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26 | A New Light

Rabbi Natan replied, “Do you think that Isaac didn’t have an
evil inclination? If he didn’t, how did he have the merit to become
Isaac?” (Siach Sarfei Kodesh 1:403).
Rabbi Yehoshua Cohen
A War That Is Hopeless from the Outset Author of Kerem Yehoshua

19 Menachem Av 5776
To review: a person is sent to this world to choose good and,
as a result of his toil and effort, to attain complete delight. Every
person on his own level, whatever that may be, must exert himself
and exercise his free will.

However, a person who has fallen to the lowest depths of evil

I have looked at part of the significant and unique book,
and is reading this book may, with a pained and broken heart, A New Light, authored by the gaon and tzaddik, Rabbi Shalom
ask, “How can I choose good? Do I really have free will? To the
contrary, I am forced to choose evil! This book has explained, Arush, who is among those who have blessed the masses of our
generation with great might. Rabbi Shalom Arush has turned
persuasively and logically, that I do not need to be upset and
broken by the existence of evil, because that evil is for my good, thousands and tens of thousands away from sin. I see that he has
so that I will strive and not have to resort to eating the ‘bread of done a wonderful job in teaching the children of Israel how to
subjugate their will to our Father in heaven and go on a straight
shame.’ But I don’t have the strength to overcome my powerful
evil urges and to choose good. The expectation that I do so is path with the help of all of the books that he has written, which
have been distributed across the world. Certainly, the present book
unrealistic. I have been put into a world of concealment, at the
ultimate distance from Hashem, and I have been placed in a body as well will have a great impact upon whoever learns it and applies
that burns for the desires of this world. I am dragged after cravings its teachings. May he be blessed to fulfill the desire of Hashem and
increase people’s holy awe of Hashem, and bring them to serve
and I cannot restrain myself. I have no control over my evil urges
that exist in every area of my life. How can I choose good when my Hashem.
body is pulled to every evil desire, day and night? On top of that,
I am distressed and oppressed by the need to earn a living and by
all of the troubles in my life. ‘What may the son [placed in the way
of temptation] do to prevent himself from sinning?’ (Berachot 32a).
So what free will do I possess?”

This is particularly relevant in our generation, with all of its
technological devices and round-the-clock mass media that exploit
all of a person’s imperfections and weaknesses, that know how to
attract him and entice him and, day and night, plant evil desires
in his mind and heart, whether conscious or subconscious, so that
he cannot flee, no matter how hard he tries to do so. The culture
of this generation drags everyone down, pulling us down a slippery
slope from which it is impossible to climb back up.