Yetzer harah

The term yetzer refers to the inclination toward either good or evil in Judaism. Yetzer HaTov is the inclination towards good and Yetzer HaRah is the inclination towards evil.

According to Judaism, human beings have a dual nature. Humanity is neither fundamentally good nor evil but had a tendency in both directions. Judaism teaches that by doing good, or by overcoming temptation to do evil, humans prove their value to God.

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In Judaism, the yetzer harah is the inclination or impulse to evil, popularly identified with the lusts of the flesh. The idea is derived from Genesis 8:21: "The imagination of the heart of man is evil from his youth."

Rabbinical tradition deduced that there are in man two contrary impulses in man: the good and the evil (Ber. 61a). The good impulse is known as the yetzer ha-tov. Both impulses are part of God's creation, rather than result of the Human Fall as understood in Christianity.

In rabbinical tradition, Cain defended himself before God for having slain Abel by arguing that God had implanted in him the yetzer harah (Tan., Bereshit, 25 [ed. Buber, p. 10]). It was in reference to this evil impulse that God warned Cain that "sin lies couching at the door but you must master it (Ber. 61a).

In a certain way, however, even the yetzer harah, like all things which God made, is good. Without it a man would never marry, beget, build a house, or engage in trade (Gen. R. ix. 9). When man is enjoined to love God "with all thy heart," this means that both the good impulse and the evil impulse must be directed in accordance with God's Law (Sifre, Deut. 32).

The yetzer harah is thus a natural inclination. Indeed, the yetzer ha-tov only comes with reflection, usually at the age of bar mitzvah or confirmation, because it is said to be 13 years younger than the yetzer harah, which is inborn (Eccl. R. ix. 14). The yetzer ha-tov delivers the citadel of the body from the yetzer harah by means of temperance and good works (Ned. 32b).

According to the rabbis, yetzer harah has seven different epithets in the Bible: evil (Gen. 8:21), uncircumcised (Deut. 10:16), unclean (Psalm 51:12), the enemy (Prov. 25: 21), stumbling-block (Isa. 57:14), stone (Ezek. 36:26), and hidden (Joel 2:20).

The yetzer harah is no less strong in the righteous person than in the sinner. Indeed, it is said that "the greater the man the greater his yetzer harah."

Despite the rabbinical opinion that the yetzer harah is in a certain sense both necessary and good, it is held by some of the rabbis to be among the four things which God regretted to have created (Suk. 52a, b). It is sometimes identified with Satan or with the angel of death (B. B. 16a). The Torah is the great antidote against the yetzer harah (Suk. 52b; Ḳid. 30b; Ab. R. N. 16). If not tempered by obedience to the Law and other good works, the yetzer harah grows with a man. At first it is a mere traveler. Then it becomes a guest, and at last it is the man himself (Suk. 52b).

Characteristics

"Yeẓer ha-Ra'" does not refer exclusively to the body; this can be inferred from its close association with the Yeẓer Ṭob. It undoubtedly leads to sensual sins with great power; hence both Akiba and Meïr were saved from its influence only by heavenly intercession (Ḳid. 81a). It was to avoid the temptations of the Yeẓer ha-Ra' that women were ordered to take separate seats in the galleries of synagogues (Suk. 51b). Revenge and avarice are also given as the outcome of the Yeẓer ha-Ra' (Sifre, Deut. 33 [ed. Friedmann, p. 74a]); and anger is another of its manifestations. Ps. lxxxi. 10 (A. V. 9) is interpreted as referring to the Yeẓer to whose influence one should not yield (Shab. 105b), submission being, therefore, compared to idolatry (Yer. Ned. 41b). It is with reference to anger that he is called mighty who overcomes his Yeẓer ha-Ra' (Ab. iv. 2). Vanity is still another form in which the Yeẓer ha-Ra' displays itself. When the Yeẓer sees a conceited man it says: "He is mine" (Gen. R. xxii. 13). The Yeẓer ha-Ra' belongs only to this world, and does not exist in angels or other higher beings (Lev. R. xxvi.). It is for this reason that there is no eating or drinking, procreation or barter, envy or hatred, in the world to come (Ber. 17a; comp. Mark xii. 25, and synoptic parallels).

In a discussion between Rabbi and the emperor Antoninus, the latter contends that the Yeẓer ha-Ra' comes to man at birth, and not before, and Rabbi agrees (Sanh. 91b). All the sportive deviltry of young children is attributed to the Yeẓer ha-Ra' (Eccl. R. iv. 13). The Yeẓer ha-Ra' was not due to man, but to God as the Creator of all; but man is responsible for yielding to its influence, since he, as has been seen above, is able to put it to a good use. Hence the Yeẓer ha-Ra' is placed on a level with the woman and the child: the left hand should reject it, while the right hand draws it near (Soṭah 47a; Sanh. 107b). Under the Second Temple the Yeẓer ha-Ra' continued to exist because needed in the world. The Rabbis interpret Neh. ix. 4 as referring to the call of the people: "Wo, wo, it is the Yeẓer ha-Ra'. He destroyed the sanctuary, killed the righteous, drove the Israelites out of their land, and still dances among us. Why was he given unto us? Only that we may receive reward for conquering him." The Israelites are then reported to have got rid of the Yeẓer of idolatry and of the grosser forms of unchastity, but found it necessary to preserve the Yeẓer ha-Ra' lest the world should come to an end (Yoma 69b; comp. Sanh. 64a). It has been conjectured by Taylor that the clause in the Lord's Prayer, "Deliver us from evil," is probably "Deliver us from the evil Yeẓer" ("Sayings of the Jewish Fathers," pp. 128-130, 186-192).

Personification

There is a tendency to give personality and separate activity to the Yeẓer, as in the case of the angel of death and of Satan, with each of whom, indeed, it is identified (B. B. 16a). Objections to the Law which in Sifra 86a are attributed to the Yeẓer are in Yoma 67b attributed to Satan. According to R. Jonathan, the Yeẓer, like Satan, misleads man in this world, and testifies against him in the world to come (Suk. 52b). Hence in the prayers one asks to be delivered "from evil man and from evil act, from evil Yeẓer, from evil companion, from evil neighbor, and from Satan" (Ber. 16b). Here, however, the Yeẓer is clearly distinguished from Satan. On other occasions it is made exactly parallel to sin. Thus, in Gen. R. xxii. 11 the parable of II Sam. xii. 4 is applied to sin, though elsewhere it is applied to the Yeẓer (see above). Similarly, Akiba interprets Isa. v. 18 asapplying to sin, while Rab Ashi applies it to the Yeẓer (Suk. 52a). "At the beginning they are like the thread of the spinning web, at the end like a cart rope." The connection of the Yeẓer with habit is exactly parallel to the growth of sin through habit. Man's Yeẓer overpowers him every day (Ḳid. 30b). At first it befools him; then it dwells in him (comp. Hos. iv. 12, v. 4). So too Ps. xxxvi. 2, "sin speaks to the wicked," is applied to the Yeẓer ha-Ra' (Ab. R. N. 32). In the same passage all men are divided into three classes: the righteous, under the rule of the Yeẓer Ṭob; the wicked, under the rule of the Yeẓer ha-Ra'; and the middle class, ruled now by one, now by the other. According to others, there are only two classes: the righteous with the good Yeẓer; and the wicked, who submit to the evil Yeẓer (Eccl. R. iv. 15, 16). The first part of Eccl. xi. 9 is said to relate to the joy of youth derived from the Yeẓer ha-Ra'; the latter part indicates that God will bring all transgressors under judgment to the Yeẓer Ṭob (Shab. 63a).

The Law as the Antidote

Just as iron can be made into all sorts of vessels if cast into the fire, so one can make the Yeẓer ha-Ra' useful by words of the Law; for it is learned from Prov. xxv. 21 that "if thine enemy be hungry [that is, "when the Yeẓer ha-Ra' prompts thee"] give him bread to eat" (i.e., bread of the Law; Pesiḳ., ed. Buber, 80b). Both Yeẓarim are to be utilized; similarly a man having two oxen, one meant for plowing and the other not, puts the yoke upon both. The promise of Gen. iv. 7 is applied to the Yeẓer ha-Ra'(Ḳid. 30b). There is a contrast of strength between the two Yeẓarim; hence, "Blessed is he that considereth the poor" (Ps. xli. 2) is applied to him who makes the poor and weak Yeẓer Ṭob rule over the Yeẓer ha-Ra' (Lev. R. xxxiv.). Though the latter is seemingly so powerful, resistance easily overcomes it, as Abraham found after it had brought about the Flood and the dispersion of the nations (Gen. xxii. 12). If a man find that the Yeẓer ha-Ra' is too strong for him, he should go to a place where he is not known, and not profane the name of heaven openly (Ḥag. 16a). The Law is like a plaster to the wound made by the Yeẓer ha-Ra'; if the plaster is taken away, an evil ulcer will come forth (Ḳid. 30b). Or, again, the Law will wear away the Yeẓer as water wears away stone (Suk. 52b). As the Law is called a stone (Ex. xxiv. 12), and the Yeẓer ha-Ra' also is called a stone (ib. xxxvi. 26), let one stone guard the other stone (Cant. R. vi. 11). The stone of Gen. xxix. 2 is also compared to the Yeẓer ha-Ra': as the stone is rolled away from the mouth of the well, so the Yeẓer ha-Ra' departs when men go into the synagogue to drink of the Law (Gen. R. lxx. 8); hence, the night prayer said in connection with the "Shema'" includes the clause "let not the Yeẓer ha-Ra' rule in me" (Ber. 60b).

God will finally destroy the Yeẓer ha-Ra', as is promised in Ezek. xxxvi. 26. Yet to the righteous who have struggled against it, it will appear like a high mountain; but to the wicked, like a hair (Suk. 52a). It is because the Yeẓer ha-Ra' anticipates this final punishment that it brings man to destruction (Ab. R. N. 16). Meanwhile, like a stone (see above), it gradually crumbles away until it no longer forms a stumbling-block.

Rise of the Idea

While the expression yetzer is used both in Deut. 31:21 and in Isa. 26:3 for the disposition or mind, the term "heart" or "evil heart" usually takes its place in Biblical theology as the seat and power of temptation and sin in man. Thus, the "wicked heart" referred to in Ezra 4:18 is analogous to the So, too, the "wicked heart" referred to in Ezra iv. 18 is analogous to the Yeẓer ha-Ra' in being offset by the Law and in not having power to overcome the Law.

The first definitive passage in which the term occurs is in the Hebrew text of Eccliasticus (Sirach) 15:14. written in the second century B.C.E.: "God created man from the beginning... and gave him into the hand of his yetzer." And in 6:22 of this text man is compared to the fruit of a tree, while his thoughts are according to his yetzer.

This idea seems to have been taken up as well by the Apostle Paul(Rom. 7:7-24). However, the contrast between the flesh and the spirit emphasized by Paul exists nowhere in mainstream Jewish theology.

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