Is there any way fit this in with the idea that many mitzvos - kashrus
in particular and chukim in general - seem designed to train us to *have*
self-control?
Akiva Miller
: Is there any way fit this in with the idea that many mitzvos - kashrus
: in particular and chukim in general - seem designed to train us to *have*
: self-control?
If (and that's a big if) we define the yeitzer hara as the effects on our
souls of living within a mammalian body, then the ability to plan ahead
and work toward delayed gratification, rather than just instinctively
going for what's before us, is going to be a fundamental skill in rising
above it.
In R Yitchaq Sher's introduction to the Slabodka edition of Cheshbon
haNefesh (Feldheim bilingual ed.
<https://books.google.com/books?id=dx0OsRAffDQC&lpg=PP31&pg=PA31>\),
the mashgiach speaks of the nefesh habehamis's "lack[ing the will to
exercise choice" and therefore "the tzivui or azharah of an asei or a
lo-sa'asei are not shayach to it at all" (par 2).
He then gives guidelines about how to train it by taking examples
from animal training (par 304).
Tir'u baTov!
-Micha