Knocking out the Yetzer Hara | Rabbi Yechiel Spero

Vayimaen. What an organization. What an incredible accomplishment. 40,000 people or more every day watching a video like this one, finding the strength to be able to fight one more day against the Yetzer Hara. Not surprisingly, Vayimaen gets it’s Siyata D’Shmaya from the one who inspired it all, Mr. Avi Shulman. And he called himself Mr. because he was, oh, so humble. Was a mentor to Gedolim. He was someone who was so incredibly wise, so practical, so down to earth, so incredibly encouraging. I was zoche, Baruch Hashem, to consider him a mentor of mine. He was somebody who taught me and continues to teach me, עד היום הזה. Today is his Yahrzeit. And in that zechus, in the zechus of everything he's done, I'd like to share one of his teachings. In one of his books, and he wrote many books, he writes a beautiful idea. The Yetzer Hara, if we can imagine it doing so, writes a letter to each and every one of us. And the Yetzer Hara writes: To my dear pupil, to my dear Talmid, Yes, the Yetzer Hara considers us his Talmidim. I just want to tell you that sometimes the world has it wrong. You look at people and you think they're successful and they're the ones who are strong, and you see other people that are struggling and you think they're the ones that are weak. No, that's not the way Hashem looks at things. Hashem can look at the person that is struggling, and he realizes and he appreciates that that person is really so very strong, because he's willing to fight every single day for everything he believes in. And so he's not a weakling at all. He's a גיבור. You see, Hashem sent me down to this earth, and most people really, really dislike me. But I wish it wouldn't be that way. You see, I'm just doing my job. And the Yetzer Hara continues and he says, Imagine a boxing match. I'm like a boxing coach, I'm a trainer. In the beginning, I hit you a little bit and you hit me back a little bit. But as you get stronger, I test you more and more. I hit you harder and harder and you hit me back, harder and harder. And so it goes, back and forth, a real sparring match, until - you know what my dream is? One day, I hit you so hard, and you fight back and you knock me out. That will be the day that I'm so proud of you. So good luck on your journey. Zei Gezunt. That's the letter that Avi Shulman wrote. He wrote it to inspire us, but he wrote it because he was somebody that understood, Nothing is impossible. He believed in the power of each and every Yid’s Neshama. He gave Vayimaen the Siyata D’Shmaya it needs to succeed and those who began Vayimaen did it in his zechus. They did it in his honor. R’ Avi, thank you so much for your inspiration. We hope we're making you proud and we look forward to knocking out the Yetzer Hara once and for all.