Parshas Braishis

When the Chofetz Chaim was an old man he struggled to go to shul on cold winter mornings. When he woke up his yetzer hara would say "it's cold out there stay bed until it warms up a little". "no said the Chofetz Chaim I have to go to shul" "You are an old man no one expects you to get up this early it won't look bad if you don't show up." said the yetzer hara. It was a difficult argument. So the Chofetz Chaim hit upon an idea. He loved coffee. He told the maid that as soon as she awoke she was to immediately put a pot of coffee on the stove. When the Chofetz Chaim was laying in bed fighting with his yetzer hara he would say know it's cold and I'm not expected in shul but if I get up now I can have a cup of coffee.


Earlier this week I saw the following thought from someone in Jerusalem who calls himself Kol Brisk.

In this week’s parasha, we are introduced to the arch-enemy of mankind, the snake a.k.a. the yetzer harah or the evil inclination. Let us try to understand his methods and damage that he caused. The Mai Hashiloach connects the Hebrew word for snake, nachash to the word menachsh, a sorcerer. Just as a sorcerer whips up all kind of deceptions, so did the snake. You see, before Adam ate from the tree of knowledge he innately desired to do only the straightforward Will of Hashem, without any calculations. The snake was jealous of the sublime status of man, and of the benefits that went along with this. He tricked Chava, and through her, Adam into thinking that eating from the tree was truly the better path to take in service of Hashem.



Once the act was done the whole situation of mankind was altered. Adam could not longer allow himself to be guided by his desires because now he had desires of his own. After eating from the tree, things that are evil and run counter to the will of Hashem, could seem desirable and good. Things that are destructive and unhealthy could be seen as constructive and healthy. The intrinsically repulsive could seem attractive and desirable. Also, now, the sublime and wonderful could be warped to seem unattractive and undesirable.



The negative power of the imagination was set loose.

When we try to do a mitzvah the Yetzer Harah, who sees that he will get nowhere trying to incite us to sin out rightly, has another tactic. He will attempt to get us to do what seems to us a “mitzvah” - what we have ourselves convinced is a mitzvah, when in reality, it is something else, not sublime, not constructive, not good – not the authentic will of Hashem. It is some kind of act construed of all sorts of ulterior motives lurking in the recesses of our subconscious, dressed up as a mitzvah.



Is there any way that we can check ourselves, in order to know the difference between a real genuine Mitzvah and a “mitzvah” that is really something else in disguise??



The Vilna Gaon, in his commentary on The Book of Ruth, gives us a way to check ourselves:

Naomi tried to dissuade Ruth from following her to Israel. At a certain point she stopped:

And she [Naomi] saw that she [Ruth] was exerting herself to go with her, and she [Naomi] stopped trying to dissuade her.

Ruth was younger than Naomi. She easily and effortlessly could have overtaken the pace of her elderly companion Naomi. The fact that she had to exert herself to continue on the journey to Israel was the best sign that her motivation for becoming a Jew was altruistic and pure. At that point, Naomi stopped trying to dissuade Ruth, and became silent.

So it is, explains the Vilna gaon, whenever we take upon ourselves to do a mitzvah. If we find ourselves automatically running to do the deed, our heartbeat increased, our feet automatically jumping to go, the words jumping out of our mouth, the adrenaline level up, we should stop and check ourselves. What are our motivations? If the above symptoms are present, something might be off target. For the person's physical body was created from earth and only becomes excited by the prospect of earthly and physical benefit and pleasure.

If, however, the person sets out to do something and finds that he has to exert himself and has to make an effort, this is a good, sure sign that his motivation is pure. The physical opposition of his body is simply a sign that the Yetzer Harah is trying to intercept, for the person has decided to do something good, for the right reasons..

This holds true in all realms, in all relationships, in all the ways that we seek to do and accomplish. All meaningful things come with exertion and effort.



We have begun the fall winter half of the year. This time period is traditionally a very productive on for the Jewish people. This is the time of year that we start taking classes, find study partners undertake new projects and try to fulfill Rosh Hashanah resolutions. As the year progresses we often become disheartened. Why is it that as much as I value Torah study a grade B movie with a little nudity makes my heart pump but going to class is a perpetual struggle? How come we are always late going to shul but everyone is on time for the Falcons game? To be sure I am not suggesting that we don't try to minimize the earthly distractions and I am not adverse to practical suggestions to make the Torah more attractive to the eye. We try to make the classes interesting. We each try to live close to the shul and the kosher food to avoid the "it's too far" yetzer hara. We try to use earthly enticements to ease the path to Torah. We try to keep the shul clean, warm and inviting. We have a fresh stock of Glen Livet at the Kiddush thanks to Joey Hotz and we try to have scrumptious sponsored Kiddush like it is today in honor of Oriahs Bat Mitzva. We offer treats in the youth program. And we try to honor and acknowledge people. However when it is all said and done everyone, every time will have to exert themselves to come to participate to learn and to grow.

Since the time of the snake that is the way it must be for anything that has value.

So as we begin our pursuit of all of our lofty and noble goals let us bear in mind that it is never easy. And let us also remember to put a pot of coffee on the stove.