Mesilas Yesharim, Perek 2

AI summary (may contain mistakes)

What is zehirus, the first step the sefer sets out? Zehirus is being a thinking person who checks whether each action is what Hashem wants, not walking like a blind man in the dark. The yetzer hara is too strong to beat alone, but Hashem helps whoever does his part. A question from the room about trying and still falling gets two possible answers: perhaps the effort fell short, or perhaps the test is getting up again.

Key points

• The sefer defines zehirus as weighing one's actions against what Hashem wants.
• Ignoring one's das is lower than a behemah, which runs from danger by nature.
• One trick of the yetzer hara is keeping a person too busy to stop and think.
• The sefer reads Paro's added straw work as a way to leave no time to think.
• Hashem does not leave the tzaddik in the yetzer hara's hands, on condition that he tries.

In this shiur

1. 0:00Recap of the introduction and first perek
2. 0:53Defining zehirus
3. 1:52The blind man in the dark
4. 6:42The navi and people who did not think
5. 9:24The yetzer hara keeps people busy
6. 11:27Paro and the straw for bricks
7. 17:40Hashem's help against the yetzer hara
8. 22:24Question: trying and still falling

Topics

• Zehirus
• Yetzer Hara
• Nisayon