Will battle

We are all born with both a good and an evil inclination. The battle between the two is often most pronounced during the Jewish New Year (Rosh HaShana). While it appears that our evil inclination wants to destroy our lives, the good news is — he wants us to win the battle against him. Furthermore, he is easy to identify and overcome because he has no sense of humor.

Don't get me wrong. Our evil inclination (Yetzer HaRah) says the most hilarious and ludicrous things. He makes Howard Stern sound like NPR. The problem is, we often take these statements seriously. This can interfere with our repentance (Tshuva) process.

Tshuva is a three-step process:
1. Admitting our mistakes
2. Feeling remorse over our actions
3. Committing ourselves to never repeating these mistakes and wrongdoings again

We will know that we have repented successfully when we are put in the same situation that led up to the wrongdoing and we choose to refrain from that same behavior.

Let's examine the outrageous things the Yetzer HaRahwill say to confound us as we journey through these steps:

1. Admitting our mistakes
Oh, come on. You have made so many mistakes, you can't even begin to count them, much less admit them. They are too numerous. Quit before you even start.
2. Feeling remorse over our actions
Remorse is too good for you. You are not worthy. Tshuva applies to everyone on the planet except for you. Give it up already.
3. Committing ourselves to never repeating these mistakes and wrongdoings.
Yeah, right. New Year, same old mistakes. You'll never get it right. Quit. Quit. Quit.

When hearing these negative statements, try one or all of the suggestions below:
• Ignore the Yetzer HaRah entirely
• Do the exact opposite of what he suggests
• Alter his tone to diminish or eliminate his power. For example, try using the voice of a cartoon character or some other ludicrous tone, such as a mixture of the voices of Paris Hilton and George Bush.
• Change his speed. I have found that allowing the Yetzer HaRah to utter only one syllable per week tends to derail its train of thought. Alternatively, forcing the Yetzer HaRah to pump out 100,000 words a minute makes it a bit difficult to understand the message he is trying to communicate.
• Tell him a joke. He will not get it. This will distract him for enough time for you to get on with your life.

Sometimes it's not the mistake that we made that is the focus of our Tshuva process. The Yetzer HaRah has a plan to create depression in the aftermath of our misdeeds that can prove worse for our souls than the original wrongdoing.

Here are some of the ways the Yetzer HaRah works to get us depressed. Again, ignore the ludicrous machinations of the Yetzer HaRah, or do the exact opposite of what he suggests.
• Create Fear
Even though you know that you have no control whatsoever over your fears, nonetheless, try to make your fear even bigger and more frightening than it already is. Project your fear onto your internal field of vision so that it totally engulfs your entire existence. After that is done, make it even larger so that it terrorizes you even more.
• Envision Sadness
If a happy image pops into your head, gently push it out of the way and replace it with a depressing or disastrous thought. Since we can only think of one thing at a time, then make sure you only focus on sadness and don't allow those annoying images of happiness to creep into your nervous system.
• Think Negatively
Positive and proactive thinking just might lead you back on the road to happiness. Therefore, make a concerted effort to ensure that the bulk of the 40,000 to 60,000 thoughts that you have each day are negative and despondent. Limited and sad thoughts will lead to a limiting and sad existence.
• Gaze into the Future
Envision where you would like to see yourself five years from now. Make sure that image is identical to or worse than your status quo. If for some reason you see a better "you" at the end of this time frame, then adjust the picture accordingly to fit into your ideal image of zero or negative growth.

Keeping these guidelines in mind will allow us to enter Rosh HaShana confident that we will overcome the evil inclination (Yetzer HaRah) and perhaps enjoy a good laugh with our good inclination (Yetzer HaTov). In this way, we just might make it to the level of serving God with Awe and Joy.


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Ben Goldfarb was born and raised in El Paso, Texas, and is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin. He moved to Israel in 1988. He divides his time between his yeshiva studies and his coaching practice. His life calling is to help others understand their personal mission and accomplish it with humor, creativity and spirituality. He lives with his wife and children in Jerusalem. His book "Double Feature" will be published in the winter. For more information about his coaching practice, visit the Paradigm Shift Communications website, or send an email to ben@pdshiftcoaching.com. © Copyright 2007 by Ben Goldfarb.