כיצד מתקנים את היצר הרע ליצר טוב? • פרשת נח | הרב אליהו ובר

On the weekly Torah portion. I’ll start with Maimonides because he is the interesting part. Rava says that the place where the altar is located is a designated spot, where the first man sacrificed after leaving the Garden of Eden. Cain and Abel sacrificed there, and Noah sacrificed there when he left the Ark. And when the first man left the Garden of Eden—we don't know exactly where the Garden of Eden is. I mentioned before that it's possible that the Garden of Eden is actually here in this region, it's hard to know. As for Cain and Abel, it is also not written where they sacrificed. But Noah , The mountains of Ararat—there is a street called Ararat, but The mountains of Ararat are in the region of, I don't know, the Turkey area, that's where it seems. I don't remember the exact location, the distance more or less, but I think everyone knows where the mountains of Ararat are. And how did Noah manage to arrive here? Well, it isn't actually written. It is written that immediately upon leaving the Ark, at that very moment, he sacrificed. It is written that he left the Ark: And Noah built an altar to the Lord, and took of every clean beast and of every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. So it could be that indeed, when Noah left the Ark, the first thing he did was run here to offer a sacrifice. There is a Midrash that the dove that brought the olive leaf, brought it from here, so it seems there were already olive trees here, perhaps here there were trees immediately. Actually, one does not keep trees in the Temple, so later when they built the Temple, they removed all the trees, which we, with God's help, will do soon. So anyway, the olive leaf it brought, it brought from here. There are a few Midrashim on the matter. So Noah goes and builds an altar And sacrifices clean beasts and clean birds : And the Lord smelled the sweet savor, and the Lord said in His heart, I will not again curse the ground anymore for man's sake; for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done. And anyone who reads the portion is amazed: just not many portions ago we—today they closed 2,000 years for us in two portions. Anyway, at the end of the previous portion, before the Flood, it is written: that He will blot out man whom I have created, why? Because every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. So why should one blot out the world because we have an evil inclination, and why should one not blot out the world because we have an evil inclination? That is what is written in the Torah. What is the connection between before and after? The answer is, perhaps the answer is what is written: when one sacrifices to the Name of God—and here one must remember this phrase "to the Name of God"—so as not to turn the Temple, like Jeremiah already cries out, into a place of, a den of thieves, "Is this house become a den of robbers in your eyes?", and so on. So we don't want, we aren't talking about that, but when one comes for the sake of God and offers sacrifices, then the sacrifices transform the reality of the evil inclination of man's heart—they turn it into something meaningful. When necessary, it is hard to overcome the inclination; everyone has inclinations. And the evil inclination, every inclination of the thoughts of his heart is only evil, every person who thinks constantly of evil and to do harm and not to do good. And just as the parsha continues: the parsha begins with the earth being filled with violence because of them, they corrupted the earth, the world needed to be destroyed, the world was full of violence, full of theft, full of evil. And then, after leaving the ark, Noah goes and offers sacrifices, the Holy One, Blessed be He, says: Wow, there is such a thing, sacrifices! And the sacrifices transform the evil inclination, the attraction to evil, they turn it into something good. And this is what the Midrash says in the parsha of Bereishit: And God saw everything that He had made and behold, it was very good. The Midrash Rabbah is very, very interesting: "And behold good"–this is the good inclination, and "behold very good"–this is the [ evil] inclination, it is very good, yes , when you know how to use it. "And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart"–with both your inclinations, you must serve the Lord with both the good inclination and the evil inclination. Meaning, the service of the Lord, as the Mishnah says at the end of Berakhot: with both your inclinations, the good and the evil, we walk, we serve the Lord both here and there, because, the inclination that pulls a person toward evil. When a person came with this to the Holy Temple and came to rectify it and offer sacrifices to the Lord. So then, as the Sages say, this is for the generations, when there was no Temple, then what do we do? If that detestable one encounters you, drag him to the study hall, there you will finish him off. And this is what happened at the beginning of the Second Temple with the Great Assembly. Where did they defeat the evil inclination? Suddenly, a fire emerged from the Holy of Holies. That was the evil inclination. In other words, where, where is the evil inclination found? The fire of the evil inclination is found in the Holy of Holies. And then the High Priest on Yom Kippur sprinkles the incense and finishes it, defeats it. But when the evil inclination arrives together with the pleasing aroma, then the Holy One, Blessed be He, assists and says: I will not again curse the ground because of man. And so, in these days where we have not yet succeeded in overcoming the inclination, because we have not yet built the Temple nor [offered] the sacrifices, we try and we strive. And this striving, to want to come to the essence of the sacrifices, the Holy One , Blessed be He, will help that truly, by virtue of this striving, we will also succeed in overcoming the evil inclination. But certainly, the main thing is that we offer our mandatory sacrifices, the daily offerings in their order, and the additional offerings according to their law. And may it be His will.