Ususrping My Yetzer Ha'Ra

When initially seeing the name of my blog, one might wonder why I should wish to "overthrow" myself, or perhaps one might even wonder to oneself, "What on earth does he even mean?". To clarify this point, let me explain what I actually mean. In Judaism it is taught that every persons behavior is governed by two forces: his/her yetzer ha'ra, or evil inclination, and his/her yetzer ha'tov, or good inclination. Rather than saying that people are innately sinful, this philosophy teaches people have the capacity for both good and evil and that they must choose between the two conflicting internal drives within themselves.

After learning about yetzer ha'ra, one might wonder what its purpose is. Why would G-d, or whatever other force is responsible for our creation, make us capable of committing evil? To better understand a possible reason for this, perhaps we should contemplate what we would be if it was not for our yetzer ha'ra. Without an evil inclination, could we really say that we have free will? Could we really say that we are the masters of our own actions? Well what is so wrong with not having free will, is it not a small price to pay for not doing any evil? On the other hand, if we don't have free will, can we really take responsibility for the good actions we do? In Jewish tradition it is understood that G-d purposely allowed humans to choose between both good and evil, in hopes that they would choose wisely. Some sages even said that it was humans' free will, in other words their ability to do evil, that set them apart from angels, and that that difference actually made humans more holy than angels, because when humans do good acts, they are responsible for them.

In Everyday Holiness, Alan Morinis tells us that we must work to master our yetzer ha'ra, and that by learning from it we can elevate our souls and become better people. It is out of this tradition that I decided to name by blog. When I say that I wish to "usurp myself" what I really mean is that I want to challenge myself to become a better person. In other words I want to commit myself to the Mussar tradition, a Jewish spiritual path of refining ones soul.