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Stay on Course | Rabbi Uren Reich
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My dear Vayimaen friends,
Way over 30 years ago,
a friend of mine told me
about an interesting experience
that he'd had the day before.
He was driving on a busy highway
and he made a terrible mistake.
He cut ahead of a non-Jew,
who was obviously
very provoked by that.
And a few minutes later,
he looked to his left
and he was startled to see that very non-Jew,
driving a few inches away from him.
To say the least,
too close for comfort.
So he slowed down
and the other person slowed down.
He went quicker
and the other person went quicker.
So he moved a foot to the right
and breathed a sigh of relief.
He was startled when he looked
to his left and he saw once again,
he'd moved to the right,
and this person
had also moved to the right,
and once again, he was a few inches away.
He was very tempted
to move again to the right,
but he started understanding
what was going on.
This person was trying to provoke him,
to keep moving further and further right
until he would hit
something on the right side
and the other person would just take off.
And at that moment,
he recognized that what he
had to do, as difficult as it was,
was to neither go left or right
and stay on his course,
even though there was
an overwhelming urge to get away,
to have relief,
because deep down,
he knew there's no relief.
Wherever I go, he'll follow me anyway.
What an incredible Mashal
for so many battles we have in life,
battles of the Yetzer.
Imagine a boy who has such
a difficult time getting up for Shachris,
and the Yetzer Hara says: You're so tired.
Just give yourself
another 15 minutes of sleep.
You'll feel that much better.
And he does that,
and he gets used to
sleeping another 15 minutes.
And for the first day or two,
it seems so relaxed.
Why didn't I think of this beforehand?
But then, once again, he's tired.
And the Yetzer Hara says,
Why are you struggling so much
and fighting with me?
Just give me 15 minutes.
And so it goes on and on
until the boy is waking up
at 11:30 in the morning,
he’s a mess, he has no Chavrusas.
And that's when he has to start fighting.
And then it's really difficult.
Rabosai, this is the battle of the Yetzer.
All the different battles of the Yetzer,
and specifically the battle of Vayimaen.
We shouldn't be fooled
by the Yetzer Hara into thinking
that if we just give in,
we won't have any battle.
All that will happen is
the Yetzer Hara will accept that part of us
and move us to the next stage.
And we'll be further fighting
and fighting and fighting.
And if we keep giving in to the Yetzer Hara,
the time will come
when the fight will be so overwhelming,
that it will be really, really impossible
almost to gain back control.
May Your mercies quickly come before us
for we have become very poor.
The Mussar Sefarim say,
Start at the beginning.
Let's recognize from the beginning
there's no way of getting away
from the battle of the Yetzer.
Let's stay on track.
Let's do what that yungerman did,
and eventually, the non-Jew
took off and left him alone.
Hopefully, we’ll merit to be
victorious in the battle of the Yetzer.
אמן, כן יהי רצון.