If it affected Reb Yerucham, it’s surely affecting us!

Injustice!

Last email, we uncovered the truth about a massive secret the yetzer hara has been concealing from us. The secret of what really makes a joyful, invigorating life.

He’s invested himself completely in pushing the false narrative that life’s best when we’re relaxing and being entertained. 

Really, though, we’ll always feel like we’re missing something until we get “on the court” with our Judaism.

Rav Yerucham Levovitz once wrote about his realization that the true authorities controlling his behavior were “the earthly forces whose entire objective is to drive a person away from good.” He realized that often, when he felt a desire to do something, that desire was actually coming from these “earthly forces.” So he decided “to take upon myself to do five things a day against my razton, my will.”

Rav Yerucham wasn’t spending his day consumed by desires to do terrible things. These “earthly forces,” therefore, could not have been base drives like greed or hate or anger.

What were they, then?

The forces of inertia. Of rote. Of autopilot.

These forces, he felt, were controlling his life and his decisions. And he wanted to fight that.

Inertia and rote are some of the yetzer hara’s most powerful weapons against all of us. So deeply have they penetrated that by default, we all simply… drift along. Drift through Yiddishkeit. Drift through our obligations. Focus our attention on enjoying the breeze and the scenery without doing anything to actually choose a direction and get ourselves moving.

Drifting is safe. It’s familiar. It’s predictable. It doesn’t ask us to make any scary investments of hard work or personal sacrifice.

But it also severely limits our ability to experience the thrill, the excitement, of life.

When we’re just drifting – Judaism is boring. Our relationships lose their sparkle. Life itself just gets bland. And all those responsibilities and obligations – davening, being there for our spouses, putting in a good day’s work – start to feel mighty burdensome.

How can we reclaim that excitement, that vitality?

By shifting from our default “drift” mindset into a “discovery” mindset.

Rashi (Shemos 19:1) teaches that we’re obligated to always view the Torah as fresh and new.

Hearing that, many people might sigh long-sufferingly. But the Torah ISN’T new. We’ve had it for 3 millenia. And we use it to do the same things over and over and over – read the same parshiyos, learn the same Gemaras, daven the same words three times a day. Where’s the newness here?

Oy. Oy! Look what this “drift” mindset has done to us! We’ve been brainwashed to skim the shallowest surfaces of the many parts of Torah as we float on past them. If only we had an inkling of the endless depth in every mitzvah, in every word of Torah or tefillah.

There’s always more to discover, more to experience, more to connect with and delight in. If we lived our Torah lives in a “discovery” mindset, we could access a life of such growth, such thrill, such accomplishment and advancement.

It’s not easy to break free of the drift. It’s not easy to climb out of the stands and onto the court. In fact, it’s really hard.

But we have one powerful factor in our favor.

We now recognize the yetzer hara’s game. We’re aware of what’s happening in our minds.

We’re that much more equipped to fight the “drift” and move toward a life of discovery.

Not sure what a life of discovery means? Not sure how to start achieving it? Stay tuned as we explore it further…