Rav Moshe Tzanani Shlit”a: How to Win the War Against the Evil Urge

HOW TO DRAW THE LIGHT OF CHANUKAH TO EVERY DAY OF THE YEAR.  THE EVIL URGE FIGHTS IN ORDER TO VANQUISH A PERSON, BUT A PERSON MUST CONTINUE TO DESIRE AND HOPE.

THE TZADDIK RAV MOSHE TZANANI SHLIT”A IN HIS CLASS FOR CHANUKAH 5782.

“Darkness on the face of the deep, terrible decrees, and this happens in every generation.  Also today, the whole culture, the entire force of evil, all the films, all the electronic devices, G-d protect us.  We see how much people degenerate because of this, how much they fall completely from holiness, from all the good that a person has.

“You need to know that this happens in every generation – this is the evil Greek Empire which threatens the Jewish people, the spiritual power of the Jewish people.  It wants to swallow us up…  There is a flood of evil vapors/vanities, the entire evil side of this world, all the temptations, all the difficult tests, and the Jewish people needs to hold out.

“On Shabbat [this was given after Shabbat Chanukah] we read in the Haftarah about Zechariah the prophet… He saw two trees, a tree of life and a tree of death.  The angel answered him and said, ‘Not with might and not with power, rather through my spirit, said Hashem, Master of Legions.’  Rabbeinu [Nachman] interprets that he saw the rise of the tree of death…  so the evil urge overwhelms a person.

“A person is found in such a terrible war -- how can he hold out?  He will win the war through holding out!  G-d will come and win the war, as it’s written in the Passover Hagadah, that He will come and slaughter the Angel of Death…

“We hold out through desires and longing.  Never abandon the desire.  You need to know that the main thing is for a person to hold onto the desire throughout everything that happens to him and not to cool off.  A person gives up and it appears to him that he already doesn’t have a chance.  He doesn’t know where he is found, and the evil urge overwhelms him.  Then he stops desiring; this is the greatest danger.

“It’s impossible to take the desire from a person.  This is the most inner point of a person.  This is the Jewish soul, the G-dly point within a person, and wherever a person is found, this is always found within him.

“The problem is that a person gives up on the desire.  A person must know that the main thing is the desire, and to say to himself, ‘I must strengthen myself and draw close to Hashem.  I want to be with the Tzaddik, to learn Torah, and prayer, and whatever happens to me… on the contrary, I fell [and] will rise…  I fell – on the contrary, now I will strengthen myself more.’  The intention is that ‘I take the fall and transform it into words to Hashem…’”