A Thief's Strategy | Rabbi Yehoshua Abba Busel

I saw בשם R’ Aharon Karliner that depression is not an Aveira, but it could bring a person, רחמנא לצלן, to do the worst Aveiros. When a person is down, a person is depressed, he's not in a good place, he’s very vulnerable, that the Yetzer Hara could be Machshil him to do, רחמנא לצלן, עבירות חמורות. The Yetzer Hara knows this Yesod all too well, and therefore, he looks for every opportunity to knock a person down. I saw בשם one of the Tzaddikei Poland, that the Yetzer Hara is like a Polishe Ganav. The Ganovim in Poland had a strategy. They used to pay a child a few coins to go into a store, steal something small, and run out of the store. And when the store owner used to chase him down the block, then the Ganav used to come into the store and clear out his cash register. The Yetzer Hara uses the same strategy. He’s Machshil a person in something small, a small Aveira, and naturally, the person feels down and depressed, and then he comes in and cleans out the person's cash register. רחמנא לצלן, he’s Machshil him in the worst Aveiros. The pasuk in Koheles says, And the גר”א explains that Moshel is referring to the Yetzer Hara. Before a person does an Aveira, the Yetzer Hara convinces him that it's not so bad. But once the person does the Aveira, then the Yetzer Hara tells him, Now you're an oisvorf, you're a lost case. You can no longer be a Ba’al Madrega and a Tzaddik. But Shlomo HaMelech advises you, Don't listen to his lies. But rather pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and be מתחזק in Avodas Hashem. I heard a Hadracha in the name of a Tzaddik, that if the Yetzer Hara is Matzliach to be Machshil you at night, then the next day, when you wake up, you should tell the Yetzer Hara, Yesterday, you gave me a devastating clap. Today, I'm going to give you a devastating clap, by being מתחזק in Avodas Hashem. When it comes to מלחמת היצר, a person has to be lionhearted. He has to be fearless and never get discouraged. The pasuk in the beginning of Parshas Ki Seitzei, and Chazal teach us that אויביך is a Remez to the Yetzer Hara, our worst enemy. And the Chofetz Chaim says that when it comes to מלחמת היצר, the עיקר is never to get discouraged. And then the Chofetz Chaim adds, פעמים, sometimes, he’s going to be מנצח over you, but sometimes you are going to be מנצח over him. The עיקר is that you have to continue fighting. R’ Zundel Salanter brings from the Vilna Gaon about Kavanah in Shmoneh Esrei, and he says: If the Yetzer Hara gets the better of you in the Bracha of סלח לנו, get him back in the Bracha of ראה נא. He gets the better of you in רפאנו, you get him back in ברך עלינו. When it comes to מלחמת היצר, the עיקר is you have to continue fighting. And the Chofetz Chaim tells us that if a person continues fighting, he's going to be zoche to a special Siyata D’Shmaya, At the end, he's going to come out on top, like the pasuk says,