Sacrificing the Yetzer: Yisro's Lesson before Sinai

1“Now I know that Hashem is greater than all the gods.”¹ Rashi explains: “This teaches that he knew every idolatry in the world, for there was no idol he had not worshipped.” The Gemara cites one opinion that Yisro came before the giving of the Torah.² This implies that his coming helped prepare Israel to receive the Torah. But how was Yisro's coming connected to the receiving of the Torah? And in particular, how did it benefit Israel that Yisro had once known every kind of idolatry?

2Let us first cite another saying of Chazal: “R' Yehoshua ben Levi said: Whoever offers up his yetzer and confesses over it, Scripture regards him as if he had honored the Holy One, blessed be He, in two worlds, this world and the World to Come, for it is written, ‘He who offers a thanksgiving offering honors Me.’”³ Notice the wording. Why did Chazal say zove'ach, “offers up,” the word used for a korban, and not shochet, “slaughters”? Why, too, do they mention the confession after he offers up his yetzer, when with a korban the confession is said before the slaughtering? And what did they mean by honoring Him “in two worlds”?

3aThis will become clear through a teaching that my holy father and teacher, zt"l, was fond of repeating in the name of the Be'er Mayim Chaim.⁴ It concerns the saying of Chazal “Who is mighty? One who conquers his yetzer.”⁵ Why, the Be'er Mayim Chaim asks, does it not say “one who kills his yetzer,” but “one who conquers”? The answer is that when a person is privileged to keep the mitzvos, he must take the desire, longing and fervor that the yetzer hara instills in him to make him sin with warmth, and bring these forces into holiness. That is “one who conquers his yetzer.” It is not enough to kill the yetzer; a person must conquer it and put its forces to use where they are needed.

3bAs the verse says, “And my heart is slain within me”:⁶ Dovid HaMelech had reached the level of having only one heart, for he used even the forces of the yetzer hara for mitzvos and Torah. In the same way, the verse about Avraham, “And You found his heart faithful before You,”⁷ shows that he served Hashem with his yetzer hara as well,⁸ and had one heart for avodas Hashem, the service of Hashem. For something similar, see the Alshich, as quoted in the Toldos Yaakov Yosef.⁹

4aThis brings us to the meaning of Chazal's saying, “Whoever offers up his yetzer and confesses over it, it is as if he had honored the Holy One, blessed be He, in two worlds.” When a person raises up the forces and longings rooted in the yetzer hara and uses them for holiness and mitzvos, they rise as a pleasing aroma to Hashem, like offerings He gladly accepts. That is why Chazal do not say shochet, “slaughters,” which would mean nullifying and killing the yetzer hara's longings and forces. They say zove'ach, “offers up”: he offers the longings up and raises them to holiness. Through his mesirus nefesh, the readiness to give his life for Hashem, he brings everything into holiness and turns the yetzer hara into a kind of korban. And this is “and confesses over it”: he brings it as a thanksgiving offering¹⁰ to the Creator, blessed be He.

4b[As he regrets his deeds and confesses over them, he sees with what warmth of heart he did them, and he learns from them how to raise them up to holiness. This confession is made in the flame of teshuvah out of love, which turns sins into merits. So the Orach LeChaim explains, and see further the Kli Yakar.¹¹] That is why Chazal said that Scripture regards him “as if he had honored the Holy One, blessed be He, in two worlds, this world and the World to Come.” This world is where the yetzer hara and its forces hold sway. In the World to Come there is only spiritual delight, the delight of basking in the radiance of the Shechinah.¹² When a person knows how to use the forces of the yetzer hara properly, the splendor of Hashem's glory is revealed in him even in this world.

5This, then, is the preparation for receiving the Torah that Yisro's coming brought about. Yisro said, “Now I know that Hashem is greater than all the gods.”¹³ From the words “than all the gods,” Chazal learned that there was no idol in the whole world that Yisro had not tried and worshipped.¹⁴ When he drew close to holiness, he took all the evil longings and forces that had been rooted in him until then, the very forces with which he had worshipped idols. He turned them around and now put them to proper use, to draw close through them to Hashem, blessed be He. This was a lesson and a preparation for Bnei Yisrael before they received the Torah. They were to know that every force in the world, even the most remote, can be brought close to holiness and used in avodas Hashem.

6This lets us explain the verse “And Israel encamped there opposite the mountain,” which Rashi explains: “Like one man, with one heart.”¹⁵ This is puzzling. It is understandable that they needed to be “like one man,” united, to be worthy of receiving the Torah. Why did they also need to be “with one heart” before receiving it? In light of what we saw about conquering the yetzer, we may say that “one heart” means they had brought all the heart's longing and desire for evil into holiness, to prepare for receiving the Torah and keeping the mitzvos. They had only one heart, for their Father in Heaven. This is the level Bnei Yisrael reached when they put “we will do” before “we will hear,” a level Chazal praised so highly.¹⁶ The answer “We will do and we will hear” shows that the people had only one will and one heart: to do their Maker's will alone, and nothing else. So there was no room at all to ask what Hashem would command; instead the whole people answered at once, together, “All that Hashem has spoken we will do.”¹⁷

7So may we all be privileged to serve the Creator, blessed be He, with all our heart, and to bring the redemption near. Amen, may it be His will.