So let me explain to you the jail that most adults put themselves in, called “I Am.” What does I Am mean? I Am means that you see for me to be different than this is very hard, so this is who I am. For me to be tactful with how I talk is very difficult for me, so I am honest. For me to go to sleep on time is very challenging for me, so I am a late sleeper. For me to go to the shul (synagogue) in the morning, I'm not really comfortable in shul, so I don't do it. For me to learn Gemara, I don't understand what the words mean. I didn't have a good Rebbe (teacher) in 10th grade, so I don't understand what the words mean. So I am not a Gemara learner. For me to be refined around people takes a lot of difficult work, so I am not the refined type. What you see is what you get. I Am—the words “I Am”—is an excuse because something in front of you is difficult to do, so you don't even barely even try. So you'll cry teshuvah (repentance), you'll say Viduy (confession) agadah four times on Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement), you'll say every single thing you did wrong, and hopefully you meant it in the moment, but you had no chance of changing it because I Am. I am busy. I am busy as an excuse to be able to get out of all kinds of things. I am. I am not so religious. I am not extreme. These are all words and phrases that mean to say it's too difficult for me to do.
A lot of people think that the Yetzer Hara is their nemesis—the evil inclination. Their challenges, their tests: they are your obstacle. They are not. They're not your obstacle. They're not your nemesis. The Yetzer Hara is not your enemy. Those challenging things, those things that are in front of you that are difficult—they are your opportunity. Your greatness lies right in the door of the mountain of the thing that's hardest for you. You take what is your biggest challenge. You take what is most difficult, and you overcome that, and that's how you become great. The Yetzer Hara is put there to help you unleash greatness. Because of him, you can become great. You can't become great without him. You need the obstacle. You need the challenge. You need the test. You need the temptation. You need the difficulty. You need the thing you think you can't do. And when you overcome it, that's when you become you.
Because let me be clear. Let me try to make this clear. After 120, you're going to stand before Hashem. He's not going to say, “Wow, you made an open layup. You're an unbelievable person. You know what? I gave you billions of dollars, and you gave a nice 2-3% of charity. I'm so proud of you.” Hashem is not going to say, “I gave you the easiest spouse in the world. Great job that you were nice to that person.” Hashem is not going to say, “I gave you straight-A kids, and you were a good parent.” Hashem is not going to say, “I made you wealthy, and you were able to have a nice sukkah (temporary hut).” Those are all easy things. You're not getting credit for easy things. But you will get credit for it at 120, as Hashem will say, “Wow, you see this person? I gave that person such a difficult spouse, and they worked and they changed and they made a beautiful marriage.” Anyhow, I gave that young lady not married for 10 years that she expected to be married, and she believed in me even more. That's what you're getting credit for. “You see that person? I gave them billions, and they gave away 20% to tzedakah (charity), which is hard. You see that other person? I gave him a limited income, and he still found a way to cut out 10% to give the tzedakah.” You're going to get a ton of credit for having that kid that makes you struggle. You have a child that makes you pull your hair out, and you pray better and you change and you work on yourself and you go to chinuch (Jewish education) classes and you get more skills and you read books and you work on yourself. You're getting credit for that one. You have a son-in-law that makes your skin crawl, and you find a way to treat him properly around the sukkah table; you're getting credit for that one. You are. You're getting credit for everything the Yetzer Hara makes hard for you.
So thank you, Yetzer Hara, for making me a person who naturally likes to drink. Because if I beat you, I become great. Thank you, Yetzer Hara, for making me a person who naturally likes to gamble. Because if I defeat you, I become great. Thank you, Yetzer Hara, for making me naturally obsessed with sports. Because if I can overcome you, I will become great. Thank you, Yetzer Hara, for making me a person who doesn't read so well. Because if I can ever train myself to read well, my Torah will literally ascend to the heavenly throne.
We're not angels. We're put on this earth to transform. And the only obstacle of transformation is I Am. It's the thought that I am this because it's difficult to become that, so I'm just going to stay this. No, don't say I am this. Now you have a chance to find the difficult area of your life and beat it. That's what you were put here for. That's what's unbelievably exciting.