Q:
After the nachash, the serpent, brought so much trouble into the world, why was it allowed together with all the animals in the teivah of Noach, in Noach’s ark?
A:
And the answer is the nachash is a very great benefit to the world. חבל על שמש גדול שאבד מן העולם – alas for a great servant that went lost from the world. That serpent that tempted Chava was sent by Hakodosh Boruch Hu to accomplish great purposes.
The Yetzer Hara, we should know, makes life worthwhile. Otherwise it doesn’t pay to live. It’s only because it’s difficult to be righteous. The righteous man who has to fight constantly against temptation, that makes life a time of achievement. Otherwise Hashem could have made you a machine, a robot, that does all the good things automatically.
So the fact that you have to fight back against a Yetzer Hara, that is what Reb Meir said, he said, וירא אלקים את כל אשר עשה והנה טוב מאד. Tov me’od that’s the Yetzer Hara. The Yetzer Hara makes life very good. Only, our job is to fight back.
Tape #900 (January 1993)
