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I am you and you are me

Monday, 14 May 2012

On Pesach we say "Bikesh Lavan La'akor es Hakol" - "Lavan tried to destroy everything" (even more than Pharaoh). The question is asked, where do we find in the scripture that Lavan tried to destroy everything? The holy sefer, the "Ma'or Vashemesh" writes that Lavan is symbolic of the evil inclination. When Yaakov first started working for Lavan, Lavan said to him " Ach atzmi uvisari ata" - "you are my own flesh and blood". Lavan tried to include Yaakov in himself and thereby destroy him. The Me'or Vashemesh explains that the way the Yetzer Hara succeeds in totally destroying a person is by telling him "you are my own flesh and blood", in other words, he tells a person "I am not an outsider trying to get you to sin, rather I am you and you are me!".

A person falls the most when he says to himself "I can't change. This is who I am". NO! This is not who you are! You are the holy Yaakov. The Yetzer Hara is Lavan and he is telling you lies that this is who you are!

Learning to view these insidious desires in third person, not as yourself, is one of the most powerful tools in breaking free of the addiction. Recognize that he, and not you, i.e. the yetzer hara--the addiction, is trying to " La'akor es Hakol" - "to destroy everything". When you separate yourself in your mind from these harmful desires and view them instead as an outside enemy, you have already made significant progress.