We've been discussing what one does when saying Keriat Shema, or for that matter, what one does anytime he realizes that there are negative forces inside of him that don't really want to keep to what he has to keep to. Suppressing, as we have said, doesn't work. So what is a person supposed to do? Rav Wolbe says (in sefer Alei Shor volume 2, page 363), that you have to get into the practice of having a discussion with those forces, to convince them that really, you have no choice. Hashem is your king. He's the boss over your impulses and urges as well. And we're responsible for all our deeds. God gave us so much. We owe Him so much.
“But what if I don't want get up in the morning for Keriat Shema? I don't want to get up at eight o'clock on a Sunday morning, when the zman is 8:18. I don't want get up at 7:30 to pray at the eight o'clock minyan.”
But then again, as we said, that's not the real you. That's the Yetzer Hara that has stolen your identity, who says, I don't wanna get up.
Actually, You want to get up. He doesn't want you to get up. And the Yetzer HaTov, which is speaking to you in second or third person has to say, “Do you know what you owe God? You're sleeping on His mattress. You're living in His house. You can't get up in the morning and say Thank You?!”
You have to have a discussion with yourself.
But it's a little bit deeper than that.
The Gaon of Vilna, in a commentary to Mishleh 16,7 discusses a Gemara that says that a person has to use the concept called Yemin M’Karev U S’mol Marhik/Bring closer with the right and push away with the left.
What exactly is that referring to?
Rashi learns from the Gemara ( Sota 47a) that it refers to a Tinok/literally, child. If you're too tough on a child, he is going to run away and commit suicide out of fear. So therefore, don't be so tough. You have to have a balance. That's how Rashi learns it.
But the Gaon of Vilna has a completely different explanation. The Gaon of Vilna says, the term Tinok is used because Those are the ways/Middot that I took from when I was young- referring to the animal instinct which I followed forever, and got used to. So it's called a Tinok because it's been with me from when I was a kid. Science calls this the inner child, but as we see, the Gaon of Vilna precedes science, as much of our Torah psychology does.
It's the inner child. We all have a child inside of us, and we have to talk to that child, just like we talk to our own children. If your son wants to eat candy before he eats his meal, you have to talk to him and explain on his level, until he understands.
Sometimes you have to be tough, but the rabbis make a deyuk,: It says, The right hand brings close and the left hand pushes away.
The left hand is the weaker hand. That means the pushing away has to be weaker than the bringing close. You have to work with your inner child until he agrees and understands why it's better for him. We all have that inner child.
One of the rabbis says, “The Torah speaks about four children.” But if the Seder is said by one person, who’s alone, why does he have to read about the four children? The rabbi's answer is that everyone has, inside of them, all four children. We all have inside of us a hacham/ wise side, we have a rasha/ a wicked side. We also have she’Eno Yode’ah L’Shol/ a part of us that doesn't even know how to ask, so we have to start talking to him on his level.
All of these are inside of man, and we have to learn how to work with, and not ignore, our inner child.