Wednesday, February 17, 2010

HASCHALA CHADASHA - I get knocked down, I get up again.
Various schools of Jewish thought advise on possible ways of beating the Yetzer HaRah (evil inclination). Rebbe Nachman, however, suggests that one cannot in fact destroy it, no matter what the technique. The only way to deal with, and manage the Yetzer, in his view, is simply not to be phased by it's continuous pull. Accept it's existence as an inescapable facet of life, and every time it inevitably causes us to fall... we simply pick ourselves up and start again. It's almost like a game of wits; whoever tires first loses. One must never allow oneself to become despondent.
That's how one battles with the Yetzer. It's a war one never wins, yet never loses. (Hishtapchus HaNefesh)
I once heard an oral Breslover tradition that in the next world, one of the first questions we are going to be asked will not be: "Why did you circum to the evil inclination?", but rather: "How many times did you make a HASCHALA CHADASHA (a new start)?"

No comments:

Post a Comment