Yetzer hara

In Judaism,  (yēṣer haraʿ ) is a term for humankind's congenital inclination to do evil. The term is drawn from the phrase "the inclination of the heart of man is evil", which occurs twice at the beginning of the Torah (Genesis 6:5 and Genesis 8:21).

The Hebrew word 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 (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, 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. The need for procreation becomes promiscuity, and so on.

The Jewish concept of the is similar to the Christian concept of a "sin nature" known as concupiscence, which is the tendency of humans to sin. However, concupiscence stems explicitly from original sin, while the is a natural part of God's creation.

According to the Talmudic tractate Avot de-Rabbi Natan, 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 [evil] 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 their evil inclination, based on the prototypical models of right and wrong in the Hebrew Bible. This notion is succinctly worded in the Babylonian Talmud: "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.

The Bible states that every person on some occasion succumbs to their evil inclination: "For there is not a righteous man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not." The Talmud 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 one within the general class of good people.

Maimonides gave instructions for how to view the evil inclination and ensuing hardships on that account:

...Therefore, let a man prepare his own mind and request from God that anything that should ever happen to him in this world, whether of the things that are by God's providence good, or of the things that are by Him evil, that the reason [for their occurrence] is so that he might attain true happiness. Now this was stated with regard to the Good Inclination [in man] and with regard to [his] Evil Inclination, that is to say, that he might lay to his heart the love of God and his [continued] faith in Him, even at an hour of rebellion or of wrath or of displeasure, seeing that all of this revolves around [man's] evil inclination, just as they have said: 'In all your ways acknowledge Him', [meaning], even in a matter involving transgression.

Moshe Chaim Luzzatto wrote in 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 mankind with both good and evil inclinations, the two powers or tendencies that pull one in opposite directions, God commands each person to choose the good and right path over the evil. In the narrative of Cain and Abel, 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 [of your heart], and to you shall be its longing, although you have the ability to subdue it." Medieval commentator Rashi explains: "and to you shall be its longing," meaning, the longing of sin&mdash;i.e., the evil inclination&mdash;which constantly longs and lusts to cause one to stumble, "although you have the ability to subdue it," meaning, if a person wishes, they will overpower it.

The implication is that each person is capable of overcoming sin if they really wish to do so. This may or may not be difficult, and may require some reconditioning, but it is still possible.

Although there are many vices, the Sages of Israel have said that most people are drawn to "stealing" what does not belong to them (גזל), while fewer people are inclined to "uncover the nakedness" of others (גלוי עריות), a euphemism for lechery. On lust, Shalom Shabazi (1619 – c. 1720) calls it "a phenomenon of the soul," and lays out ways in which a person tempted by lust can overcome the urge, without being swept into its clutches.

Positive role of the evil inclination
However, rabbinic sources also describe the (when properly channeled) as necessary for the continuation of society, as sexual lust motivates the formation of families, and greed motivates work:

"Rabbi Nahman bar Samuel bar Nachman said in the name of Rabbi Samuel bar Nachman:[...] "And behold it was very good" —this refers to the . But is the indeed very good?!—Were it not for the, a man would not build a home, or marry a woman, or have children, or engage in business."

The Mishnah interprets the Biblical command to love God "with all your heart" to mean "with your two inclinations - good inclination and evil inclination". The latter half of this interpretation has been interpreted in various ways. According to some, it indicates that physical pleasures such as eating and drinking can be a form of service to God, if one's intention is to thereby strengthen the body in order to better serve God.

The yetzer hara is also seen positively in that its existence allows for free will, which in turn allows for reward for those who choose good deeds.

Chassidut
"Be concerned with doing good and evil will automatically diminish"

- Nachman of Breslov

Rebbe Nachman of Breslov used to say: judge everyone on the positive side. He then stated that it was everyone's obligation to cast away bad thoughts. As a leader, a Rebbe must be able to dialogue and engage in discussions with anyone who wants to: it is true... he, as well as Reb Noson, had many adversaries, in many cases therefore joining them becoming chassidim, in others even honoring them with kavod, finally establishing a dialectical relationship however after having recognized their greatness. This fact was with Mitnagdim and with Haskalah, in first time against Chassidim.

It is true that the evil inherent even in a single individual can aggravate an already precarious condition and, in the case of the spirit or even the intellectual faculties, then the goodness of the service to God would also be compromised; the Hasidim already knew at the dawn of Hasidism that evil could take root to the point of affecting all the people: it is studied from early childhood in Jewish schools or in the Yeshivot, as in the case of Korah against Aaron or in the Hasidic story of the evil-hermit about whom the common people would later tell, far from him, of scorpions, spiders and every kind of witchcraft that remained from the memory about him. Solitude is a virtue in Judaism and in Hasidut but a hermit like that had evil repercussions on anyone who approached him: evil is in today's Hasidism almost personified as something that must be defeated after having fought against its temptations. One fact remains: one goal of the religious Jew is good… but at all times, both in thought, and therefore in the soul, as in the Mitzvot, that is in the “action”. One end, good, it must be sought and lived in every Mitzvah in addition to being an intrinsic value to the soul, it is therefore an integral part of its existence: it is the Yetzer ha-Tov, commonly translated as "inclination to good".

Its opposite is the Yetzer ha-ra, that is, evil or "the perverse instinct", as in Christianity it concerns temptation. Indeed, the Yetzer ha-ra is present in almost all human beings from the origin of Creation because of the original sin, a concept widely discussed in Jewish Kabbalah. Hasidism then made it a radical issue to the point of a moral imperative in the religious obligation to "conquer and definitively defeat the Yetzer ha-ra"; good is thus, together with joy and religious duty, a concomitant factor with religiosity and its level of devotion: the greater the true "attachment to God", the Devekut, the greater the beneficial influence of God, precisely the Merciful Father. In this regard, the 13 attributes of divine Mercy refer to the merits of man, only for punishments does the aspect of rigor prevail (in Hebrew Ghevurah).

The Hassidim have already discussed whether the Yetzer ha-ra is present since early childhood, after birth: in Judaism the Bar Mitzvah also sanctions the awareness of the theological difference between good and evil. The child does not yet present the Yetzer ha-ra, he is practically devoid of it… and yet there exist forms of “rebellion” even at a “tender age” to the point of leading some Rabbis of the current modern-age to affirm that children are either only all Yetzer ha-Tov or “almost all Yetzer ha-ra” thereby leaving the doubt on the matter since the theological-mystical figure of the Tzaddik remains a foundation of the Chassidut:

"Rabbi Pinḥas, entering the School one day, saw that the students, engaged in a passionate speech, were startled at his arrival. He asked: «What are you talking about?» «Rabbi», they said, «we are talking about our concern that the Evil Instinct runs after us.» «Do not worry», he replied, «you have not yet arrived so high for it to run after you; first you will run after him.»"

Personification of evil
Although certain ancient groups of Jews appear to have believed in the existence of supernatural evil, in particular fallen angels (as in the Dead Sea scrolls),  the  in non-apocryphal sources is presented as a personification of evil distinct from the supernatural Devil of traditional Christianity and Islam. This tendency to demythologize Satan is found in the Babylonian Talmud 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.

Countering the effects of
Many of the enactments made by the rabbis throughout the centuries are actual "safeguards" to distance a person from their natural inclination and make it harder for them to sin. David's prohibition against (the decree which forbids a man to be secluded in a room with a woman unrelated to him), and the rules outlining the conduct of Jews when entering a public bath house, are a just a few examples.