You see, there’s a story about the moment the Israelites received the Ten Commandments at Mount Sinai. Remember, they were initially in direct communication with GOD. And when they heard the second commandment, “Thou shalt have no strange gods beside Me," something incredible happened. The yetzer hara (יֵצֶר הַרַע), the evil impulse, the inclination toward wrongdoing, was, the legends say, actually torn right out of their hearts! Imagine that! A world without temptation, without that nagging voice pushing you toward less-than-ideal choices.
But here’s where the regret comes in. Remember the golden calf incident? The Israelites, overwhelmed by the experience, or perhaps impatient with MOSES's absence, asked Moses to act as an intermediary. They wanted him to speak to GOD on their behalf. They couldn’t handle the direct intensity.
And that decision, according to this particular legend, had a profound consequence. As soon as they requested Moses to intercede, the yetzer hara, that pesky evil impulse, crept right back into its old place. It’s like they traded a direct line to the Divine for… well, for the familiar struggle with temptation.
Talk about a cosmic trade-off!
Now, understandably, they weren’t thrilled. They pleaded with Moses to restore that former direct communication, hoping that the evil impulse would once again be banished. "Moses, come on! You gotta fix this! Get us back to zero temptation!"
But Moses, ever the pragmatist, had to deliver the bad news. "It is no longer possible now," he said, according to Ginzberg's retelling in Legends of the Jews, "but in the future world He will 'take out of your flesh the stony heart.'" The promise, then, wasn’t for an immediate fix, but for a future redemption, a Messianic era when the yetzer hara would be vanquished for good. This idea of a "stony heart" being replaced is actually rooted in the prophetic books of the Hebrew Bible, like Ezekiel (Ezekiel 36:26).
So, what can we take away from this story? It’s a reminder that our choices have consequences, sometimes in ways we can’t fully anticipate. It’s also a story about the ongoing struggle between good and evil within each of us, a struggle that, according to this tradition, won't fully resolve until that future, redeemed world arrives. But until then, perhaps recognizing the yetzer hara, acknowledging its presence, is the first step in navigating its influence in our lives.