Lord's Prayer

THE LORD’S PRAYER : M. M. NINAN
The Doctrine of Yetzer Hara and Yetzer Hatov
In Judaism, yetzer hara (Hebrew: יֵצֶר הַרַע , for the definite "the evil inclination"), or yetzer ra
(Hebrew: יֵצֶר רַע , for the indefinite "an evil inclination") refers to the congenital inclination to do evil,
by violating the will of God. The term is drawn from the phrase "the imagination of the heart of man
[is] evil" (Hebrew: רַע לֵב הâָ‎דָם ‏,יֵצֶר yetzer lev-ha-adam ra), which occurs twice in the Hebrew Bible, at
Genesis 6:5 and 8:21. Good and evil are both defined only in terms of God which is the only ultimate
reality. When man was created with a free will, he automatically has the ability to move towards or in
consonance with God or away from God. Ra is he component that tend to move away from God.
There is no one evil one necessary for this. Satan was not created as such when a community moves
away from God they form a center of evil makes up its leader whom we call the evil one. I have
presented a detailed analysis of this concept in my book on Theodicy.
In the New Testament, yetzer hara is called the "carnal mind," the "old nature," or the "natural man."
The word yetzer itself is a neutral word used to refer to something formed or shaped, like pottery
fashioned by the hand of a potter. Just as a potter purposes a shape before forming an object, so that
which is intended within the heart will form our character. We with our freewill create our own Yetzer
Hara and also the Yetzer Hatov.
Medieval Rabbi and philosopher, Maimonides, has given instruction on how we ought to view the Evil
Inclination:“...Therefore, let a man prepare his own mind and request from God that anything that
should ever happen to him in this world, whether of the things that are by God's providence good, or of
the things that are by Him evil, that the reason [for their occurrence] is so that he might attain true
happiness. Now this was stated with regard to the Good Inclination [in man] and with regard to [his]
Evil Inclination, that is to say, that he might lay to his heart the love of God and his [continued] faith in
Him, even at an hour of rebellion or of wrath or of displeasure, seeing that all of this revolves around
[man's] evil inclination, just as they have said: 'In all your ways acknowledge Him' (Prov. 3:6),
[meaning], even in a matter involving transgression”
Moshe Chaim Luzzatto wrote in Derech Hashem ("The Way of God") that "Man is the creature created
for the purpose of being drawn close to God. He is placed between perfection and deficiency, with the
power to earn perfection. Man must earn this perfection, however, through his own free will... Man's
inclinations are therefore balanced between good (Yetzer HaTov) and evil (Yetzer HaRa), and he is
not compelled toward either of them. He has the power of choice and is able to choose either side
knowingly and willingly..."
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