Judaism Judaism ( he, ''Yahăḏūṯ'') is an Abrahamic, monotheistic, and ethnic religion comprising the collective religious, cultural, and legal tradition and civilization of the Jewish people. It has its roots as an organized religion in th ...

, ''yetzer hara'' ( he, יֵצֶר הַרַע ''yēṣer haraʿ'') is the congenital inclination to do

evil Evil, in a general sense, is defined as the opposite or absence of good. It can be an extremely broad concept, although in everyday usage it is often more narrowly used to talk about profound wickedness and against common good. It is general ...

, by violating the will of God. The term is drawn from the phrase "the imagination of the heart of man sevil" (, ''yetzer lev-ha-adam ra''), which occurs twice at the beginning of the Torah (Genesis 6:5 and Genesis 8:21). The Hebrew word "yetzer" having appeared twice in Genesis occurs again at the end of the Torah: "I knew their devisings that they do". Thus from beginning to end the heart's "yetzer" (plan) is continually bent on evil. However, the Torah which began with blessing anticipates future blessing which will come as a result of God circumcising the heart in the latter days. In traditional Judaism, the ''yetzer hara'' is not a demonic force, but rather man's misuse of things the physical body needs to survive. Thus, the need for food becomes gluttony due to the ''yetzer hara''. The need for procreation becomes promiscuity, and so on. The Jewish concept of the ''yetzer hara'' is similar to the Christian concept of a "sin nature" known as

concupiscence Concupiscence (from Late Latin noun ''concupiscentia'', from the Latin verb '' concupiscence'', from ''con-'', "with", here an intensifier, + ''cupi(d)-'', "desiring" + ''-escere'', a verb-forming suffix denoting beginning of a process or state) ...

, which the tendency of humans to sin. However, concupiscence stems explicitly from

original sin Original sin is the Christian doctrine that holds that humans, through the fact of birth, inherit a tainted nature in need of regeneration and a proclivity to sinful conduct. The biblical basis for the belief is generally found in Genesis 3 ...

, while the ''yetzer hara'' is a natural part of God's creation. According to the Talmudic tractate

Avot de-Rabbi Natan Avot de-Rabbi Nathan (), usually printed together with the minor tractates of the Talmud, is a Jewish aggadic work probably compiled in the geonic era (c.700–900 CE). Although Avot de-Rabbi Nathan is the first and longest of the "minor tractate ...

, a boy's evil inclination is greater than his good inclination until he turns 13 ( bar mitzvah), at which point the good inclination is "born" and able to control his behavior. Moreover, the rabbis have stated: "The greater the man, the greater his

vil VIL and similar can refer to: * Vertically integrated liquid, an estimate of the mass of precipitation within a cloud * Flanders Institute for Logistics (VIL), a non-profit organization by the Flemish government * The IATA code for Dakhla Airport ...

inclination."

Free will, and the choice between evil and good inclinations

The underlying principle in Jewish thought states that each person — Jew and gentile alike — is born with both a good and an evil inclination. Possessing an evil inclination is considered neither bad nor abnormal. The problem, however, arises when one makes a willful choice to "cross over the line," and seeks to gratify his evil inclination, based on the prototypical models of right and wrong in the Hebrew Bible. This notion is succinctly worded in the

Babylonian Talmud The Talmud (; he, , Talmūḏ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cent ...

: "Everything is determined by heaven, except one's fear of heaven," meaning, everything in a person's life is predetermined by God—except that person's choice to be either righteous or wicked, which is left to their

free will Free will is the capacity of agents to choose between different possible courses of action unimpeded. Free will is closely linked to the concepts of moral responsibility, praise, culpability, sin, and other judgements which apply only to ac ...

. The Bible states that every person on some occasion succumbs to his evil inclination: "For there is not a righteous man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not." The

Talmud The Talmud (; he, , Talmūḏ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law ('' halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the ce ...

speaks of the difficulty in overcoming the evil inclination: “To what is it like, the evil inclination in man? It is like a father who takes his small son, bathes him, douses him with perfume, combs his hair, dresses him up in his finest accoutrements, feeds him, gives him drink, places a bag of money around his neck, and then goes off and puts his son at the front door of a brothel. What can the boy do that he not sin?” In recognition of this difficulty, repentance (and in some cases, affliction) is said to atone for most sins, while the preponderance of good works keeps him within the general class of good men.

Maimonides Musa ibn Maimon (1138–1204), commonly known as Maimonides (); la, Moses Maimonides and also referred to by the acronym Rambam ( he, רמב״ם), was a Sephardic Jewish philosopher who became one of the most prolific and influential Torah ...

gave instructions for how to view the Evil Inclination and ensuing hardships on that account:

Moshe Chaim Luzzatto Moshe Chaim Luzzatto ( he, משה חיים לוצאטו, also ''Moses Chaim'', ''Moses Hayyim'', also ''Luzzato'') (1707 – 16 May 1746 (26 ''Iyar'' 5506)), also known by the Hebrew acronym RaMCHaL (or RaMHaL, ), was a prominent Itali ...

wrote in '' Derech Hashem'' that "Man is the creature created for the purpose of being drawn close to God. He is placed between perfection and deficiency, with the power to earn perfection. Man must earn this perfection, however, through his own free will... Man's inclinations are therefore balanced between good (Yetzer HaTov) and evil (Yetzer HaRa), and he is not compelled toward either of them. He has the power of choice and is able to choose either side knowingly and willingly..."

The power within man to overcome sin

While God has created man with both good and evil inclinations, the two powers or tendencies that pull him in opposite directions, God commands each man to choose the good and right path over the evil. In the narrative of

Cain and Abel In the biblical Book of Genesis, Cain ''Qayīn'', in pausa ''Qāyīn''; gr, Κάϊν ''Káïn''; ar, قابيل/قايين, Qābīl / Qāyīn and Abel ''Heḇel'', in pausa ''Hāḇel''; gr, Ἅβελ ''Hábel''; ar, هابيل, Hābīl ...

, God tells Cain: “Isn’t it true that if you do good, you shall be forgiven? However, if you will not do good, it is because sin crouches at the entrance f your heart and to you shall be its longing, although you have the ability to subdue it.” Medieval commentator

Rashi Shlomo Yitzchaki ( he, רבי שלמה יצחקי; la, Salomon Isaacides; french: Salomon de Troyes, 22 February 1040 – 13 July 1105), today generally known by the acronym Rashi (see below), was a medieval French rabbi and author of a compre ...

explains: “and to you shall be its longing,” meaning, the longing of sin—i.e., the evil inclination—which constantly longs and lusts to cause you to stumble...“although you have the ability to subdue it,” meaning, if a person wishes, he will overpower it. The implication is that each man is capable of overcoming sin if he really wishes to do so. This may or may not be difficult, and may require some reconditioning, but it is still possible.

Positive role of the evil inclination

However, rabbinic sources also describe the ''yetzer hara'' (when properly channeled) as necessary for the continuation of society, as sexual lust motivates the formation of families, and greed motivates work:

Personification of evil

Although certain ancient groups of Jews appear to have believed in the existence of supernatural evil, in particular

fallen angel In the Abrahamic religions, fallen angels are angels who were expelled from heaven. The literal term "fallen angel" never appears in any Abrahamic religious texts, but is used to describe angels cast out of heaven"Mehdi Azaiez, Gabriel Said ...

s (as in the

Dead Sea scrolls The Dead Sea Scrolls (also the Qumran Caves Scrolls) are ancient Jewish and Hebrew religious manuscripts discovered between 1946 and 1956 at the Qumran Caves in what was then Mandatory Palestine, near Ein Feshkha in the West Bank, on the ...

), the ''yetzer hara'' in non-apocryphal sources is presented as a personification of evil distinct from the supernatural

Devil A devil is the personification of evil as it is conceived in various cultures and religious traditions. It is seen as the objectification of a hostile and destructive force. Jeffrey Burton Russell states that the different conceptions of ...

of traditional Christianity and Islam. This tendency to demythologize

Satan Satan,, ; grc, ὁ σατανᾶς or , ; ar, شيطانالخَنَّاس , also known as the Devil, and sometimes also called Lucifer in Christianity, is an entity in the Abrahamic religions that seduces humans into sin or falsehoo ...

is found in the

and other rabbinical works, e.g.: "Resh Laqish said: Satan, the evil inclination, and the Angel of Death are all one." Notably, however, this and other passages of the Talmud do not deny the external existence of Satan, but create a synthesis between external and internal forces of evil. Similar tendencies can also be found in some Enlightenment Christian writers, such as in the religious writings of

Isaac Newton Sir Isaac Newton (25 December 1642 – 20 March 1726/27) was an English mathematician, physicist, astronomer, alchemist, Theology, theologian, and author (described in his time as a "natural philosophy, natural philosopher"), widely ...

.Newton and Newtonianism: new studies 174 James E. Force, Sarah Hutton, 2004 "Newton's later expressions about the nature of Satan are for practical purposes indistinguishable from the Jewish 'evil yetzer'."

References

External links

"The Birth of the Good Inclination" at My Jewish Learning

Ohr Somayach - Ask The Rabbi / Is man intrinsically evil?
{{Halakha Jewish theology Hebrew words and phrases in Jewish law Hebrew words and phrases in the Hebrew Bible Talmud concepts and terminology