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ספר מסילת ישרים,
we're in ביאור מידת הזריזות,
chapter two.
We described yesterday that the trick of the יצר הרע isn't to tell you
to do an עבירה.
That would be too obvious,
and you would have the strength to say no.
But he gets you so occupied in things which are mundane,
things which are permissible,
in a way that it totally hijacks your mind.
You're not able to think,
you're not able to focus,
and then from there you're not growing.
And once you're not growing,
you're falling.
כן היא עצת היצר הרע ממש על בני אדם.
Just like פרעה,
whose name is להפריע,
that's what he did to the Jews in Egypt,
that's exactly the same trick that the יצר הרע does to us.
כי איש מלחמה הוא.
You should know that the יצר הרע is a trained warrior,
מלומד בערמימות,
and he has a cunningness to him in the way that he fights us.
It's not head-on.
ואי אפשר להמלט ממנו אלא בחכמה רבה ובהשקפה גדולה.
So he says two different phrases here.
The יצר הרע isn't so obvious that he just comes straightforward.
He works in cunning ways.
So if you want to fight him and defeat him,
first of all you have to have חכמה רבה,
you have to have great wisdom.
And just like someone who was in the סנהדרין,
he had to learn the ways of עבודה זרה,
and he had to learn the ways of the tricksters to be able to
identify what they were doing and how they were doing it,
so too in order for you to defeat the יצר הרע,
your חכמה רבה has to be to learn the methods of the יצר הרע.
There's an excellent book called Influence,
where the goal of the book was written by a professor of psychology to
teach you,
what are the methods that the salespeople use in order to hijack your mind,
that you won't be able to think straight,
and that when they then offer you to buy whatever it is that they're
selling,
you'll just agree,
you'll just go along and agree with it.
And he wrote the book not as a handbook for the salespeople;
he wrote it as a handbook for the consumers to be aware of the
tricks they use,
so you can then defend yourself from them.
And the concept that he writes there is,
these tricks only work if you're not aware of them,
because you're being influenced upon.
So you don't notice that he's making you feel guilty in some way,
or he's making you feel you're part of a big group doing something together,
or that you have to reciprocate for some good that he did for you,
and you have to respond in kind.
If you're not aware of those things,
then there's some כח that pulls on your heart and says,
"But I have to.
I have to,
he did me a favor,
I have to do him a favor.
I have to,
I agreed to some small request,
I have to continue agreeing and show that I'm consistent in the request that
I agreed with initially.
I have to."
And he taps into those aspects of human nature.
And if you're not aware that's what he's doing,
the salesman,
then you'll just go along,
because that's the way that human nature is.
But if you're aware that's what he's doing,
and you can point it out,
and you can say,
"You're using consistency.
You're using reciprocation."
The moment you notice that's what it is,
it doesn't have any power over you anymore.
משל למה הדבר דומה.
If you have a secret agent,
let's say an Israeli who is working in Iran,
and they don't know that he's Israeli—obviously,
that's the whole point,
right?
He's a secret agent—and he's in the meetings that they're having,
their plans against Israel,
and it's phenomenal,
he's able to send back all the information to Israel,
and we're able to know all the locations of all their rockets and all
their launchers,
and it's working amazing,
so far,
so good.
If חס ושלום one day,
what happened—let's not use the example of Iran,
because there,
ברוך השם,
it didn't happen,
but let's use the example of Lebanon,
where it did happen,
right,
with אלי כהן.
If one day they discover אלי כהן—in Syria,
sorry,
in Syria—if they discover one day אלי כהן,
and then he says,
"Oh,
tell me some big secret that you have," they'll say,
"Tell you some big secret?
You're Jewish!
You're Israeli!
You're אלי כהן!
We know you're not the secret agent anymore.
We're not going to tell you any more secrets."
And he says,
"No,
but I gave you lots of wine,
and I invited you to my party,
and we've been friends together for months now."
And they're like,
"It doesn't make any difference!
It was all a fraud!
It was all a fraud!
We know you're a spy!"
He won't have any more power or influence over them at all,
because the moment that he's uncovered,
then his trick no longer works.
So if you are not aware that the יצר הרע is doing a trick
on you,
if you're not aware that the salesman is pulling on your consciousness and making
you agree to him because of some human psychological need that you have to
answer,
and you're not aware of it,
then it will work on you.
But if you uncover the spy,
and you say,
"I know that trick of the יצר הרע," I Fallen for that trick before,
that's why I know that trick of the יצר הרע.
I know exactly what that trick is.
I'm not going to fall for it again," and you pull off his mask
and you say,
"That's reciprocation!
That's the יצר הרע trying to convince me to do that again."
Or in our context,
"That's getting me occupied and bogged down in some external thing which is not
really really important right now,
so then I forget to or I'm just distracted in being focused on on
what's really important."
The moment that you're able to uncover it,
it no longer has power over you.
Just like in the example of the spy,
once you discover him as an as an agent,
then you're not going to tell him any more secrets,
you're not going to work with him.
The moment that you're aware that this is the trick of the יצר הרע,
he doesn't have that same level of power over you anymore because you're able
to determine,
"I know exactly what you're doing.
I've been there before,
I'm not going to fall for it again."
בדידי הוה עובדא.
A real case that happened to me,
unfortunately,
as well as many many other people.
I got a call one day from an organization,
מרכז הצדקה העולמי,
I think that's what it was called.
And they said to me,
"Thank you very much for your donation of 50 shekels a month for the
last year,
and we have an issue that the that the that the details you gave
us aren't going through anymore.
We wanted to know,
can we continue the donation that you said you would give us for two
years,
what you already what you already promised to give for two years?
And just the card's not going through,
could you just give us the information again because we just want to make
sure that what you already promised you're going to give is going to go
through?"
So I didn't remember exactly,
I give to this צדקה,
that צדקה,
I don't remember all the details of who's who,
what's what.
מרכז הצדקה העולמי,
sounds good.
Sounds correct,
sounds like probably I gave to that.
And then I gave them the information,
and then suddenly I see money going off every month.
Now,
1 minute,
I don't remember that amount going off.
Let me look back.
And I look back,
and I never gave to this צדקה before.
And then I looked it up on the internet,
and it's a fraud.
It's not a real thing.
So here's their trick:
They phone people,
they say,
"You've already given to us in the past,
thank you very much.
We're only asking to continue giving to us what you anyway gave.
We just need to update the information."
So you say,
"Okay," now you've agreed.
That was a מקח טעות,
but you did agree and you gave your information,
and they start taking.
So עליתי על זה,
I realized that was what was going on,
and I phoned to cancel—impossible to cancel.
Impossible to cancel,
the way they do it,
some complicated explanation as to why they're not able to cancel it.
Eventually eventually,
I I learned of a lot of other people who had fallen for the
same trick,
and I and I phoned them together with I said,
"I got the name of this person,
this person,
this person,
this person,
and I'm also connected to a group of rabbis that represents many people.
We are going to speak publicly against this organization and let the whole world
know."
Suddenly,
they found a way of canceling it.
They found a way.
They didn't They didn't give me back the money that I'd already given them,
but I should have fought more for that.
It wasn't so much,
I let it pass,
but at least they canceled it going forward.
Okay,
it was a mistake,
I made a mistake,
fell for a trick,
we're finished.
Two months later,
they phoned again.
They said,
"Oh,
thank you very much for generous donation,
you've been giving for a year,
and..."
So I said,
"Is this מרכז הצדקה העולמי?"
They said,
"No,
no,
no,
that's a different organization.
This is הקרן הצדקה הגלובלי," I don't know what it was exactly,
like some other variation.
So I said,
"That's a differ- this is this one?!"
So I said like,
"I fell for it once,
I'm not going to fall for it again," and I hung up.
If you're not aware that it's a trick,
you're likely to fall for it.
But the moment that you're aware and you've taken off the mask and you
say like,
"I know what the יצר הרע is doing."
Now,
many people are so bogged down by their day-to-day living,
they don't even pay attention to that.
They're falling for that same trick again and again.
Like a very very classic example that happens all the time:
You're married,
you come home in the evening,
and it's the one time in the day you have to sit and talk
to your wife,
and you're checking your messages.
You know there's nothing important there.
You know!
There's no one who's on their deathbed,
there's no one who you're not you're not like a you're not working for
הצלה,
whatever it is.
Whatever it is can wait 20 minutes.
And your wife's sharing something important right now,
but you check to see what the message is.
Ah,
it's the electric company just sending me the bill.
Now,
was it worth it to check just to see what it was when your
wife is in the middle of sharing with you?
It wasn't worth it.
And you see on her face that it wasn't worth it.
You see,
you noticed it.
She's disappointed in you for being distracted.
So what are you going to do tomorrow?
So people who are so bogged down in checking their messages and needing to
check every time,
again and again and again and again,
they'll do it again tomorrow,
and the next day,
and the next day,
and when their kids want to spend time with them,
and they'll do it again and again throughout their lives until eventually,
when they'll be grandparents and their grandchildren will come to be with them and
they'll want some attention from their grandchildren,
the grandchildren are on their phones,
they'll suddenly realize,
"I made that same mistake my whole life."
But they're so caught up in it.
I remember years ago,
years ago,
this was before even cell phones,
I went to visit my great-aunt in Ramat Beit Shemesh,
and she lives by herself,
and and we were sitting there,
my wife and I,
a couple of the kids,
and we were talking to her,
and the phone rang.
And she let it ring.
I was getting uncomfortable.
Like the phone's ringing.
And I couldn't take it after,
I said,
I said,
"The phone's ringing."
I mean,
she's deaf,
I mean,
she's old.
I said,
"The phone's ringing."
She said,
"You're here now.
Whoever it is can call back."
That was like a shock to me,
like concept.
The phone's ringing and you don't answer?
You don't know who it is,
but it could be so important.
But there's someone more important here right now.
To me,
that was such a חידוש that I try,
I don't do it always well,
but I try to do it myself then when like when my wife and
I designate times that we're talking.
Sometimes we talk just talk of the day,
then not.
Sometimes we designate times that we're talking.
Then I turn my phone off and put it on silent,
leave it in the room,
and then we talk.
And that was from that one incident of the great-aunt,
Auntie Freida,
great-Auntie Freida.
From that incident that happened,
that gave me that lesson,
because you get so distracted in everything that's happening that you give up on
what's really important.
That's the trick of the יצר הרע.
How do you overcome the trick?
Just by paying attention.
That's it.
It's not so hard.
Once you've determined that that's a spy,
an undercover spy is no longer undercover.
Once you realize that it's the יצר הרע trying to trick you,
you're not going to make the mistake again.
What's going to make you do the mistake again and again and again,
year after year?
The fact that you're so bogged down in whatever it is that you're doing
that you don't even call it by its name.
You don't say,
"This is the יצר הרע."
And that's beautiful explanation.
In a couple of weeks' time,
when יעקב אבינו I'm not so good at finding פסוקים under
pressure.
But when יעקב אבינו wants to cross over,
if someone knows where it is,
you find it for me,
okay?
If יעקב אבינו wants to cross over the מעבר יבק,
and then he meets the the angel there,
and he and he he wrestles with the angel,
ויאבק איש עמו עד עלות השחר,
and he says to him,
"What's your name?"
What does he answer?
What does the angel answer?
למה זה תקרא לשמי?
"Why are you asking my name?"
Some מפרשים explain that he's saying,
"Don't ask.
I have a name,
but don't ask.
Why are you asking?"
He's not saying,
"I don't have a name."
He's saying,
"I have a name,
I'm not telling you.
Why are you asking?"
Some מפרשים explain differently.
They say he was answering the question.
יעקב אבינו asked him,
the יצר הרע,
"What's your name?"
And he answered,
"My name is Why Are You Asking My Name?
I don't want you to know.
I want to stay undercover.
I want to stay a spy.
I'm only able to have power over you if you don't know my name.
Why are you asking my name?
Get distracted in other things.
Get involved in other things and don't identify who I am."
That's his name.
His name is למה זה תשאל לשמי?
"Why are you asking my name?
Go get involved in something else."
Exactly the message that we're learning over here.
The יצר הרע wants you to be so bogged down in whatever it is
that you're doing that you're not uncovering,
revealing that he is the יצר הרע.
So his name is למה זה תשאל לשמי.
"Why are you asking my name?
Go get involved in something else."
That's what he's called,
because his whole goal is that you don't reveal him.
And therefore,
you need a חכמה רבה.
You need a great wisdom.
And what's the wisdom?
To identify,
these are the ways of the יצר הרע.
Just like someone on a סנהדרין needed to know the ways of witchcraft to
be able to sentence someone who did כישוף to death,
so we need to learn the ways of the יצר הרע in order to
call him by name,
and then he doesn't have any power over us anymore.
That's point number one.
And point number two is השקפה רבה.
השקפה is to look.
השקפה רבה is where you see how that plays out in your life.
Not only do you know the tricks of the יצר הרע,
but how's that playing out in your life?
You might have learned in theory all the tricks of the יצר הרע,
and you know trick 1.1,
1.2,
3.4,
you know all of his tricks,
but he's doing it on you and you're not making the connection.
You know that trick,
but he's winning you over and making you do עבירות time after time,
and you don't see it playing out in your life.
And therefore,
you need both.
You need חכמה רבה to identify what it is,
not just that you can pass the test and know what the tricks of
the יצר הרע are,
but you also need השקפה גדולה,
that you're able to identify in your life on a daily basis what trick
he's doing on you.
I just want to mention in passing,
because it's definitely relevant to many people,
there's a website called Guard Your Eyes.
It's an amazing,
amazing website that was made based on תורה השקפה and on modern psychology,
to give skills to men who suffer from pornography,
or masturbation,
or that whole general topic of שמירת הברית.
And that's a very,
very strong area that the יצר הרע has,
where people stumble again and again and again and again.
And what this website teaches is it teaches the methods that the יצר הרע
uses in order to cause people to stumble.
And it teaches you how the יצר הרע works.
It's teaching you based on psychological skills,
psychological skills that show you what tricks he's using,
the יצר הרע is using,
or putting the word יצר הרע aside,
but what that thoughts that you have,
that are unhealthy thinking habits that cause a person to stumble again and again
and again.
And it trains you to first identify those unhealthy thought patterns and habits that
a person has,
and then it shows you how to rewire,
like how to respond to those thinking patterns,
so that you can then rewire yourself,
and that's exactly what we're describing over here.
There's a חכמה רבה,
there's a great wisdom that needs to be learned.
What are the methods that the יצר הרע uses,
and why does it work again and again?
Because people give up their hands and they say,
"I don't know how to stop this.
Like I don't even know what he's doing or how he's doing it.
It just happens again and again and again.
I don't know what it is."
But don't say,
"I don't know what it is."
Learn what it is.
It's very clearly written in many places,
and this website has done a phenomenal job,
an amazing job of putting it in modern language,
easy,
readable Hebrew,
and in English,
originally in English,
and then afterwards in Hebrew,
but in English,
with skills that are very practical and down to earth,
which enables you to reclaim your life and identify what tricks the יצר הרע
are using against me,
and what tools can I use to combat that.
It's a very,
very important and healthy resource.
והוא מה שהנביא צווח ואומר:
"שימו לבבכם על דרכיכם" חגי,
we learned about ירמיהו earlier,
now we're learning about חגי,
it was an issue throughout the generations,
said,
"Just pay attention to what you're doing.
Pay attention to your ways,
because you're stumbling on the same things again and again."
And going back earlier in the generations,
שלמה המלך said,
"אל תתן שינה לעיניך ותנומה לעפעפיך.
הנצל כצבי מיד" וחכמ...
חז"ל אמרו במועד קטן,
"כל השם אורחותיו בעולם הזה,
זוכה ורואה בישועתו של הקדוש ברוך הוא" So,
he's bringing three different פסוקים.
The first one saying,
"First pay attention to your ways.
Look at the way you're behaving and how you're stumbling again and again and
again and again,
and it's not helping you,
it's not getting you anywhere.
If you're falling again and again,
you have to pause and reassess,
realign yourself."
Point number two he's making is that don't think that just by sleeping and
slumbering that you're going to escape.
You're not going to escape.
Pay attention that you're in a danger zone.
And if you're in a danger zone,
then just like a deer who sees that a lion is coming towards it,
the moment it notices it,
what's the power of the deer?
He's not strong,
he knows he's not strong,
his power is to run away.
And here,
this is one of the tricks that he's already alluding to,
which is to remove yourself from the temptation.
Don't allow yourself to be in a place where the temptation exists,
just immediately pick up and run away.
If you know you're in a place where there's a danger,
הנצל כצבי מיד.
And if you don't,
but you just sleep,
in other words,
you just stay where you are and hope everything's going to be It's not
going to be okay.
I think it was Einstein who said that it's only a fool is someone
who goes who does the same thing again and again and hopes for different
results.
We stumble with the יצר הרע,
act in the same way again and again,
and דאוון to Hashem,
"Hashem,
help me,
help me that it will turn out differently."
Why is it going to turn out differently?
If you're acting in the same way again and again and you're still sleeping,
then of course the outcome may be the same.
Maybe there'll be a great סייעתא דשמיא and you'll be saved,
but that's not your השתדלות.
Your השתדלות is to make a difference.
And then the third,
not פסוק,
but גמרא that he quotes is:
someone who's שם.
שם,
שומא,
means to make an evaluation.
You have to make an active evaluation.
כל השם אורחותיו בעולם הזה:
anyone who calculates,
evaluates his ways in this world,
not only will you benefit in this world,
however,
זוכה ורואה בישועתו של הקדוש ברוך הוא.
No,
sorry,
this is still in this world.
He will be זוכה to not just in the future he'll get reward,
but here already in this world,
רואה,
he will see that Hashem will save him.
Just an interesting thing about the word ישועה,
I think we discussed this before,
but the word ישועה comes from the שורש of the word שעה,
like it says by קין and הבל,
שעה אל מנחתו.
And in the context there,
שעה אל מנחתו means that he turns towards.
Either הקדוש ברוך הוא has הסתר פנים,
where he's turning away,
then the whole world falls apart.
On an individual level,
a person doesn't see השגחה פרטית in his life,
his world falls apart.
On a national level,
if there's no השגחה פרטית for עם ישראל,
then war can take place.
What's the ישועה?
The word ישועה in English means a salvation,
to be saved,
but it's the same word as turning towards.
When we turn towards Hashem,
and then therefore Hashem will turn towards us,
like the two כרובים that turn to face one another,
that's that's being saved.
the fact that you're with Hashem.
It's not it's not two different things,
being close with Hashem and being saved.
It's the same thing,
it's the same word.
The word ישועה is from the word שעה.
Turning towards Hashem,
that already itself means that הקדוש ברוך הוא has got you covered.
You know the song "He's got the whole world in His hand"?
You know that song?
The kids:
"He's got the whole world in His hand."
So הקדוש ברוך הוא,
when you've turned towards Him,
then He turns towards you,
and you're protected by Him.
ופשוט שאפילו אם יפקח אדם על עצמו,
now the truth is,
it's obvious,
that just the fact that you're looking at what you're doing,
that's not enough.
That's not enough to be saved.
אילולא הקדוש ברוך הוא עוזרו,
if it's not that Hashem helps you,
כי היצר הרע תקיף מאוד.
I'm just going to say this piece outside and we'll pause,
this is a very,
very,
very powerful message.
The גמרא says in קידושין that הקדוש ברוך הוא set up the world in
a in a strange way.
He set up the world that the יצר הרע is stronger than you.
That's just what it is.
The יצר הרע is stronger than you.
So if you're giving ranking points,
no matter how hard you try,
you'll get to a four,
the יצר הרע will be a six.
No matter how hard you try.
He set up the world that the יצר הרע is stronger than you.
That's what the גמרא in קידושין says:
היצר הרע תקיף מאוד,
as the פסוק says,
צופה רשע לצדיק ומבקש להמיתו.
The יצר הרע is stronger than you no matter what you do,
אין בכחו לינצל,
you can't defeat him.
It's not good,
right?
It's not a good starting point.
That's the way that Hashem made the world.
The יצר הרע is stronger than your will.
But then Hashem says,
"But don't worry,
I'll I'll help you out.
I'll help you out."
So if you have a four and the יצר הרע is a six,
then Hashem adds another four.
Ah,
that's good!
Now it's eight against six,
you're going to win.
It's a very strange way of doing it,
no?
Why didn't Hashem just make it that we're stronger?
Wouldn't that have made more sense?
At the end of the day,
the goal is that we're going to defeat the יצר הרע,
that's the goal.
So Hashem sets it up like this:
"Well,
you're not as strong as him,
he's stronger than you,
ah,
he's going to defeat you,
nothing to do,
but don't worry,
I'll come and save the day,
I'll add you some extra power."
Or like in the games,
"I'll give you an extra life,
right,
and then you'll have some extra power,
and now you'll be able to overcome him,
and that's it."
It's a strange way of doing things.
Why didn't Hashem just give us more power to begin with?
But here lies the answer,
and this is critical,
critical.
It's critical in our fight against the יצר הרע and our השקפה and how
we're viewing the whole fight between us and the יצר הרע.
Why did הקדוש ברוך הוא give us the fight to begin with?
Why did He make the יצר הרע to begin with?
Is the goal for the fight?
For sure not,
the fight doesn't accomplish much.
Is the goal just to win?
Well,
that doesn't make sense,
because then He would have just made us stronger to begin with and we'll
win,
or just don't make the יצר הרע to begin with,
and then you don't need to fight.
So what's the purpose,
what's the goal?
Why did He make the יצר הרע?
And what's the answer?
That we turn to Him.
That we realize that we're dependent on Him.
That we say to הקדוש ברוך הוא,
אין לנו על מי להשען,
without You,
Hashem,
we can't do it.
So Hashem makes us weak,
makes the יצר הרע strong,
makes us feel in this world in a natural way we can't overcome the
יצר הרע,
it's overwhelming for us,
it's too much for us,
we can't do it.
And then we feel helpless,
and then from that place of helplessness,
we turn to Hashem,
and we say,
"Hashem,
I can't do this without You!"
And Hashem says,
"Well,
that was the whole goal all along,
for you to identify that you're dependent on Me."
Because really,
really,
really,
of course we're dependent on Hashem,
you don't need the יצר הרע to know that,
הקדוש ברוך הוא created you,
and He's willing you into existence every moment.
But we are so self-centered,
and we're so satisfied with everything that we have,
that we become ungrateful,
and we presume that we deserve everything that we have,
and we forget about Hashem.
So Hashem's stuck.
On the one hand He wants to benefit us and give us good,
on the other hand He wants us to still remember the relationship with Him.
So how's He supposed to do that?
If your parents at the beginning of the year give you all the money
that you need from the beginning of the year to the end of the
year,
then you have no need to call them.
"Thanks mom,
thanks dad,
see you in the summer."
חס ושלום.
But if they're giving you all the money,
so then what,
why are you going to call?
Well,
to say hello,
you've got the money already,
what's the point?
I heard a story of there was someone who was struggling financially,
and he was like asking for צדקה,
and his father was wealthy.
So people said to him like,
"Why are you asking other people for צדקה?
Why don't you just ask your father?"
And he said,
"My father won't give me a penny."
And they said,
"Why not?"
He said,
"Because my father said the only way that he can guarantee that I'm still
going to be in touch with him is if he doesn't give me the
ירושה now.
Because if he gives me the ירושה now,
that's it,
I'm never going to turn to him again."
So the father said,
"I'm not giving you any money."
He gave him money,
like,
he wasn't like stingy,
he didn't want to give him his ירושה.
He didn't want to give him all his money that the son would break
connection.
If you run an old age home,
there's two ways of paying.
The simple way is a stop order,
הוראת קבע,
right?
You set it up ahead of time,
And every month it goes off.
It's a simple way.
Someone founded an old age home,
and they said the only way you can pay this old age home is
if you come in every month and you pay.
Pay!
You have to come in and pay.
And it's really annoying,
like to come in every month and pay again and again and again and
again.
So the people said like,
"Why do you have such a difficult condition?"
He said,
"I don't want it that the kids set up a stop order and forget
about their parents.
If they come in once a month to pay,
they'll go visit their parents,
and they'll see them,
and the relationship will continue."
הקדוש ברוך הוא could have set up the world that He just give us
all the good.
And that's what He wants to do,
just give us all the good,
give us all the good,
give us all the good.
But then the nature of the world is that we'll forget about Him.
Once we have all the good,
we don't need Him anymore.
So הקדוש ברוך הוא is going to hold back the good?
He doesn't want to do that,
He wants us to give us the good.
He wants to shower us with all the benefit.
So Hashem says,
"This is what I'm going to do:
I'm going to give you all the good,
but to make sure that you stay in touch,
I'll make the יצר הרע stronger than you.
You'll have desires that you don't want,
that bother you and frustrate you,
and you'll say,
'Hashem,
thank You for all that You give me,
but this challenge is so overwhelming,
can You help me out?'
And I'll say,
'Yes.
Thank you for remembering Me.
Thank you for staying in touch.'" Let's read that again and see that inside.
It's obvious that even if you're looking over all your deeds,
you're doing a חשבון נפש,
you won't be able to save yourself unless הקדוש ברוך הוא helps you,
because Hashem designed you in a way that the יצר הרע is even stronger
than you.
Like the פסוק says,
צופה רשע לצדיק ומבקש להמיתו,
the רשע looks out for you and he tries to kill you.
השם לא יעזבנו,
but Hashem is not going to abandon you.
Hashem has you in mind,
but only if you turn to Him.
Only if you're שועה,
if you're turning to הקדוש ברוך הוא.
And that's the way that Hashem set up the world to ensure that we'll
have a ongoing and continuous relationship with Him.
אך אם אדם מפקח על עצמו,
but if you do look out for your actions,
אז הקדוש ברוך הוא עוזרו וניצול מן היצר הרע.
Once you show that you're willing to take care of yourself,
then הקדוש ברוך הוא will say,
"I'm taking care of you as well."
בעזרת השם,
we'll pick up at this point tomorrow.
יישר כח.