by Rav Yosef Naveh, yeshiva.org.il, translated by Hillel Fendel.
The Holy Zohar writes (Vay'chi 221a) that between Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur, a war is waged between the People of Israel and the Nations of the World, between good and evil. How will we know who was the victor? The Zohar has a surprise answer: The contender that remains holding his battle weapons in hand is the victor. The reference, of course, is to the Four Species of the Sukkot holiday: lulav, etrog, myrtle branches, and willow branches.
Rabbe Nosson of Breslov, the prime student of Rabbe Nachman, asks two questions about this: First, why do we have to declare a winner? Isn't it obvious who's the winner and who's the loser? The one with the trophy, medallion, or whatever – he's the winner, while the loser is lying prone on the floor!
Secondly, why would he have to still be holding the weapons in his hands? He certainly doesn't need them anymore, so why can't he put them down if he wants without losing his title?
Rabbe Nosson explains a very important principle in the service of G-d, which can be summed up in three words: Never give up!
The questions stem from a mistaken impression that success in a physical war is akin to success in a spiritual war. It's true that in a physical or material battle, the victor can wave his medal and show off his trophy, and he no longer needs his "tools of war." But a spiritual contest is very different. Here, even if your yetzer hara (evil inclination) has toppled you to the ground and you’re lying there with bruises and pains, you have not yet lost! As long as you don't give up, and continue to fight – you are the winner!
These are Rabbe Nosson's words (Likutei Halachot, Shabbat 7):
"… the war with Amalek is a very very long one – for Amalek is eternally that which whips Israel when it rebels. The main fight is the war with one's evil inclination, of which Amalek is the outside shell, always seeking to entrap a person totally and topple him down to the ground. Therefore, in order to defeat it, one must be strong in every aspect of what happens to him, and to make sure not to slip up in any trial he faces…"
"Thus, in this war that everyone wages with his yetzer hara - a facet of the war with Amalek - every victory is when he strengthens himself and makes up his mind, with the strength of the tzaddik, to hold himself and face head-on any challenge that comes his way. As long as the person does not allow himself to despair, but rather strengthens himself to start over anew each time… and [doesn't quit the field but rather] continues the battle, in which the main weapon is prayer – he is considered the winner! For in truth, a person himself can't win the battle without G-d's help…"
As written in the final verse in Parashat B'Shalach (Sh'mot 17,16), "the Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation." The victory is G-d's issue, and not yours! Your job is just to hold on, not to give up, and never to abandon your desire to do good! The yetzer hara fights against you on one front only: that you should quit wanting to do good, that you should despair! But our task in this world is to want more and more to struggle to do good – and this is our victory. The very fact that I continue to hold my weapons of war - prayer and my will - in my hands means that I have won.
And if a person stumbles and falls and sins – what then? The answer is that if you picked yourself up and didn't give up – you have won! If you catch yourself and realize that what G-d wants from you now is to keep going despite all, this is the victory. But as opposed to a victory on the soccer field or elsewhere, your "small" spiritual win is not accompanied by cheers from the fans or an article in the paper; "G-d was not in the ra'ash [earthquake, but also means 'noise']" (Kings I 19,11), but rather just in a "still, gentle sound" (ibid. verse 12).
Rabbe Nachman of Breslov famously taught: Sometimes the evil inclination gives you a slap in the face, and sometimes you give him one, and so on and so forth – but the main thing is to make sure that you be the one to give the last slap!
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