Glossary · Torah Ohr · Likkutei Torah
Yetzer hara and yetzer tov
יצר הרע ויצר טוב
The evil and good inclinations (yetzer hara and yetzer tov)
The two inclinations of the heart: the yetzer tov, love and fear born of the G‑dly soul’s intellect; the yetzer hara, the animal soul’s desires, to be subdued and turned to love G‑d.
The word יצר also has its plain sense, “formed” (וייצר, ימים יצרו, יוצר), which Sh’lach 18:11 plays on. The usual abbreviations are יצה״ר and יצ״ט.
Where it’s explained
- Torah Ohr, Mikeitz 11, ¶4The G‑dly soul is chiefly an intellect that always contemplates and grasps the Or Ein Sof; the love and fear born of that grasp are what is called the yetzer tov. (The passage opens at 10:3: every person has two souls, the G‑dly soul and the animal soul, each dividing into intellect and middos.)
והמדות אהוי״ר הנולדות מן השכל והשגה זו הן הנקראות בשם יצ״ט
- Torah Ohr, Mikeitz 11, ¶6Intellect that grasps physical things by human reason is falsehood, the very opposite of G‑dly wisdom (10:5: this is the animal soul’s intellect); the middos born of that physical intellect are called the yetzer hara. A person must subdue them, not act by them, and love G‑d “with all your heart” by strengthening the G‑dly soul’s intellect.
והמדות הנולדות משכל הגשמי הן הנק׳ בשם יצה״ר וצריך האדם לאכפייא לון
- Likkutei Torah, Chukas 2, ¶14The roots of the yetzer hara: the wholly impure kelipos are the root of the inclination to outright evil, such as murder, adultery, theft and evil speech; kelipas nogah, mixed of good and evil, is the root of the inclination to permitted desires pursued for bodily pleasure and not for the sake of Heaven.
קליפות הטמאות לגמרי הם שורש היצה״ר של הרע הגמור כמו רציחה וניאוף וגזל ולשון הרע ודומיהן וקליפת נוגה הוא שורש היצר הרע של תאוות היתר
- Likkutei Torah, Shelach 5, ¶14“A person should always rouse the good inclination against the evil inclination”: everyone is made of good and evil, and has the power of anger from Gevurah; he should pour that anger on the evil in himself, all the more when he contemplates G‑d’s oneness in the Shema.
והרוגז והכעס ישפוך על הרע שבו שיקצוף מאד ויחרה אפו למה הוא כך
- Likkutei Torah, Nasso 7, ¶7“With all your heart,” with both your inclinations: even the animal soul’s power of desire, which craves physical things and bodily pleasures, should turn to G‑d and want His closeness, the source of all pleasure, and so delight in G‑d.
שגם כח המתאוה שבנפש הבהמית שבאדם המתאוה לדברים גשמיים וצרכי גופו בתענוגות בני אדם ישוב אל ה׳
Stated differently
What the yetzer hara is
והמדות הנולדות משכל הגשמי הן הנק׳ בשם יצה״רThe yetzer hara is the middos born of the animal soul’s physical intellect (as the yetzer tov is the middos born of the G‑dly soul’s intellect).
פי׳ שגם היצה״ר שהוא כח יסוד האש הטבעי הוא העולה ונכלל לאהבה את ה׳ בהתלהבות הנ״לThe yetzer hara is the power of the natural element of fire, which in the Shema is gathered and rises to be included in the fiery love of G‑d.
ולכאורה יפלא הרי הוא המ״ה הוא היצה״ר ומה היא טובתוThe angel of death is the yetzer hara, a “bad angel” dwelling in the heart, in the left chamber where the animal soul dwells. When the animal soul’s power of desire turns to love G‑d, this angel too is forced to answer amen.
How “with all your heart, with both your inclinations” includes the yetzer hara
שכל כח ועוצם הלהב רשפי אש בוערה מכל מיני יצה״ר שבעוה״ז יתהפך הלהב כולו לאהבת ה׳The very force of the yetzer hara’s flame, from every kind of desire in this world, is itself turned wholly into love of G‑d.
כלומר שמחמת היצה״ר שהוא המונע ומעכב תהיה האהבה יותר מזהThe yetzer hara is the obstacle and hindrance, and because of it the love grows greater, as water held back by a barrier surges with more force.
Whether the yetzer hara is to end bent and nullified to the yetzer tov, or, transformed, to stand above it
וצ״ל היצה״ר כפוף ובטל ליצ״טThe two yuds of “vayyitzer” are the two inclinations; one is pointed and felt, the other hidden, to show that G‑d wants the yetzer hara included in the yetzer tov and bent to it, through guarding thought, speech and action.
ולא עוד אלא שאז הוא נעלה אפילו מהיצ״ט כי עולה בשרשו בס״ג שלמעלה משם מ״הWhen the yetzer hara’s desire is transformed into great love of G‑d, it is higher even than the yetzer tov, for it rises to its root in the Name Sag, above the Name Mah.
ואז הם משובחות יותר ממדות שבנפש האלקיתWhen the will and middos of the animal soul are turned to G‑d, they are more praiseworthy than the middos of the G‑dly soul: “good” is the yetzer tov, “very” is the yetzer hara.
Main sources
Torah Ohr, Mikeitz 11, ¶3Torah Ohr, Mikeitz 11, ¶4Torah Ohr, Mikeitz 11, ¶6Likkutei Torah, Chukas 2, ¶14Likkutei Torah, Chukas 2, ¶22Likkutei Torah, Nasso 7, ¶7Likkutei Torah, Nasso 7, ¶8Likkutei Torah, Masei 4, ¶6
Where it appears
In 91 paragraphs of 68 maamarim.
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 18 ¶28
- Likkutei Torah, Chukas 2 ¶14 ¶22 ¶26 ¶31
- Likkutei Torah, Matos 6 ¶18
- Likkutei Torah, Pinchas 3 ¶10 ¶22 ¶24
- Likkutei Torah, Shemini Atzeres 4 ¶1
- Likkutei Torah, Shemini Atzeres 5 ¶1 ¶36 ¶37
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 23 ¶23
- Likkutei Torah, Tazria 4 ¶9
- Likkutei Torah, Va’eschanan 7 ¶1 ¶11 ¶14
- Likkutei Torah, Va’eschanan 8 ¶5
- Likkutei Torah, Korach 1 ¶37
- Likkutei Torah, Masei 3 ¶2 ¶14
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 24 ¶5
- Likkutei Torah, Tzav 5 ¶7 ¶30 ¶34
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 8 ¶4
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 17 ¶15
- Torah Ohr, Tetzaveh 2 ¶12
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 20 ¶14
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 21 ¶3
- Likkutei Torah, Behaaloscha 4 ¶8
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 29 ¶5
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 22 ¶23
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 15 ¶12 ¶25
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 17 ¶3
- Likkutei Torah, Chukas 1 ¶13
- Likkutei Torah, Chukas 3 ¶5
- Likkutei Torah, Devarim 2 ¶3
- Likkutei Torah, Masei 5 ¶23
- Likkutei Torah, Nasso 1 ¶12 ¶13 ¶16
- Likkutei Torah, Rosh Hashanah 1 ¶8
- Likkutei Torah, Rosh Hashanah 2 ¶8
- Likkutei Torah, Rosh Hashanah 3 ¶11
- Likkutei Torah, Rosh Hashanah 5 ¶17
- Likkutei Torah, Shelach 18 ¶11
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 5 ¶14
- Likkutei Torah, Tzav 6 ¶19
- Likkutei Torah, Tzav 7 ¶15 ¶24
- Likkutei Torah, Va’eschanan 10 ¶1 ¶3
- Torah Ohr, Ki Sisa 1 ¶6
- Torah Ohr, Parshas Zachor 1 ¶22
- Torah Ohr, Vayakhel 1 ¶24
- Torah Ohr, Vayechi 4 ¶8
- Likkutei Torah, Ki Seitzei 1 ¶3 ¶10
- Torah Ohr, Vayeishev 5 ¶7
- Likkutei Torah, Nasso 7 ¶7 ¶8
- Likkutei Torah, Pekudei 1 ¶2
- Likkutei Torah, Shemini Atzeres 8 ¶12
- Torah Ohr, Toldos 2 ¶9
- Torah Ohr, Yisro 6 ¶4
- Likkutei Torah, Haazinu 3 ¶41
- Likkutei Torah, Re’eh 1 ¶12
- Likkutei Torah, Shelach 5 ¶11 ¶14
- Likkutei Torah, Sukkos 3 ¶1
- Torah Ohr, Mikeitz 11 ¶3 ¶4 ¶6
- Torah Ohr, Vayishlach 6 ¶14
- Likkutei Torah, Balak 5 ¶19 ¶22
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 4 ¶5
- Likkutei Torah, Chukas 7 ¶3
- Likkutei Torah, Chukas 11 ¶11
- Likkutei Torah, Sukkos 1 ¶7
- Likkutei Torah, Nasso 2 ¶3
- Torah Ohr, Va’eira 1 ¶9
- Likkutei Torah, Emor 4 ¶11
- Likkutei Torah, Vayikra 5 ¶40
- Likkutei Torah, Masei 4 ¶6
- Likkutei Torah, Shelach 16 ¶10
- Likkutei Torah, Re’eh 7 ¶57
- Torah Ohr, Va’eira 2 ¶20
Written with AI from the paragraphs of Torah Ohr and Likkutei Torah, each entry checked by a second AI reader and every Hebrew quote checked by code; not yet reviewed by a person. Our English: CC BY-NC 4.0.