לע"נ ר' אהרן בן יעקב שכנא
Rebbe Nachman offers the following moshol to explain how the yetzer hara works.
A man walks around with a clenched fist and tells people that he has something VERY AMAZING in his hand. People try with all their might to open his fist. At the end of their lives, they finally open it up and see that it is EMPTY!
THAT is the yetzer. It tells us that it has GREAT TREATS waiting for us. We spend our LIVES running after all of the "delights" he is promising us. At the end [and earlier if we are lucky] we realize that there is nothing there.
Take תאוות הביאה. It very often encompasses a person. He thinks about it, dreams about it, every time he sees a half good looking woman, it is brought back to life etc. etc. What happens? He finally comes to the moment that he has been waiting for - does what he does and then .... NOTHING. Absolutely nothing. Not only that - he is not even interested in the תאוה anymore [until the next day....]. A few seconds of pleasure, an emission of putrid liquid and finished. And THAT is what consumes mankind [or male-kind]. INSANITY!!!
Ask Robert Kraft how he feels about it. [He incidentally received a honorary decree from a prominent MO educational institution. It was before he got in trouble with the law but even then he was no example for our children. I wrote a letter to the President of this institution asking how he can honor such a person? What message are we sending to our children?? That "הכסף יענה את הכל". As long as you make a lot of money - and then share some of it with us - you are cool. You don't have to keep Shabbos, Kosher, learn or daven. Money, money, money. Nauseating.] Ask Bill Clinton how he feels about it. Ask other millions who ruined their lives and finances [divorces do such things] just for the few seconds of physical gratification. If we could hear dead people speak, they would tell us what happens in the world of truth to people who succumb to these passions. Is it worth it to lose eternity and cut yourself off from Life [i.e. Hashem], for a few seconds of pleasure?
Or think of the Presidential election. 22 candidates seeking the Democratic nomination. The common denominator? EGO!! [Republicans have egos too, they just don't have nearly as many candidates for President, so I pick on the Democrats]. They all dream of how WONDERFUL it will be to have ALL THAT POWER, to receive ALL THAT HONOR, to go down in history as PRESIDENT OF THE USA instead of just being another forgotten Senator. Of course, they won't admit how much is about there ego [although I once heard Obama make a partial admission]. They claim that all they have is the public good in mind and only THEY can save the country. Maybe their fiction is so powerful they started believing it themselves.
Then one "lucky guy" gets elected and realize that there is no job with as much pressure, as much criticism, as much stress, as complicated, as thankless, as lonely [it gets that way on the top] etc. etc. ON THE PLANET. 24-7 'round the clock incredible responsibility. Where the ENTIRE PLANET is effected by your decisions. One bad decision and he [or "she" if someone like Elizabeth Warren, Kamela Harris or Pete Buttigeig wins] can ruin the lives of billions. WHO NEEDS IT??
AHHH - the Yetzer Hara tells them that it is worth it. As Michelle used to tell Barack when he complained about the various stresses of the job "You signed up for this...".
So let us be WISER than the yetzer hara. Go for what is real. Work on your middos. Give a lot more than you take and even when you take, do so in order to give back. Learn a LOT of heavenly wisdom that we have in our Torah. Don't be jealous of what your friend has because I PROMISE you - he or she also has a lot of tzaros that you don't have nor would you want to. Focus on your soul and not what others have that you lack. And most importantly - connect to Hashem because only He is real and that is the only connection that really matters and lasts forever.
