Eikev – The Tactics of the Yetzer Hara:

Eikev – The Tactics of the Yetzer Hara:
זכר אל תשכח את אשר הקצפת את ה’ אלקיך במדבר למן היום אשר יצאת מארץ מצרים עד באכם עד המקום הזה ממרים הייתם עם ה’
Remember, do not forget, how you angered Hashem, your G-d, in the desert; from the day that you went out of the land of Egypt, until you came to this place, you have been rebelling against Hashem (Devarim 9:7).
According to most opinions, the command to remember how we angered Hashem while in the desert (which some say refers to the Cheit HaEigel) is a mitzvah le’doros, an obligation for all time, not just for the dor hamidbar. Why is it incumbent upon us, the descendants, to remember those sins?
Altogether, there are six zechiros, remembrances, which include: yetzias Mitzrayim, Kabbalas HaTorah, Amalek’s attack, Miriam’s punishment, and the day of Shabbos. Most of these, when remembered, seem to fulfill a practical purpose. Shabbos, the Exodus, and the Revelation at Sinai are fundamental articles of our faith, while remembering the incidents with Miriam and Amalek teaches us that actions have consequences.
But this zechirah, remembrance, speaks of an event long past, which was caused by people who are no longer alive. We are not enjoined to recall the consequence of the sin, but the sin itself, and how this angered Hashem. Is this supposed to teach us not to worship idols, or do we have an obligation to remember what was done by our ancestors and do teshuvah on their behalf?
Rav Avraham Weinfeld (quoted in Ke’Motzei Shalal Rav on Eikev) explains that human nature is such that every sinner finds a way to excuse, explain, rationalize, and thereby justify his misdeeds. Many people justify their actions with claims of hester Panim, the hidden Countenance of Hashem; the absence of the Divine Presence has had an effect on us, making it difficult to avoid sinning. The lengthy exile has had its effect on us, as well. Then there is the ever-present worry and struggle to earn a livelihood, which we allow to govern our behavior.
But in truth, these are only excuses. Hashem is not out to get us, and He would never impose on us a burden we can’t handle. Whatever the situation, we still have the power and the ability to exercise our free will. It is just obstinacy and lust for the physical that keeps us from humbly submitting to Him.
The proof that any such defense is merely an attempt to rationalize is seen from the fact that we angered Hashem even in the desert, when we had no such excuses. There was no time in history where Hashem revealed his Shechinah as He did then, at Har Sinai. There were no worries of parnassah, as we ate the food of angels, the Manna. We had no troubles, nothing to fear, and every reason to serve. And with all that, we still angered Him. We are taught and reminded by this zechirah that sin is only the result of succumbing to our lesser self. We are the ones who anger Hashem and have no one to blame but ourselves.
Once a person’s real motives for sinning are revealed, he can deal with his weaknesses, rather than making excuses and ignoring the real cause. One who fails to keep this in mind not only embarks upon a path of failure, but is actually offered entry to the gates of Gehinnom.
In BeZos Ani Botei’ach (p.93-94), Rav Shach points out that one can never feel complacent, convincing himself that he is not at the doorstep of Gehinnom. He brings the Gemara, which writes that Gehinnom has three entrances: one in the desert, one in the sea, and one in Jerusalem (Eiruvin 19a). He explains that these three entrances allude to three instances in which the yetzer hara tries to get us to sin.
The first entrance to Gehinnom that is mentioned in the Gemara is the entrance in the wilderness. A person may think that the yetzer hara is only out to get him when he is part of a crowd, for that is when it can entice him to sin and to arouse his selfish attributes in his interpersonal relationships. However, were he to live as a hermit in the desert, the evil inclination would not rule over him. That is why our Chazal came to tell us that one of the entrances to Gehinnom is in the desert.
Rav Shach then brings the example of Kayin and Hevel. Even though they owned every possession and every piece of real estate in the world, they quarreled and feuded with each other, until they divided the wealth. Yet even then, they were not satisfied and they fought. We see from here that even if a person is alone and has it all, the yetzer hara ambushes him. Thus, the entrance to Gehinnom still looms large even in the desert, as it says in Parashas Korach (Bamidbar 16:33): “And they and all they had descended alive to the pit.”
Based on the Gemara’s reference to the entrance in the sea, Rav Shach explains that even when a person finds himself in a dangerous situation, with a tempest raging all about him, threatening to capsize his ship, he is still not free from the shackles of the evil inclination. This can be seen from the incident of Yonah HaNavi; even when the sea was raging and everyone on the ship was in danger, he did not yet turn to Hashem. And even after they threw him into the sea and he was in mortal peril in the belly of the dag, the male fish, he did not cry out to Hashem. Only after being spit out by the male fish and subsequently swallowed by a dagah, a female fish, with crowded and extremely uncomfortable conditions, did he cry out to Hashem: “from the belly of the grave” (Yonah 2:3). Even when our lives are threatened, our obstinacy may hold us back, letting us sink into the depths of another entrance to Gehinnom, this one with an address in the sea.
The third gate is in Yerushalayim, as the pasuk states, “The word of Hashem, Who has fire in Zion and a furnace in Jerusalem” (Yeshayah 31:9). Even Yerushalayim, the holiest place on earth, offers no assurance of freedom from the yetzer hara, for here, too, he has dominion over us.
So we see, concludes Rav Shach, that in every place and in every situation, the yetzer hara lurks, waiting to pounce upon us and entice us to sin. We must always be on our guard – against the yetzer hara and his ploys, and against the rationalizations that accompany each sin.