A well-known medrash says that at the onset of the Olam Haboh period, Hashem will kill the Yetzer Hora, basically by “killing” the Evil Angel. This angel has many names and seemingly many functions, all somehow connected with the concept of evil. The primordial Snake, Satan, Angel of Death, Yetzer Hora, Amalek, Eisov, et al. The medrash then makes an interesting observation. The Yetzer Hora will appear to tzadikim, righteous people, as a mountain. The same Yetzer Hora will appear to reshoim, sinners, as a hair. So what’s the “real” Yetzer Hora about?
The Yetzer Hora and sinning is really about saying Yes or No. And the sin itself can be the often very thin lined difference between mutar and issur, in other words, k’chut hasaaroh, thin as a human hair. The Yetzer Hora never comes to a person with a straight out temptation to do an egregious transgression. Rather it starts off with some little sin which at first glance doesn’t seem so bad or it tries to convince you that it isn’t “so” bad. In Pirkei Avos we learn that “ovar v’shonoh naaseh k’heter”, if someone transgresses and does a sinful act and then does it again, it will seem mutar to him. Really? This person sinned, not accidentally but knowing full well that it was a sin, and after the second time he decides that it’s perfectly okay now? Doesn’t sound right.
We can possibly understand this better using a gemoro in Megilla. The gemora says, the sages stated, we read the Megilla at night and then “shonoh boh” in the morning, meaning that we reread it in the morning. The gemora then states that the junior students thought this meant to “learn” it in the morning, the word “shono” also meaning to learn. The sages then cleared this up by saying it meant to reread the Megilla. We see though from this that “shono” can mean to learn about a concept.
This is what the Mishna in Pirkei Avos means. If someone did an aveiro, a sin knowingly, and he “rationalized” it, he “learned” into his act, it will become mutar to him through that rationalization. Another statement of the sages is that it’s better for a person to be a “shoitoh”, stupid, all his life than to sin against G-d. We know that people only sin because a “ruach shtus”, an inane thought came to them. If you sin because you did something stupid, sinning in general is stupid, then G-d can forgive you. If you rationalized the sin, you’re a real sinner and G-d won’t forgive that.
The Yetzer Hora comes to a person with small stuff and rationalizes it. My father told me when I was about 16; many times in the future you won’t have a person in authority and with knowledge and experience near you to guide you. If your only rationalization to do something is – What’s wrong with it – that’s a statement made by the Yetzer Hora and don’t do it. Often the act might look not so bad and that’s why you can’t really decide and that’s when the Yetzer Hora pounces, DO IT!!, What’s wrong with it, nothing, go ahead. Hairline difference between permissible and taboo. And that’s your Yes or No.
A No to the Yetzer Hora and it stops. And you are left with a hair sitting there. And then it comes again with another act or the same act and you say NO. And another hair sits there. And you keep saying No because you are a tzadik, or wannabe but trying hard to be. So after a lifetime of your Nos to your Yetzer Hora, you have a mountain of hairs. When G-d kill your Yetzer Hora it appears to you for what it was, one no after another, one hair after another.
If you say Yes, then that hair becomes your hair. And another Yes and that same hair is still there. And another Yes. The hair hasn’t changed, you keep saying Yes to the Yetzer Hora. He’s got you. What does the Yetzer Hora do with all your hairs? After all they’re all his hairs now. The Yetzer Hora takes the hairs and spins them into threads and then twists the threads into yarn and then finally produces ropes. And the Yetzer Hora uses your ropes to tie you up to him. But when you see the dead Yetzer Hora it will look like that initial hair that you said Yes to.
This is what we pray to Hashem each day, that Hashem is a “matir assurim”, an Unbinder of Ropes. The ropes that tie you to sinful actions because the Yetzer Hora used your Yes answers and your hairs to make ropes to tie you up.
At the end of the Hallel prayers we say, “isru chag b’avosim”, tie the chag, holiday, with ropes. Many Chasidic commentators discuss this as a concept of tying the holiness and lessons of a YomTov to our souls so that the effects will remain with us long after the holiday has passed. Which ropes? During the month of Elul we constantly pray that we be given the strength and understanding to do teshuva. Over the next 10 days of Rosh Hashanah and culminating with Yom Kippur we actually do teshuva. But what kind of teshuva is this? Atoning through the fear of G-d. And during each tefilah service we say “matir assurim” untie our bindings. Then the holiday of Succos arrives, a holiday filled with joy because we are certain that Hashem forgave our sins. Our teshuva now turns into the good type, teshuva of Love for Hashem and Joy in doing mitzvos, the joy of esrog and lulav, the Joy of Succoth and the overall Joy of the Yomtov itself.
This is what is meant by tying ourselves to the Yomtov of Succos with ropes. These ropes that the Yetzer Hora spun out of our sins, our hairline transgressions, and used the ropes to bind us to further sinning. We know that teshuva with Ahavas Hashem turns even egregious sins into mitzvos. Now these erstwhile sinful ropes have become mitzvah ropes, ready to be used to tie us up to further mitzvos through the lessons of Succos and the holiness that we received throughout the month of Tishrei.
The Yetzer Hora and sinning is really about saying Yes or No. And the sin itself can be the often very thin lined difference between mutar and issur, in other words, k’chut hasaaroh, thin as a human hair. The Yetzer Hora never comes to a person with a straight out temptation to do an egregious transgression. Rather it starts off with some little sin which at first glance doesn’t seem so bad or it tries to convince you that it isn’t “so” bad. In Pirkei Avos we learn that “ovar v’shonoh naaseh k’heter”, if someone transgresses and does a sinful act and then does it again, it will seem mutar to him. Really? This person sinned, not accidentally but knowing full well that it was a sin, and after the second time he decides that it’s perfectly okay now? Doesn’t sound right.
We can possibly understand this better using a gemoro in Megilla. The gemora says, the sages stated, we read the Megilla at night and then “shonoh boh” in the morning, meaning that we reread it in the morning. The gemora then states that the junior students thought this meant to “learn” it in the morning, the word “shono” also meaning to learn. The sages then cleared this up by saying it meant to reread the Megilla. We see though from this that “shono” can mean to learn about a concept.
This is what the Mishna in Pirkei Avos means. If someone did an aveiro, a sin knowingly, and he “rationalized” it, he “learned” into his act, it will become mutar to him through that rationalization. Another statement of the sages is that it’s better for a person to be a “shoitoh”, stupid, all his life than to sin against G-d. We know that people only sin because a “ruach shtus”, an inane thought came to them. If you sin because you did something stupid, sinning in general is stupid, then G-d can forgive you. If you rationalized the sin, you’re a real sinner and G-d won’t forgive that.
The Yetzer Hora comes to a person with small stuff and rationalizes it. My father told me when I was about 16; many times in the future you won’t have a person in authority and with knowledge and experience near you to guide you. If your only rationalization to do something is – What’s wrong with it – that’s a statement made by the Yetzer Hora and don’t do it. Often the act might look not so bad and that’s why you can’t really decide and that’s when the Yetzer Hora pounces, DO IT!!, What’s wrong with it, nothing, go ahead. Hairline difference between permissible and taboo. And that’s your Yes or No.
A No to the Yetzer Hora and it stops. And you are left with a hair sitting there. And then it comes again with another act or the same act and you say NO. And another hair sits there. And you keep saying No because you are a tzadik, or wannabe but trying hard to be. So after a lifetime of your Nos to your Yetzer Hora, you have a mountain of hairs. When G-d kill your Yetzer Hora it appears to you for what it was, one no after another, one hair after another.
If you say Yes, then that hair becomes your hair. And another Yes and that same hair is still there. And another Yes. The hair hasn’t changed, you keep saying Yes to the Yetzer Hora. He’s got you. What does the Yetzer Hora do with all your hairs? After all they’re all his hairs now. The Yetzer Hora takes the hairs and spins them into threads and then twists the threads into yarn and then finally produces ropes. And the Yetzer Hora uses your ropes to tie you up to him. But when you see the dead Yetzer Hora it will look like that initial hair that you said Yes to.
This is what we pray to Hashem each day, that Hashem is a “matir assurim”, an Unbinder of Ropes. The ropes that tie you to sinful actions because the Yetzer Hora used your Yes answers and your hairs to make ropes to tie you up.
At the end of the Hallel prayers we say, “isru chag b’avosim”, tie the chag, holiday, with ropes. Many Chasidic commentators discuss this as a concept of tying the holiness and lessons of a YomTov to our souls so that the effects will remain with us long after the holiday has passed. Which ropes? During the month of Elul we constantly pray that we be given the strength and understanding to do teshuva. Over the next 10 days of Rosh Hashanah and culminating with Yom Kippur we actually do teshuva. But what kind of teshuva is this? Atoning through the fear of G-d. And during each tefilah service we say “matir assurim” untie our bindings. Then the holiday of Succos arrives, a holiday filled with joy because we are certain that Hashem forgave our sins. Our teshuva now turns into the good type, teshuva of Love for Hashem and Joy in doing mitzvos, the joy of esrog and lulav, the Joy of Succoth and the overall Joy of the Yomtov itself.
This is what is meant by tying ourselves to the Yomtov of Succos with ropes. These ropes that the Yetzer Hora spun out of our sins, our hairline transgressions, and used the ropes to bind us to further sinning. We know that teshuva with Ahavas Hashem turns even egregious sins into mitzvos. Now these erstwhile sinful ropes have become mitzvah ropes, ready to be used to tie us up to further mitzvos through the lessons of Succos and the holiness that we received throughout the month of Tishrei.
