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Beit Midrash
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- Chemdat Yamim
- Ein Ayah
Rav says: The yetzer hara (evil inclination) is like a fly that sits on two openings of the heart, as the pasuk says: "Flies of death will spoil the perfumer’s oil" (Kohelet 10:1). Shmuel says: It is like a grain of wheat, as the pasuk says: "At the opening, chatat lies in waiting (chatat means sin, but the gemara understands it as a play of words with chita, which is wheat )" (Bereishit 4:7).
Ein Ayah: There are two ways to look at the cause of sin.
It is possible to look at a person as naturally straight, on his own. It is true that we see most people sinning seriously even on a daily basis. However, this stems from the impact of many external factors in life, which pull people toward sin. This includes problematic friendships, sad occurrences that prevent the light of happiness, and poverty, which affects a person’s thought process. When a person has weak resolve, such external factors can cause him to sin. Therefore, the solution to how to refrain from sin is connected to removing the external catalysts.
Flies are responsible for many of man’s illnesses, including very serious ones, as they transfer many infections from other places and cause them to enter a person’s body. The resulting conditions can be things that afflict the body and sometimes things that harm the spirit.
There are two sides to a person’s heart. One part inspires him to seek wisdom and justice, and one part causes him to seek wealth and animalistic desires. The external factors can bring disturbances in different areas. Sometimes they can incite one to go too far in seeking physical pleasures and bring him to sin. Sometimes a person can come to exaggerate the concern for a high spiritual level. This can also be dangerous by, for example, causing him to fast when he is not capable of doing so or to accept levels of apparent piety which negatively affect him or others.
In any case, the root of evil is not within the person’s heart but from without. It can be fought by avoiding bad friendships and by working on making a proper living so that he can remain in a happy state of mind and thus keep him walking on the straight path. This is Rav’s approach, as expressed in the metaphor of flies, which need to be kept away.
There is an opposing philosophy, which says that if man were totally straight by nature, then various external influences would not be able to sway him from his ways. After all, one who has the right approach can take any event and transform it into an opportunity to take out something positive. Rather, there is a set element with the propensity for evil that is within the essence of the person, and this is what causes him to sin in different ways. We call this element chet and it can be represented by chita, a grain of wheat. The grain is made of two parts that are connected to each other, but there is a crevice where the two sides are connected. The inclination can wreak havoc on either side. It can focus on the physical side, and make one act in an animalistic manner, and it can focus on the spiritual side and convince him to adopt dangerous practices and bad philosophies.
According to the latter approach, holding off the dangers has to be focused on moral education of the person. One needs study of proper things and inculcation in proper actions, with the goal being that his being will separate itself from the negative elements from within his soul. Only this and not avoiding negative external factors will help him.
Rabbis in Midrash
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Chemdat Yamim Moreshet Shaul: Twin Foundations
Based on Siach Shaul, Pirkei Machshava V’Hadracha p. 690
Based on Siach Shaul, Pirkei Machshava V’Hadracha p. 690
D'varim Judaism’s Social Vision
Re’eh
Giving is more than an act of generosity—it is an essential part of human dignity that belongs to everyone, rich and poor alike. The ultimate goal of help is to empower others to stand on their own.
Kuzari -Rabbi Ari Shvat Kuzari class 9 - "Seeing is Believing" (parag. 21-30)
These paragraphs elaborate on the theme that seeing and knowing is better than any attempt to prove logically, and begins explaining the difference between Israel and gentiles.
Ein Aya Various Universal Stages of the Geula Process
Rav Kook examines the various stages of redemption, explaining how (in addition to the obvious oft-mentioned stages of ingathering the exiles, reviving the Hebrew language, army, state etc.) the messianic dream of world prosperity, the State of Israel and world unity can and are realistically and logically gradually coming true.
Kuzari -Rabbi Ari Shvat Kuzari class 8- "Answering Questions on the Kuzari's Proof from Mass Revelation
How do we know that the "claim" of mass revelation to 2,000,000 witnesses at Mt. Sinai is really true? This important class answers all of the questions skeptics ask about this claim of the Kuzari.
Ein Aya Armies Still Necessary for Balance & the War Against Wars
Rav Kook explains why the world was originally divided into the various seemingly contradicting ideologies and cultures, in order to develop each one respectively. Swords or armies symbolize how each respective ideology defends themselves, as well as deters their opposing ideologies and cultures. On the other hand, the messianic era will be one of peace, and Rav Kook explains the transition to that stage, which mankind is already undergoing.
