Sinful Thoughts

2 Adar I 5782

“The Curtain will separate for you between the Holy and the Holy of Holies.” (Shemos 26:33)

“The two chambers of the Tabernacle signify the two stages of achieving Divine consciousness. In the Tabernacle’s outer chamber, we begin to orient our consciousness toward Divinity by focusing our intellect on G‑d. This is why there were three furnishings in the outer chamber; they signify the three components of the intellect: the ability to gain insight (chochmah), the ability to comprehend (binah) the meaning of that insight, and the ability to make what we comprehend relevant to our own lives (da’at).” (Daily Wisdom, Lubavitcher Rebbe)

The mind is the first and most integral part of achieving Divine consciousness. From it flow all emotions, speech and actions of a person. By “conquering” this faculty a person will be able to gain full control over everything else, precluding any negative words and actions before they even enter conscious contemplation.

“If these thoughts occur to him not during his service of G‑d but while he is occupied with his own affairs and with mundane matters and the like, he should, on the contrary, be happy in his lot, for although these sinful thoughts enter his mind, he averts his attention from them. By averting his mind from sinful thoughts, he fulfills the injunction, ‘You shall not follow after your heart and after your eyes, by which you go astray.’” (Lessons in Tanya, Likutei Amarim, beginning of Chapter 27)

How does a person gain control over his intellectual faculties? By creating an awareness in his mind that all negative and sinful thoughts are simple ploys of the yetzer hara to lead him astray. When he comprehends this he can rejoice even in his most sinful thoughts, because he sees through them completely, up to their higher Divine origin which only seeks to add additional merit to him for defeating them.

“The L‑rd tests the righteous, but He hates the wicked and the lover of violence.” (Tehillim 11:5)

Our above insight can clearly be recognized in this verse of Tehillim. G‑d tests the righteous, He does not hate them for dealing with the tests. However, He hates the wicked, the lovers of violence and sin, who surrender to the tests and dwell in their unholiness permanently. As long as we fight, we can be assured not to belong to the second category, and this we can rejoice in.