כַּכֶּסֶף בְּיַד הַצּוֹרֵף

After the chet of the Eitz Hadaas, Hashem asked Adam why he did it and he blamed it on Chava. Then Hashem asked Chava why she did it, and she blamed it on the snake. But we don’t find that Hashem asked the Nachash why he did it. Why didn’t Hashem give the nachash a chance to explain as well? I think the answer is because Hashem knew that the Nachash would have just pointed a finger at Hashem and said, you created me to do this job.

ברכות לב א': אמר רבי חמא ברבי חנינא אלמלא שלש מקראות הללו נתמוטטו רגליהם של שונאי ישראל חד דכתיב ואשר הרעותי וחד דכתיב הנה כחומר ביד היוצר כן אתם בידי בית ישראל וחד דכתיב והסירותי את לב האבן מבשרכם ונתתי לכם לב בשר עכ"ל. רש"י: אלמלא שלש מקראות הללו שמעידין שיש ביד הקב"ה לתקן יצרנו ולהסיר יצה"ר ממנו נתמוטטו רגלינו במשפט אבל עכשיו יש לנו פתחון פה, שהוא גרם לנו שברא יצר הרע עכ"ל

But we need to understand. If it’s Hashem who created the Yetzer Hara, and not only that, but we see from the Gemara here that it’s Hashem Who really brings us to fall, so why are we punished? What does Hashem want from us? What’s the point of it all?

The Beis Aharon starts his Sefer on Parshas Bereishis: תכלית בריאת העולמות הוא הכל בירורים

What is the meaning of Birurim?

As we know, the purpose of creation was to bestow good on His creations. But in order to do that, Hashem had to create a desire to receive. And that desire to receive is what makes us separate from Hashem. Because without it we’d just be an extension of Hashem. And Hashem wouldn’t be able to give anything to Himself. So He created something called the desire to receive which He doesn’t have, and with that we become separate from Him and are able to receive His light. The only problem with this is, that the desire to receive for the self is the polar opposite of Hashem, and not only does it separate us from Hashem’s essence, it takes us as far away from Hashem as possible. Because in spiritual terms, distance isn’t determined by km or miles, but rather by similarity of nature. So if Hashem is all desire to give and we are all desire to receive, we are the very opposite of Him, which by definition doesn’t ALLOW us to receive His light. Just as a limb of the body, if it is cut off from the body, no longer feels what the body feels. So the solution to this conundrum is that the desire to receive needs to be refined. Initially, it wants only for itself, but through the Torah and Mitzvos, we are able to refine the רצון לקבל ultimately to receive for the sake of Hashem and not for our own sake. Not only does this allow us to use the desire to receive Hashem’s good without it separating us from Hashem, but it is also a much greater pleasure to us than if we would receive for our own selves, as it no longer dependant on our own vessels, which are very limited in their capacity to receive, but rather, our pleasure is now for the sake of Hashem Who is infinite and therefore the pleasure is infinite and never ending as well.

So the desire to receive is sort of like raw silver. The beauty is in there, it just needs purification. That is what is meant by “birurim”. The entire purpose of creation is to purify this ratzon lekabel and leave only the capacity to receive pleasure without the selfish desire.

So in reality, the Nachash or the Yetzer Hara is simply an manifestation of our desire for the self. Of course Hashem created it, but it needs to be purified. Each time we feel a desire to sin, Hashem is putting the silver to the fire to bring out the impurities. And if we succeed in overcoming the desire, we rid ourselves of another bit of the impurities within us. And each time we don’t succeed, it simply means that the impurities that we see are still too big for us to cleanse off in one shot and it will require more work next time. A success means that the impurities that Hashem brought up to the surface fall away, and a fall means that the impurities that came up to the surface fall back into the mix. When we do Teshuva, we bring back up those impurities to the surface through vidui, and then get rid of them through charata and kabbalah al lehaba.

This parable really can help us understand the struggles we go through. Yes, Hashem created the Yetzer Hara, which simply means, the desire to receive - which in its raw form is to receive for the self. And yes, we fall. But in reality, there’s no point in blaming Hashem for the fall, and there’s also no point in blaming ourselves either. This isn’t about whose fault it is. It’s about a purification process that needs to be done, one way or another. So when we fall, we can’t really say “If only I had tried harder or done this or that”, because Hashem knew you would fall. If you’re trying and have a test, it means Hashem is bringing up the impurities for you to burn off. And if you don’t succeed in burning them off and they fall back into the mix, it just means you need more time and effort until you burn it off.

But often we get frustrated and say, why does Hashem make it so hard, why can’t He help me more? Why can’t I just not have such struggles? The answer is because there are impurities there, deep inside of us. And if Hashem would just help us AVOID temptation and never be tested, the impurities would stay inside of us forever and we wouldn’t even KNOW it. The only way to rid our desires of impurities is when Hashem tests us and brings the impurities to the surface, giving us the CHANCE to burn them off and remove them.

A person can be doing really well for a while and suddenly he has a big test and a fall out of the blue. And he asks Hashem, why? WHY? I’ve been doing so well for so long, why this now? The answer is simple. There are still impurities within us that we don’t see. We think we’re doing great, everything is fine. But the silver is still far from purified the way it needs to be. And the only way to bring those impurities out, is to bring them up to the surface through a test. And often we are overwhelmed when we see a new layer of impurities come up and don’t have the strength to burn it off. But just the fact that Hashem tested us is already an indication of progress. It means He is showing us what still needs to be done. He is revealing to us that, no, we’re not done yet, there are still impurities there that need to be dealt with. You thought all is fine, but the test and the fall show that there’s still work to do. And then through Teshuvah we bring the impurities up again through vidui - by admitting our fall, which basically clarifies for ourselves the revelation that we had of the impurities we hadn’t known about, and then we burn them off through charata and making new kabalos and fences for the future.

(So why doesn’t Hashem just bring up all the impurities at once for us to “burn off”? Because we’d obviously give up! So he does it in little bits and pieces over the course of our lives. We clean up and think we’re good now, then a test comes and we fall, and we see we’re not done yet… And so it goes, with much patience and love, Hashem brings up the impurities slowly, bit by bit, for us to clean up).

This is such a powerful moshol to understand the Yetzer Hara. Because first of all, it answers the question of WHY are we responsible if Hashem is really doing it all. And it can also save us from so much pointless guilt and shame. The purpose of it all is just to purify our desires like purifying silver. And each test and each fall is simply an indication that we’re not done yet.

In the famous piyut on Yom Kippur night of “Ken anachnu beyadcha” there are 7 sections. We say how we are like pottery in the hands of Hashem, like glass in the hands of the glass-maker, like the wheel of a ship, etc…

כִּי הִנֵּה כַּחֹמֶר בְּיַד הַיּוֹצֵר

בִּרְצוֹתוֹ מַרְחִיב וּבִרְצוֹתוֹ מְקַצֵּר

כִּי הִנֵּה כָּאֶבֶן בְּיַד הַמְסַתֵּת

בִּרְצוֹתוֹ אוֹחֵז וּבִרְצוֹתוֹ מְכַתֵּת

כִּי הִנֵּה כַּגַּרְזֶן בְּיַד הֶחָרָשׁ

בִּרְצוֹתוֹ דִּבֵּק לָאוּר וּבִרְצוֹתוֹ פֵּרַשׁ

כִּי הִנֵּה כַּהֶגֶה בְּיַד הַמַּלָּח

בִּרְצוֹתוֹ אוֹחֵז וּבִרְצוֹתוֹ שִׁלַּח

כִּי הִנֵּה כִּזְכוּכִית בְּיַד הַמְזַגֵּג

בִּרְצוֹתוֹ חוֹגֵג וּבִרְצוֹתוֹ מְמוֹגֵג

כִּי הִנֵּה כַּיְרִיעָה בְּיַד הָרוֹקֵם

בִּרְצוֹתוֹ מְיַשֵּׁר וּבִרְצוֹתוֹ מְעַקֵּם

כִּי הִנֵּה כַּכֶּסֶף בְּיַד הַצּוֹרֵף

בִּרְצוֹתוֹ מְסַגְסֵג וּבִרְצוֹתוֹ מְצָרֵף

כֵּן אֲנַחְנוּ בְיָדְךָ מַמְצִיא לְמָזוֹר תֶּרֶף

לַבְּרִית הַבֵּט וְאַל תֵּפֶן לַיֵּצֶר.

Each of the first 6 sections starts with the good and then mentions the bad, sometimes he holds the wheel, sometimes he lets it go, etc… But in the very last one, the paytan switches the order and says, we are like silver in the hands of a silversmith. Sometimes he leaves the impurities and sometimes he purifies it… Why does he change the order in the last one? I believe he is trying to tell us that all those previous 6 that mentioned how Hashem seemingly let’s us come out bad, let’s us go, let’s us break, etc… that’s only because Hashem is purifying us. If He would make us look nice before we’re ready, all the impurities would still be left inside. So the very act of letting us go or letting us break is what purifies us in the end!

On a National Level

This perspective of purification applies not only on a personal level, but on a national level as well, for all of klal yisrael. Whether it’s the sins of Avodah Zara of old, or atheism or the Reform movements, or the huge tests of arayos in our generation, it is pointless to say “If only Hashem didn’t test us with this. If only there wouldn’t have been a person by the name of Moses Mendleson ym”sh who started the Reform movement, or if only Steve Jobs hadn’t invented the smartphone… The tests we have in each generation are simply there to bring up the impurities that are there, deep inside of us all. And without these tests we would never even KNOW the impurities were there. We’d think all is well, we’re keeping Torah and Mitzvos, everything is great, we’re good to go. Hashem brings new tests for each generation to bring up new layers of impurities that already exist within us that need to be brought to the surface and burned off! The reform and conservitive movements, the Shabbos challenges of 100 years ago, and the technology challenges of today, these are all the melting furnaces that bring the impurities inside of us up to the surface and it’s our job to burn them off. And if we fail, the impurities sink back into the mix. But at least now we know they’re there! Now we can do Teshuvah! Before we didn’t even KNOW there were impurities inside us. We thought all was fine! So falls are part of the process. Both on an individual level and on a national level. They show us the impurities that we need to work on and get rid of. Only by falling do we know they exist. And now we can do Teshuvah and bring them back up and burn them off!

The Days of Tanach Versus Today

On a side note, it’s interesting that the struggles that the Yidden faced in the times of Tanach were so different than the struggles we face today. They had a huge yetzer hara for Avodah Zara, and every time they would forget Hashem and serve other gods, Hashem would give them over in the hands of their enemies, they would do Teshuvah, Hashem would send them a shofet and they’d go to war and win. But the wars weren’t simple. They required great faith and messiras nefesh, it was often the few and the weak against the many and the strong. But when they showed faith and mesiras nefesh, Hashem would send them a miraculous salvation… This theme comes up again and again throughout tanach, beginning with the Yidden in the Midbar, the chet of the meraglim, and the successes against Sichon and Og, all the way till the end of Kesuvim in Megillas Esther. It’s basically the theme of the entire Torah shebichtav. But in the times of Torah She’bal Peh, the struggle changed drastically. We no longer had our land, we were in Galus, our struggle was not to serve Idols and fight enemies, our struggle was to learn Torah and keep the mitzvos. In Tanach we don’t find many challenges to Torah learning or keeping Mitzvos, but mostly challenges in Emunah, Avodah Zara and fighting our enemies with faith in Hashem.

When a person wants silver, they have to first hack the rocks out of the mountain, remove the big chunks of rock from around it, and take the silver arteries out of the rock. Only after that can the silver be further purified in fire to bring out all the impurities and make it shine. The first stage sees big results. Each wack of the hammer chops away a huge part of the rock and reveals a new layer of silver.. But over time, it becomes increasingly more delicate of a job to clean the silver and purify it to a final shine.

It could be that the world of Torah shebichsav was a world where spirituality and physicality were closely intertwined. The purification process was taking place at a much more basic and raw level. The silver was very impure, but the process was more rewarding. In other words, the people were on a higher level. The physical and spiritual were one. The wars they fought with the nations were like the battles we fight today with the Yetzer Hara. They were fighting with faith on a very basic level. The physical was a direct representation of the spiritual. Leaving Mitzrayim, Sichon and Og, Yehoshua and Yericho, Devorah and Barak with Sisra, Dovid Hamelech’s battling Goliath and the Pellishtim, their physical battles were huge spiritual battles that shook all the upper words and brought chunks of rocks away, revealing layers of silver… The kochos of tumah, the impurities, avodah zara and kishuf, had real powers in those days, and the spiritual level of the world was much higher as well. There was real nevuah, etc… Zeh leumas zeh.

But as the silver became more separate and distinct from the rock, in the world of Torah She’bal Peh, our struggles became different. The world is farther today, we accomplish less, spirituality isn’t intertwined anymore with the physical as much. That’s also why there’s no more desire for avodah zara, no more real kishuf, etc. Spirituality and physicality have become separated. When we fight the Yetzer Hara today, we weren’t fighting physical gods and physical enemies. We’re fighting gods of ideals (like atheism, reform, etc.) and spiritual enemies like technology, lust, over-eating. In old days, the nations and gods were the physical manifestations of the evils we needed to fight, but today our fight is on a more ethereal level. Not because we are on a higher level, precisely the opposite. Because the main purification has been done by the previous generations. We are in the refining process, which is more delicate and less visible.

On a Global Level

The notion of purifying silver is true even on a global level. Hashem has a plan for for all of mankind. We’re moving forward towards a better and more Godly world. The Baal Hasulam says that when Moshiach comes, the goyim will be given the opportunity to start the work that we, the Jewish people, have done over the past 3,000 years. They too need to be purified. And we can see mankind's progress, especially over the past few hundred years, where ruthless kings and dictators have been replaced with democracies, and where human rights and the value of life have become sacrosanct. But often a new evil comes along, that shakes up the world. For example, the idea of Communism was a beautiful ideal on paper, as presented by Carl Marx (a Jew). The idea that all people should work for each other and share everything would create an ideal world. But mankind wasn’t ready for it. Not even close. As soon as they tried to implement it, the worst impurities came to the surface. All those with power, took for themselves and abused those under them under the pretext of protecting the higher ideals… So it wouldn’t have helped to say, “If only Carl Marx had not come up with this” the world would have been such a better place. Because the impurities were there. They needed to come up and be removed. And indeed, the fall of Communism around the world was another step in the direction of mankind’s purification.

We can take this idea even as far as Naziism. It doesn’t help to say, “Why did Hashem create Hitler?” If only he never was born, 50 million people wouldn’t have been killed in the crazy war he started. Naziism was an idea born from the inherent impurities in mankind's collective consciousness. It needed to be brought out, shown in its pure unadulterated evil to the entire world, and then the collective forces of good and freedom had to overcome it in a bitter and brutal process of purification. Millions died in the process, but mankind came a long way after this. The United Nations was created to protect all human rights around the world, and the words “Never Again” ring true. It won’t happen again, because hopefully this particular type of impurity has finally been burned off of mankind’s collective soul.

And when we see the evil and hypocrisy in the UN today, it’s just another indication that there’s more impurities to burn off. We’re making progress, but we’re far from done yet.

It could also be that the purification process of the Jewish people is mirrored by the purification process of all of humanity. In other words, when the impurities in the Jewish people reached an unprecedented level during the years of the haskala, where 90% of the Jewish people left the ways of the Torah, this caused also the impurities in mankind to come to the surface and Communism and Naziism came to surface and directly caused a cleansing of the impurities of the Jewish people through untold suffering and death. But ultimately, when the Jewish impurities were cleansed by the suffering, these great impurities of the nations also were burned away and removed…