22 Aug KI SEITZEI: BATTLING THE YETZER HARA

We are now in Chodesh
Elul, blowing the
shofar and waging war
against the yetzer hara.
Like every war, we
require strategies that
will help us win this great
battle.
Let’s begin with
understanding that the
nature of this war is
unlike any other war
you know.
The goal of a war
fought between
countries is to
conquer the enemy.
When the opposing army is defeated, the
war is over. But it isn’t so with the war
against the yetzer hara. When we win one
battle, we are confronted with yet another
war. It is a never-ending fight. Chazal
(Brachos 61.) there call the yetzer hara “a
fly” because, like a fly, after you banish it,
it comes back again.
The beginning of this week’s parashah
(21:10) states, “If you go out to war against
your enemies…” and the pasuk alludes to

the war we wage against the yetzer hara.
Take note that the pasuk doesn’t state,
“When you go out to win,” rather, the pasuk
says when “you go out to war.” The Tiferes
Shlomo explains that this is because even
when we win a battle, the war goes on.
There is always another battle.
We quote the Tiferes Shlomo (beginning of
this week’s parasha):
“There are righteous people who battle
against their yetzer hara and win, and a few
days later, the yetzer hara returns, and they
must wage war with the yetzer hara once
again! This confuses them, and they ask,
‘What is this all about? I already had this
war with the yetzer hara, and I succeeded!’
They think they were finished with the
yetzer hara, but the yetzer hara returns.
They wonder what will be with them. The
Torah discusses this situation and explains,
Ki Seitzei, the reason you came down to
this world, L’milchama is for war. This is
your life’s mission. For this, you were
created.” You cannot win the war once and
for all and be at peace with the yetzer hara
because then life wouldn’t have a purpose.
There are always new battles to be
combated.

Although we try our best to win all wars,
the nature of war is to lose sometimes. You
win some, and you lose some. It is
unrealistic to expect to be victorious every
time.
The Ruzhiner Rebbe zt’l said, “A potch for
a potch, the main thing is that you give the
final potch.” Sometimes the yetzer hara
wins a battle, and sometimes you win. The
main thing is that you should win in the
end.
Reb Yitzchok Hutner zt’l writes in a letter,
“When we discuss the greatness of
tzaddikim, we have a bad habit to begin at
the end [of their lives] and discuss the great
levels the tzaddikim reached. We skip the
many years they struggled with their yetzer
hara, and we think they were born
tzaddikim. [For example], everyone praises
the Chofetz Chaim’s shemiras halashon,
but who speaks about his struggles and ups
and downs he encountered until he reached
this level? This is just one example among
a thousand. Leaving out this chapter of
their lives creates a problem because when
a bachur has a strong desire to grow in
avodas Hashem and is confronted with a
challenge or a downfall, he thinks he will
never reach the levels of the tzaddikim who

he wishes to emulate. He thinks that if he
faces challenges, there is no hope for him.
But that is ridiculous. Know, my friend,
you will fall time and again, and there will
be battles that you will lose. But in the end,
you will emerge victorious and wear the
crown of success on your head. The wisest
of all men said, ‘A tzaddik falls seven times
and rises.’ The wise understand that the
tzaddik rises because he fell seven times
[and he kept lifting himself up again]. I beg
you, don’t think of tzaddikim as people
who are at peace with their yetzer tov.
Rather, when the yetzer hara is burning
inside you, and you’re struggling to
overcome the yetzer hara those moments
are when you are most similar to the
gedolim, even more than when you are at
peace with the yetzer hara.”