Our Lower Self

Sanhedrin - 91b recounts a dialogue between Antoninus and Rebbe. Antoninus asked when the yetzer hara enters a person. He offered two possible answers: at the moment of the embryo's formation or at birth. Rebbe replied that the yetzer hara is with a person "from formation." Antoninus countered that if the yetzer hara appears at conception then the fetus would kick its way out of the womb. He. therefore, says that it must be that the yetzer hara does not enter until birth. Rabbi Yehuda is convinced by this argument and changes his answer.

Rav Avraham Grodzinski (Toras Avraham 29) questions the logic of this Gemorah. Given that the main thing the yetzer hara wants is pleasure/comfort, why would it break out of the womb where it's all about pleasure and comfort? He explains that it is a mistake to think what the yetzter hara wants is pleasure. The yetzer hara's main drive is to be free and unfettered, to oppose any control and to defy. One of the ways the yetzter hara is unrestricted is by always seeking pleasure, but that is only one example. Even in the absence of pleasure the yetzer hara's number one priority is to be his own master. We see from this Gemora that the yetzer hara would rather die then be confined, being more bothered by being constrained than excited by being in an idyllic setting like the womb.

People are so often self destructive because there is a natural human drive to fight feeling controlled even when this rebellion is not in your best interest. This explains O.D.D.(oppositional defiant disorder) is the most frequent diagnosis of adolescents. This also explains why in today’s climate with such few social restraints the yetzer hara is having a field day.

(based on Rabbi Abraham J Twersky, Prayerfully Yours, On Shma).