen kol echot yaaseh g'dorum le'fi ma she'ro she'yitzo mizgabralav. Therefore, every person should make their own protective barrier based on their specific temptations. Im datu nem'shechas le'gnevo, yisra'chik mele'kabel p'gdonos le'ishtadel b'shel acherem. Then a person who knows that he has a temptation for thievery has to be careful not to borrow things from people that he knows he's going to end up stealing, or not to put his hands, not to touch something that doesn't belong to him.
And vice versa. Ve'cheni yaaseh g'dorum le'chol davar. For every area of life, a person should be careful to create protective measures, not to fall into a trap of his sin. Any sin. Ve'cheni umra b'sheni zokhalav rochah. And therefore, Sages of Blessed Memory said, Al Avrom, she'hayetzer hishlim imo, ve'al ze'nemar bir'tzos Hashem dar ke'ish gam oyivov yashlim mito. What does it say about our father Abraham, may peace be upon him, that the evil inclination made peace with him? What does that mean?
When Hashem is pleased with a man's ways, his foes, his evil inclination, too, makes peace with him. Meaning, he knew he wasn't getting Abraham to slip up on anything. He knew Abraham protected himself. What happened with Abraham and Lot, with the flock that was going to pasture? He said, listen, I don't want to be next to those people. I have my own land, only in my own land. He says, well, that's a difference. It goes a little bit, eat from their crops.
No, I don't want to, I don't have anything to do with it. You know what? Abraham was so cautious about this. He says, you know what? You take your animals and you go. I don't want to do business with you. I don't want to do business with someone who isn't honest, calling it for what it is. Maybe he knew in his nature that this was a weakness. So he says, I can't allow myself to fall into a trap. Very important.
And we see that King David fought and waged war with his yetzer, with his evil inclination. We see that he saw that his evil inclination was not weak and was not amenable. And that he could not overpower it. So you know what he did? King David arose and killed it. And we see this, where do we see this? In Psalms 109, verse 22. And my heart is empty of the evil inclination from within. Meaning I purged him. I killed him. I killed my yetzer.
And at first, God, in the beginning Hashem enthroned Abraham over 243 organs and in the end over 248 organs, adding dominance over the two eyes and the two ears and the foreskin. Okay, so he added five extra components to Abraham's overtaking over his evil inclination. Abraham's yetzer was soft. He was gentle with him. King David, his yetzer hara was strong, fighting fiercely against him. He needed to battle with him every single day. When King David saw that he wasn't able to overcome his yetzer hara, he killed him.
He killed the yetzer hara, his evil inclination. Some say that he killed it. How did he kill it? He killed it by fasting. Because the yetzer hara doesn't have what to do when you're fasting. He's like sitting there on the sidelines. He's like, okay, let's wait till he starts eating and then I'll be able to get him to forget reciting a blessing. We can have him eat gluttonously. We'll have him do something where the food will make him comfortable and then we'll bring
other desires upon him. He was able to, he had to kill his yetzer hara. He saw that the yetzer hara was finding things that are permissible and then throwing in that which is prohibited. You know, he would throw it in on the side. He just like, you know, you come for one thing, you leave for the other. That's not, King David was very concerned about that. You know, there's a story that's told about Rabbi Aron Leib Steinman.
Rabbi Aron Leib Steinman, I think we have his book here in our magnificent Levitt family library, Stories of the Sages. So when he was older, his family was very concerned of him sleeping at home alone. So they wanted one of the grandchildren to come stay by him. He said, I don't need anybody to stay here. He says, my friend comes and stays here every day. He says, what are you talking about? What friend that stays here? He says, my yetzer hara, are you kidding?
For 98 years, I know this yetzer hara, we've been fighting it out every day. He says, he keeps me company every single day. He makes sure that I'm not alone ever. He's always here with me, fighting with me. So a person has to know his yetzer hara. And this is what the author here is teaching us. That every person is different. Every person has their own temptation. And a person has to be aware and awake to it.
He says, at the end of the day, it doesn't make a difference if your yetzer hara is a tough guy or if he's a soft guy. You have to always just be fighting with him, pay attention to your yetzer hara. Know where is that evil inclination and make sure you overcome him. If a person knows that by clicking on a certain channel, you'll see something inappropriate, get rid of the channel. Get rid of it. End your subscription. Okay? No, I'm serious.
A person has to know. A person has to know what their temptation is. And if that's their temptation, whatever it may be, even by the way, what if sports is a tremendous time waster? If a person knows that they're going to end up wasting a whole day watching all Sunday, they're watching football, and that's not where they feel that they should be wasting their time. Person has to be very, very careful. Person has to identify what are those yetzer haras that I need to protect myself from.
And then battle with the yetzer hara and beat him. You got that, Mark? You got to beat him. All right. This concludes.

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