Around the time of Ezra, a pivotal figure in Jewish history, Babylon, that mighty, ancient city, suffered a devastating blow. The Persians swept through, leaving only a small, impenetrable section of the wall standing. It's almost eerie, isn't it? As if all the prophecies spoken against Babylon had finally come to pass. Legend even says that there’s a cursed spot on the site to this day; no animal can cross it unless soil from that very place is scattered before it.
But while empires crumbled, something new was being built. Ezra, or perhaps more accurately, the spirit he embodied, oversaw the work of the Anshei Knesset HaGedolah, the Great Assembly. This group of incredible individuals formed a bridge, a vital link connecting the era of the prophets with the era of the sages. They laid the very foundations of what we now know as Rabbinic Judaism.
And listen to this! The great men of the Great Assembly, through the sheer power of their prayers, actually managed to capture and imprison the very forces that tempt people into sin! According to the tradition, they successfully banished the yetzer hara (יֵצֶר הָרַע) or "evil inclination" toward idolatry, preventing it from causing further harm. Imagine that – ridding the world of the temptation to worship false gods!
But they didn’t stop there. They then attempted to capture and get rid of the yetzer hara (יֵצֶר הָרַע) for lust. The Talmud (Sanhedrin 64a) and Ginzberg's Legends of the Jews tell us that this particular yetzer hara warned them that if they eliminated him, the world itself would cease to exist! For three days, they held him captive. Then, they realized the truth in his words. It seems they couldn't even find an egg – a symbol of fertility – because all sexual desire had vanished from the world!
So, they had to release him. But they didn't let him go completely free. They “plastered up his eyes,” as the story goes. From that moment on, he could no longer inflame men's passions against their own blood relatives. It’s a wild story, isn't it? A powerful allegory about the constant struggle against temptation and the delicate balance required to maintain order in the world.
What does this story tell us? Perhaps it’s a reminder that while we can strive to overcome our negative inclinations, completely eradicating them might have unforeseen and undesirable consequences. It's a complex idea, and one that continues to resonate today.