Welcome to Emotional Wellness Daily, a project of SIMHA, the Sephardic Initiative for Mental Health Awareness.
People sometimes ponder the following: When a person is sad, down or depressed, is that the Yetzer Hara, or is it a mental illness? Do we look at depression and anxiety, which are part of our physical makeup, so to say, as the Yetzer Hara/an evil inclination, because ultimately, it interferes with our functioning and service of Hashem?
There’s an interesting quote from the Or Yisrael in Shaare Orah, אות א written by a student of Rav Yisrael Salantar. He asks, What exactly is the Yetzer Hara? Is it a force of contamination within man that makes him sin, whereas the Yetzer HaTov is a force of holiness that brings man to good? Are they spiritual drives, spiritual forces, that are good and evil inclination? Or is the Yetzer Hara the natural desire inside of man that likes things that are sweet and good for the moment, while the Yetzer HaTov is the intellect, which sees the future?
Which is it? He says they're both true. The Yetzer Hara is a natural human desire and there's also a power of Tumah. And the same is true of the Yetzer HaTov. There is an inborn intellect and there's also a holiness that comes upon man.
He says part of the Yetzer Hara is that man is physical and his heart leans towards materialistic desires- to eat and drink and be happy, to covet wealth and success, to love honor, and control and to be arrogant and proud and everything else. That all comes from the natural tendencies of man. It’s not red angel with the pitchfork. That's another concept, a spiritual force that is out to get you. But let’s put that one aside. Rav Yisrael Salantar says that there is a natural physical tendency included in the Yetzer Hara.
Rav Chaim Vital, in his sefer Shaare Kedusha (section one, gate two) talks about the different bad middot and says that all the Middot come from the Arba Yesodot the four fundamental building blocks of man, which are fire, wind, water, and dust. That's what man is made out of. God took the dirt and the water and blew into him, and there was a fire and that made man. He says the Yesod HaAfar/ foundation of dirt is where sadness comes from. This is important to know- sadness is built into us. It's a challenge that man has. There are different levels of it, but as far as our question, is depression the Yetzer Hara? The answer is yes, it is the Yetzer Hara, just like desire is the Yetzer Hara. Anything that's negative that's inside of us is something that's an impediment, that's not perfect, not pure. So yes, it's the Yetzer Hara. And there is a spiritual aspect to it as well.
In the same sefer (section two, gate four), Rav Chaim Vital says that sadness came from the impurities of the snake. When Adam and Chava sinned, the snake put impurities into man. That's why he translates the curse of man as, “With depression, you're going to work and eat.” And the lady is told, “With depression, you're going to give birth to children.”
This depression came from a negative spiritual force. What's the difference? There's a big difference. Rav Wolbe once told a friend of mine (I don't think it's in print), that you can turn everything into Avodat Hashem. He says you could turn a diet into Avodat Hashem, because a diet is really self-control. And when a person is down or depressed, whether it's clinical depression or just plain old blues, fighting that is a service of God- Because it is the Yetzer Hara. It is a negative force in man, and we have to fight and grow and overcome our evil inclinations and challenges. This turns mental health into Avodat Hashem- an interesting twist for people that are struggling.
Have a wonderful day.