How to overcome the yetzer: Wait just five minutes

WAIT JUST FIVE MINUTES

The yeter hara comes and says to you: Let’s do an aveira (transgression)!

> Wait five minutes.

[The yetzer] doesn’t know what’s going on now.

“Let me sleep another five minutes, I don’t have the strength to do it right now.”

After five minutes, the yetzer has already left and gone somewhere else. He already gave up on you, he’s telling people he just can’t work with you anymore. All you keep saying to him is ‘wait another five minutes…wait just five minutes more.’

[The yetzer says] Enough! I’m going to find someone else, some other guy to work with. I don’t have the energy to deal with you anymore, enough, I’m giving up on you!

HOW TO SHORT-CIRCUIT THE YETZER

The Rebbe [Rebbe Nachman] tells us, this is how to short-circuit the yetzer, when he comes to you and says: let’s do an aveira. Just keep saying ‘another five minutes, another five minutes’ – after the fourth time, he’ll already run away, he’ll leave already.

The Zohar says that if [the yetzer] sees that you are postponing doing havdala, he runs away. This is because on Shabbat, it doesn’t have permission to tempt us, so he waits all day for havdala. But if you push off doing havdala, then he gives up on that person.

HE SAYS: “WHAT?! I’M GOING TO HAVE TO WAIT FOR HIM TO DO HAVDALA UNTIL MIDNIGHT?! I DON’T HAVE THE ENERGY, I’M GOING TO FIND SOME OTHER GUYS TO ENTICE. HERE, THERE’S NOTHING HAPPENING.”

So, each time that you delay doing havdala, you’re pushing away the Satan, because the Satan is waiting the whole of Shabbat to be able to entice you [to sin].

Translated and adapted from Rav Eliezer Berland’s comments to a recent gathering in Elad, Iyar 5778.