Sukkah 52a Part 3/4

AI summary (may contain mistakes)

Why did Abaye fear he could not have held back where a simple man and woman did? The Gemara reads the pesukim in Yoel about the hidden yetzer hara, who brought about both Batei Mikdash's destruction and fights talmidei chachamim hardest. An elder, perhaps Eliyahu, teaches Abaye that whoever is greater has a greater yetzer. Perhaps that knowledge is what comforted Abaye.

Key points

• The Gemara reads the pasuk's tzefoni, the hidden one, as the yetzer hara hidden in the heart.
• The Gemara's enemies of Yisrael is lashon sagi nahor, a euphemism really meaning Klal Yisrael itself.
• The yetzer hara is like a boxer's personal trainer who really wants to be knocked out.
• The elder taught Abaye a beraisa: whoever is greater than his fellow has a greater yetzer.
• Keeping a kasha or a vart in mind on a walk is a shmira, though not foolproof.

In this shiur

1. 0:00The hidden yetzer hara in Yoel
2. 4:43Lashon sagi nahor
3. 6:46The yetzer and talmidei chachamim
4. 7:58The boxer's personal trainer mashal
5. 9:50Abaye and the man and woman
6. 18:15A mind filled with Torah
7. 20:09Question about yichud
8. 22:12Rereading the Gemara

Topics

• Yetzer Hara
• Abaye
• Lashon Sagi Nahor
• Yichud