Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Dr. Heckle and Mr. Jide

Bringing back the good old days when I had time to learn chassidus in the middle of the day... here's a post, originally entitled The veins which deals with some chassidic topics. It's been a long time since October 24, 2007. Yup.

Back to the original topic,(how difficult it is not to tangentalise [Google doesn't like this word])I was affected by a recent Maamar that I just completed. The Yetzer Hora, the evil inclination, the angel of death (as the Talmud says) is intent on causing the downfall of man, leading him from the trodden path of Torah and good deeds, and bringing him into the ditch of iniquity, sin, and eventually death, whether spiritual or physical (which is why they call him the angel of death). Now this inclination dude is variously described as being a doddering old king, and sometimes a brilliant young nuclear physicist at Lawrence Livermore National Library who somehow got mixed up with the young crowd, irradiated himself with (what else?) nuclear radiation, and is now The Yetzer Hora. Regardless, he has two ways of causing man to sin. The first, which is superior, is when the guy sins, and feels incredibly guilty, repents, and leads an irreproachable life for the rest of his days. How beautiful.

Alternatively, the Yetzer Hora convinces man that what he's doing is really fine, and then there's no knowing what will occur. "Hey," our local friendly sinner says, "not only am I your local friendly sinner, but I'm not sinning! I have an excuse for everything!" This guy is basically all of us.

The solution? Get a spiritual adviser, or start gaining girth. Nothing like chocolate-chip cookies to increase spiritually and physically, right? Of course, I'm only kidding. About one of these two options anyway. As Fox says, you decide.

Oh, and by the way, do to the insistence of the almighty editor, the source for all the above genius is a Sefer called Kuntreisim Aleph, Maamar Ki Karov, by the Previous Lubavitcher Rebbe. He says thank you.

26 comments:

C said...

Today's Hayom Yom reminded me of you.

C said...

And being the first to comment on this blog is an honor.

Just like a guy said...

1. I hope this is a good thing.

2. I hope you appreciate how it truly is one!

C said...

1. If you read it, you'll know why.

2. It feels surreal :-/

Just like a guy said...

1. I did read it. Which is why I hope it's a good thing.

2. Ahh, you wanted to test out your new sarcasm symbol.

C said...

1. Only good things.

2. Oooooh yeah, and it feels so good :).

3. I think I like monopolizing your comments sections. Hmmmm.... maybe this is creepy of me. Are you creeped out?

Just like a guy said...

1. Excellent.

2. Glad to hear it.

3. I'm too wiped to be creeped out.

C said...

3. Go shluff.

Just like a guy said...

First comes sotah then comes shluff.

bonne said...

Ahah!

Just like a guy said...

ahah what?

bonne said...

Oh, I dunno....

Just like a guy said...

There's a whole brilliant post, and a decent comment thread, and all you can come up with is "I dunno..."?

C said...

Wow, wow, wow.... I get to be the first to comment, hog the comments, and then you refer to them as a "decent comment thread"... my ego is soaring!!!

:-/
(couldn't resist)

bonne said...

(vd"l) indeed.

bonne said...

Um, nice post. I like that the yetzer-hora has the personality of a comic villian.

Just like a guy said...

C: Be careful, you might have to go anavim school (VD"L the famous joke).

Sara: Much better.

C said...

Apparently I'm not a maivin.

Just like a guy said...

There was once a bochur, a very fine bochur (who knew it too), who refused to go out with any girls his parents proposed for him because they weren't good enough. His parents eventually got fed up, and they sent him to Anivus Yeshiva where he could become an anav. He came back, and his parents, all excited, set him up with a real catch. He went out with her, and when he came back his parents were all excited-"Nu, how'd it go, do you like her?" He answered, "She's not good enough for me." His parents were shocked. "We sent you to anavim yeshiva for two years and now you say this?!" He answered, "Sure! Before I went, the girls weren't good enough for me. Now that I'm an anav too, for sure they're not good enough!"

Z said...

Maamar Ki Karov was not written by the Previous Lubavitcher Rebbe - it was written by his father-in-law.

Altie said...

cool stuff. always inspiring to read your blog. I'm in middle of learning something for my b-day. maybe i'll blog abt it. and maybe not.

Cheerio said...

ah, this is truly vintage TRS, complete with multiple parentheses, and a mention of the almighty editor....
on the subject matter itself, i have this to say: two little words, snuck in there before the chocolate chips, so easy to say, so hard to acquire: spiritual advisor.
why aren't there matchmakers for that??

Cheerio said...

subscribing......................

Just like a guy said...

Z: like, whatever.

Altie: It's always inspirational to know other people are inspired by my humble efforts.

Cheerio: Aseh lecha rav-you just got to make someone...

Yitzchak said...

Somebody or other once said aseh lchah rav means you have to find someone who isn't trying to make himself a rav.

Just like a guy said...

Cute.