Tiger Woods obviously has an evil inclination. Most of us have an evil inclination. How do we overcome our evil impulses and desires? What is the secret?
Let’s take a look at the story of Joseph in the Torah.
Joseph had a very difficult childhood. He was orphaned from his beloved mother Rachel at the age of 9. His brothers hated him. They wanted to kill him. When he was 17 they sold him into slavery. He was a very handsome young man and was bought by a man named Potiphar. Potiphar desired Joseph for homosexual relations. Potiphar’s wife, Zelachia, desired Joseph for herself. She changed her clothing twice a day. She put on perfume and fragrances. She was infatuated with this young slave and tried everything possible to seduce him.
Joseph was a single solitary slave, living in a foreign country. His master owned his body. If he would have had an immoral relation with Zelachia, nobody would ever know. He wasn’t a celebrity who had media coverage every step of the way. He was a nobody. His family had abandoned him. His mother was dead; his father presumed his was dead. His brothers hated him. A single, lone individual in a country filled with immorality. Zelachia threatened to turn his life into a misery if he refused her. She was powerful enough to do that. In addition, the Talmud tells us that the evil inclination is strongest at the age of 17.
The Torah tells us that after one year of being tempted and seduced, he couldn’t resist her anymore. They were alone in a room and at the very last moment he ran away. What gave Joseph the courage and strength to resist her? Because He saw an image of his father Jacob!
The Talmud says "the beauty of Jacob reflected the beauty of Adam," the first human being formed by the Almighty Himself. Therefore, when Joseph saw the visage of Jacob, he was seeing the visage of Adam as well.
Adam was instructed by G-d not to eat from the fruit of "the tree of knowledge." His disobeying of this directive altered the course of human and world history forever. Man was destined to die as a result of this act. Though he did something apparently insignificant, merely eating a single fruit from a single tree, this minuscule act still vibrates through the consciousness of humanity to this very day.
There is no such a thing as a random act. Every single action we take has an effect somewhere. With every action we do, we either advance or obstruct the drama of redemption; we either reduce or enhance the power of evil.
When Joseph saw the visage of Adam, he reclaimed an inner unshakable dignity like a candle of G-d lit on the cosmic way. Seeing the visage of Adam reminded Joseph how a single act, performed at a single moment by a single man, changed history forever.
This is what Tiger Woods and all of us can learn from Joseph. Never think that a single act of a single individual is meaningless. There is no such thing. Every single act counts. Let us remember this next time we are face with temptation and hopefully we will pass the test!
Do you think its possible to overcome your temptations?
The above article is based primarily on an essay written by Rabbi Yosef Y. Jacobson. You can view his essay by clicking here.