We Are in a Battle

 Rabbi Avigdor Miller zt”l :

Now we know that a man can take punishment only up to a certain limit;

once that limit is breached, he yields. It’s a principle: the human body can suffer,

but only up to a point. It doesn’t mean that you can’t give your life for an ideal.

People do give their lives for an ideal and they can even take torture. But if the

torture is unlimited then it’s extremely improbable that a man will persevere.

There were even great men who said, “If they would torture me slowly for

a long time, I wouldn’t be able to withstand the ordeal.” We know that Chananya,

Mishael and Azaryah allowed themselves to be thrown into a burning fire in

order not to worship an idol! But the Gemara (Kesubos 33b) tells us that they

were able to do that only because it was a momentary sacrifice. To jump into the

fire and have it over with, yes. But had they been whipped without letup,

constant whipping – one hundred lashes, two hundred lashes, three hundred

lashes – it’s too much and they would have yielded. These three heroes, our

classic heroes of sacrifice for Hashem, אִלְמָלֵי†נגַדְּוהָּ†, if they had been whipped

without stop, פָּלְחו†לְצַלְמָא†, they would have yielded! Because there’s a limit!

Now, this whole incident isn’t merely a story; it’s a prophecy. That’s an

important principle: מַעֲשֵׂה†אָבוֹת†סִימָן†לְבָנִים†– the events in the lives of Avrohom,

Yitzchok and Yaakov are all prophecies for the future. The Avos were nevi’im of

the highest order, second only to Moshe Rabbeinu, and therefore what transpired

that night was actually a prophetic event.

What is it telling us? What’s the prophecy teaching us? We have to know

that this is not Yaakov; it’s our history, it’s us. Yaakov’s all-night wrestling match

with the malach was the personification of the battle that every Jew would fight

against the yetzer hora all his life in the darkness of Olam Hazeh.

It’s a very long fight; it might even seem to you impossible to hold out any

longer. How could man be capable of surviving the battle? Not only surviving but

defeating the yetzer hora? After all, what is the yetzer hora if not a malach

Hashem? It’s steel, invincible; it’s impossible, you’ll say. No, it’s not so because

every detail of the battle, every move of this malach Hashem is being manipulated,

arranged, by Hakodosh Boruch Hu.

And that brings us to the famous principle that applies to all of us no less

than it did to Yaakov: שֶׁאֵין†הַקָּדוֹשׁ†בָּרוּךְ†הוּא†בָּא†בִּטְרוּנְיָא†עִם†בְּרִיּוֹתָיו†– Hakodosh Boruch

Hu doesn’t come with tyranny, with unjust force against his creatures (Avodah

Zarah 3a). It’s an ironclad rule that Hashem doesn’t subject them to tests that are

beyond their ability; He always leaves an opportunity for you to conquer.

And therefore nobody has an excuse that this ordeal that’s being presented

to him is too big for him. It’s not, because it was measured according to your

strength – with precision.

That’s the famous principle that the Gemara says in Mesichta Sukkah (52a):

כָּל†הַגָּדוֹל†מֵחֲבֵרוֹ†יִצְרוֹ†גָּדוֹל†מִמֶּנּוּ†– The bigger a man is, the bigger is the yetzer hora

that’s sent against him. Why is that? The answer is that great men are tested with

great ordeals. Because as great as you become, as much as you overcome the

yetzer, that’s when Hashem ramps up the pressure. A new test will come, a

different struggle, a bigger yetzer. And so, you’ll be an old sage, with a long white

flowing beard, with great-grandchildren all around you, and many disciples

sitting at your feet, and you’re teaching the Torah to the world. And you must

know that the tests will continue to come until the last minute of your life.

[…]

We are constantly being tested and the tests increase in quality as we

increase in quality. As we grow and make more and more progress in life, the

things that once seemed to us as difficult are now no longer a test. But different

tests come at you, even bigger and stronger than before.

That’s because of the great principle that our lives are built with the

purpose of testing us, each one of us according to his abilities. Being tested is

the purpose of living.

[…] .תָּשֶׁת†חֹשֶׁךְ†וִיהִי†לָיְלָה†≠†זֶה†הָעוֹלָם†הַזֶּה†הַדּוֹמֶה†לַלַּיְלָה

This world is compared to the darkness of nighttime, ואְ†רַֹח†צדַיִּקיִם†, and the way of

those who want to be righteous is to keep going.

From Parshas Vayishlach of Rabbi Avigdor Miller at https://torasavigdor.org/parshas-vayishlach-5783-the-everlasting-battle/