The Only Advice Against the Evil Inclination | Daily Encouragement from the Gaon

The Yetzer Hara (evil inclination) does not go on vacation — even if you were in Uman

The real war takes place in the head, in the thoughts, in the place where life is shaped. It is no secret: whoever wants to defeat the Yetzer Hara (evil inclination) must have the holy Torah. Rebbe Nachman warned us repeatedly: there is no other advice, no shortcuts, and no substitutes. Only Gemara (Talmud) study fills the soul and brings a person to true freedom.

So why wait? Let's embark on a fascinating journey following the words of the Rav, Rabbi Berland shlit"a (may he live long and good days), regarding the immense power of Torah study — because whoever holds onto the Torah holds the key to defeating the Yetzer Hara (evil inclination).

Sunday, 12th of Teves 5785 – The war of the inclination begins in the brain — and the weapon is the Gemara (Talmud)

These are his holy words:

Torah study is the foundation for all spiritual success

Sons need to study Torah; they need to know the Shas (the entire Talmud) by heart, to finish the Shas every month like Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky zt"l (of blessed memory), because only through the Torah are all prayers accepted.

Even if a person travels to Uman 100 times, his Yetzer Hara (evil inclination) only grows stronger. He doesn't understand why, since he's already been to Uman and has even slept there for several months, yet every day his Yetzer Hara only increases — only Torah study can fight the Yetzer Hara (evil inclination).

Rebbe Nachman says in Torah 8 (Likutey Moharan) regarding the "tlas chalalei d'gulgaltah" (three hollows of the skull/brain), that one must fill the brain, these hollows, only with Gemara (Talmud) study. There is no other advice against the Yetzer Hara (evil inclination), because a person is held captive by the four evil traits, which are fire, water, wind, and earth, and the Kelipat Nogah (the "glowing shell" of mixed good and evil). He is captive to the four evil traits, a "house of bondage"; he is a slave to his Yetzer Hara (evil inclination). He is unable to study Gemara; he is unable to concentrate on Gemara study or understand the Gemara.

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But the Rebbe said that one must study the entire Shas (Talmud); we must do what the Rebbe says, not what I say. The Rebbe says that a person needs to fill his brain in the "tlas chalalei d'gulgaltah" (three hollows of the skull). A person has three hollows in the brain and must fill them with the study of Shas, studying Shas day and night. A young man (bochur) needs to study for 16 hours. Married men with up to 10 children also need to study for 16 hours; when you have 10 children, you can study for 8 hours. Until 10 children, the wife will take care of the children, and you can be in the Yeshiva. The Yeshiva is five minutes from home, and if the wife needs help, she calls you or phones you. Today, the Kollels (study halls for married men) are five minutes from home; it's not like in the past when they had to walk for three months.

Back then, they walked for three months, or half a year on foot. There was the "bar bei rav d'chad yoma" (a student for one day - Chagigah 5b) who walked for half a year on foot from Babylon to the Land of Israel, and half a year back, just to study for one day. In that one day, he managed to acquire the entire Torah. In the past, to get to the Yeshivas, they had to walk for half a year or three months. The son of the Tosafos Yom Tov (Rabbi Yom-Tov Lipmann Heller) walked for a month on foot from Mainz to Prague. By the time he reached Prague, he heard that his father was sentenced to life imprisonment, to death by hanging. Well, he walked again on foot from Prague to Vienna, another two weeks on foot. On the way, he saw a woman with a red scarf walking with her baby and the nanny. Suddenly, he saw a giant bull, two meters high, going to gore her and the baby.

Turn it over and turn it over, for everything is in it — the answers to all questions are found in the Gemara (Talmud)

Who angers the bull? Why is the bull goring a poor woman, what did she do to it? There is a reason for it; everything is written in the Gemara, whoever studies Gemara knows the reason!

Immediately, he snatched the red scarf from her, threw it aside, and the bull ran after the red scarf; that's how she was saved. At that same second, a carriage with four horses, all made of gold, stopped. A man dressed entirely in gold clothes and gold embroidery stepped out of the carriage. He said to him, "Listen, you saved my wife."

"What did I save? I did a simple thing; I saw a bull coming to kill a person!"

"You saved my wife. What do you want, a villa? Tell me what you want, I will give you everything."

He said to him, "I performed a mitzvah (commandment/good deed); I saved a person from death. Should I sell the mitzvah for money? Heaven forbid, I am not willing."

"But I will give you a three-story villa with 10 elevators."

"Let me study Gemara (Talmud), you are only disturbing me, get away from me!" He was in the middle of studying Gemara; he wasn't willing for the man to speak to him at all.

"Fine, you know what, take my business card. I am the French Consul in Vienna (Vienna is in Austria). If you ever have any business there, I don't know, if you ever come to Vienna, turn to me; I will help you with everything. I will arrange the matter for you; present the business card and they will let you in immediately."

He was already in torn and worn-out clothes, having been on the road for a month. They walked on foot for four weeks; the shoes were torn, and they held them in their hands. He arrived in Vienna and asked, "What happened with my father, the Tosafos Yom Tov (referring to the author of the famous commentary on the Mishnah)?"

"Your father is a spy writing against Christianity. There is testimony from two kosher, righteous Jews; they say your father wrote against Christianity. The chief priest imprisoned him, and in another hour, the Emperor will sign. As soon as they sign, they will hang him in the city square in front of everyone, so that they shall hear and fear."

"They are hanging my father in an hour, and I have the business card of the French Consul in Vienna." He ran quickly; he saw a guard's hut there and showed him the business card. The guard didn't understand: a man with torn clothes, covered in mud, holding his shoes in his hand—what do you have to do with the Consul? "Are you crazy? You forged it, surely; you Jews know how to forge everything."

He said, "Listen, go to the Consul and tell him someone is waiting downstairs. I have a business card; what business is it of yours? Why are you interfering with me?"

Well, he ran to the Consul and said, "Some crazy person came, maybe we should hospitalize him." He showed the Consul the business card. Suddenly, the Consul remembered: "Oh, this is the one who saved my wife, who saved my baby, who saved my nanny — bring him in immediately!" He shouted at the guard and brought him in right away, opening all the gates for him. He said to the Consul, "In an hour they are taking my father out to be executed; they say he wrote against Christianity, that he is against the Christians."

The Consul ran quickly to the King, but the King refused to sign. He said to the Consul, "The King must sign, there is no choice." [The son said] "There is no such thing; you will not expel my father from here. You are the French Consul; as the Consul of France, you have power."

Well, the Consul ran to the King again. The King said, "Fine, let him give 30,000 groschen and we will release him."

Where would he get 30,000 groschen? Where would he have it from? His clothes were torn, his shoes were torn, he was covered in mud. Immediately, it was announced throughout Vienna that they were going to execute the Tosafos Yom Tov. Everyone sold their jewelry, their chairs, their tables; they only managed to collect 15,000 groschen, they couldn't reach 30,000. Fine, for 15,000 groschen they released him and exiled him to Krakow, to Lodz, to Kovno. He was exiled from city to city. In every place where he tried to be a Rabbi, they said, "The Tosafos Yom Tov is coming!" They didn't know he was sentenced to death, and they immediately made him the Chief Rabbi. Immediately, they would also receive a letter from Vienna: "Fire him immediately by order of the Emperor of Vienna." The Emperor wrote, "I released him, but not so that he could be a Chief Rabbi."

Chief Rabbi in Krakow, Chief Rabbi in Warsaw — there was no such thing. Thus, he wandered from city to city. In every place, they received letters from the Emperor of Vienna — a person must go through "sheva madorei gehinom" (seven levels of Hell) here until he reaches his purpose. Even the Tosafos Yom Tov, who was the greatest in the generation, the greatest Tzaddik (righteous person) in the generation, but two wealthy men whom he found liable in a court case told him, "If you find us liable, you will have no rest until the end of your life," and that is indeed how it was.

So the Rebbe (Rebbe Nachman) says that a person's entire work is only to fill the brain with Gemara (Talmud); that is his entire work. There is nothing else in the world — everything else is the Sitra Achra (the "Other Side," forces of evil), it is a "house of bondage."