Chapter 7
The Evil Inclination is the Key
Based on all the above, we see that it is not easy for people to overcome themselves and move to the Land of Israel. For the Evil Inclination entices them with all sorts of tricks, shows them reasons why they need not move to the Land, and even dares to say that it is forbidden to make Aliyah! This lure of the Sitra Achra [the evil Other Side] is directed chiefly at great Torah scholars and the very pious. 14
Every righteous and wise person who makes Aliyah to the Land of Israel thus defeats Samael and the evil Plonit. Let us see what the Holy Ohr HaChaim wrote on this verse in Genesis: אוסרי לגפן עירה “He loads his donkey with a grapevine” (49,11).
“I was shown in a dream that I struggled with the male, and I easily overcame him and toppled him with my strength. With the female, however, I was forced to use all my strength several times, and only then was I able to throw her down a few steps, but not like her husband the male.”
Based on all the above, 15 we see that since it is precisely the Aliyah of righteous G-d-fearing people that accomplishes great wonders in the Holy Land and defeats the powers of the Other Side, that is why the Evil Inclination uses all its strength to entice them, in various ways, to remain in the Diaspora. 16
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14.as explained by the Kiseh Melekh in his commentary on the Tikkunim, end of Tikun 13, in a reference to Samael (referred to as the serpent) and wise and righteous men (tall mountains).
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15.The Ohr HaChaim wrote a similar idea, based on a Kabbalistic approach, on the verse, "Do away with the places where the nations… worshipped gods" (Deut. 49,11).
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16.A similar idea of war between the Other Side and the forces of holiness is found in Tractate Sotah, page 10b, in the matter of Tamar and Yehuda; see there.
FOOTNOTES
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