Noam Elimelech · Tzetel Katan · Maamar יג From the Torah ofRebbe Elimelech of Lizhenskרבי אלימלך מליז'נסקProfile ›

Telling One's Bad Thoughts: Breaking the Yetzer Hara

What should a person do with the bad thoughts the yetzer hara brings up, during prayer, in bed, in the middle of the day? R’ Elimelech prescribes something many would find hardest of all, and says it has a special power. What does saying it aloud change?

13Each time, let him tell the one who teaches him the way of Hashem, or even a trusted friend, all the bad thoughts and musings against our holy Torah that the yetzer hara brings up into his mind and heart, whether during Torah study and prayer, while he lies in bed, or in the middle of the day. Let him hide nothing out of shame. By telling these things he brings them out from potential into actuality, into spoken words, and so he breaks the power of the yetzer hara, so that it cannot overpower him so strongly the next time. This is besides the good advice he can receive from his friend who [shows him] the way of Hashem.¹ It is a wonderful segulah, a practice of special power.

יג. לְסַפֵּר בְּכָל פַּעַם לִפְנֵי הַמּוֹרֶה לוֹ דֶּרֶךְ הַשֵּׁם, וַאֲפִילּוּ לִפְנֵי חָבֵר נֶאֱמָן, כָּל הַמַּחֲשָׁבוֹת וְהִרְהוּרִים רָעִים אֲשֶׁר הֵם נֶגֶד תּוֹרָתֵינוּ הַקְּדוֹשָׁה אֲשֶׁר הַיֵּצֶר הָרַע מַעֲלֶה אוֹתָן עַל מוֹחוֹ וְלִבּוֹ, הֵן בִּשְׁעַת תּוֹרָה וּתְפִילָּה, הֵן בְּשָׁכְבוֹ עַל מִטָּתוֹ, וְהֵן בְּאֶמְצַע הַיּוֹם, וְלֹא יַעֲלִים שׁוּם דָּבָר מֵחֲמַת הַבּוּשָׁה, וְנִמְצָא עַל יְדֵי סִיפּוּר הַדְּבָרִים שֶׁמּוֹצִיא מִכֹּחַ אֶל הַפּוֹעַל, מְשַׁבֵּר אֶת כֹּחַ הַיֵּצֶר הָרַע שֶׁלֹּא יוּכַל לְהִתְגַּבֵּר עָלָיו כָּל כָּךְ בְּפַעַם אַחֶרֶת, חוּץ עֵצָה הַטּוֹבָה אֲשֶׁר יוּכַל לְקַבֵּל מֵחֲבֵירוֹ שֶׁהוּא דֶּרֶךְ הַשֵּׁם, וְהוּא סְגוּלָּה נִפְלָאָה:

Editor's note: The Hebrew is compressed, “from his friend who is the way of Hashem” (מחבירו שהוא דרך השם). It seems to point back to “the one who teaches him the way of Hashem” at the start of the item. ↩

In shortTelling a teacher or trusted friend every bad thought, hiding nothing out of shame, breaks the yetzer hara's power and brings good advice besides.

The maamar as a whole

Item 13 deals with the bad thoughts against the Torah that the yetzer hara raises in the mind and heart, at prayer and study, in bed or in the middle of the day. Each time, a person should tell them all to the one who teaches him the way of Hashem, or even to a trusted friend, hiding nothing out of shame. His reason: telling brings the thought out from potential into actuality, into words, and so breaks the yetzer hara’s power, so that it cannot overpower him as strongly next time; besides this, the listener can give him good advice. He calls it a wonderful segulah. In his scheme, the thought practices of the list fill the mind with kiddush Hashem; this one empties it of what the yetzer hara hides there.

Takeaway

Don't let shame keep your bad thoughts hidden: tell them to your teacher or a faithful friend, for R' Elimelech teaches that a thought brought out in words loses much of its power over you, and the listener can advise you besides.

Learn this in the merit of Rebbe Elimelech of Lizhensk. His yahrzeit and life ›

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