Among those who tallied along with Korach was an individual by the name of Ohn Ben Pelet. The Da’at Zekeinim tells us that although Ohn Ben Pelet was originally part of Korach’s squad, he nevertheless withdrew from the uprising based on his wife’s advice. His wife confronted him with the following factual argument: regardless of whether Moshe or Korach emerged victorious, Ben Pelet would still remain in a secondary position in the leadership of Bnei Yisrael; even if Korach would win, Ben Pelet himself wouldn’t make it to the top anyway. This realization helped awaken Ben Pelet to eventually withdraw from the rebellion.

Let’s ask the following question: Did Ben Pelet himself not realize that joining Korach would not give him personal gain? Why would he therefore even join in the first place if this reasoning that his wife suggested is so obvious?

I remember hearing a concept from one of my rebbeim, R’ Binyamin Luban. He said that the yetzer hara’s persuasion works in two forms: there is rational persuasion and irrational persuasion. There are many things we’re supposed to stay away from, but yet if we God forbid transgress, there is some kind of gain for us, be it in the realm of physical or egoistic satisfaction, or perhaps in some other area. But the satan’s tempting us is, after all, a rational argument to some extent—although there is much more to lose than gain. However, there is another type of temptation the yetzer hara employs and that is in the realm of irrational persuasion, where transgressing won’t even get us a thing. In short, there is the rational yetzer hara, and the irrational yetzer hara.

Here is a story as an example of the latter: There is a famous occurrence that Rabbi Dr. Abraham J. Twerski relates upon an encounter he had with another Jew. R’ Twerski, one from the chassidic dynasty, dressed up in all his chassidish gear, was once approached by a Jewish woman on an airplane. Out of nowhere, this Jewish woman started chastising him in Yiddish: “You are the cause of anti-Semitism! You dress differently, you look differently, you behave differently. If only you would be like everyone else they [the rest of the world] would love us!” Rabbi Twerski responded, “I do not understand the language you speak, in what language are you speaking?” “Yiddish,” she replied. R’ Twerski said, “Ah, I am Amish.” She said, “Oh, I thought you were chassidish!” R’ Twerski said, “No, I am Amish.” Like a 180, the woman suddenly changed expressions to one of glee, and delightfully replied back, “Oh, I love the Amish!” R’ Twerski asked why that is so. She explained, “You are a minority but you maintain your heritage with so much dignity and pride!” Rabbi Twerski then responded back in Yiddish: “If I would have been Amish you would love me, but now that I am a Jew you are embarrassed of me; I bless you that you should be able to appreciate in your own people that which you can appreciate in other people.”

Rabbi Twerski was highlighting the notion of this irrational yetzer hara. Sinat chinam (baseless hatred) is something that is unfortunately prevalent amongst our nation, despite the fact that it is completely irrational: you don’t get anything out of it—no money, no fame, no honor and not even a satisfied belly. If anything, it only causes destruction. A Jew might have sinat chinam toward another Jew for a certain “reason,” but will love an outsider for that very same reason. Satan Psychology is at the front lines with trying to get us to do things even though they make no sense and don’t give us any dividends in return. Some other examples are when we easily and freely spend money on things but will act minimally when it comes to supporting Torah institutions. Another example might be how for some reason we have a lot of time to spend with other people but when it comes to our own spouse, kids or family we realize we are too busy.

Ohn ben Pelet seemingly had nothing to personally gain. Why then did he join? The answer may be that there doesn’t have to be a reason why he would join. Perhaps there is no answer, because if we’re dealing with the irrational yetzer hara, you can’t really explain irrationality. The yetzer hara thrives on machloket, while in reality his prey don’t really know why they are involved in it in the first place and how they got there.

We would think that of the two yetzers mentioned, the irrational one would be no challenge since we have brains. However, the yetzer hara is given the power to tempt us in the areas of irrationality and he works beyond our intellect to get us to do things that bypass the reasonings of our smarts and wisdom. To understand oneself exceeds simply understanding human behavior and one’s own unique nature. It also means understanding the dynamics of the yetzer hara who is constantly at the forefront attempting to instigate you to withdraw from Hashem and reality. This idea is powerful and extremely helpful because developing an awareness of the different tactics of the yetzer hara will help us increase our self-knowledge to help us realize that irrational temptations can be exactly the scheme of Satan Psychology.

By Binyamin Benji

Binyamin Benji is a graduate of Yeshivas Rabbeinu Yitzchak Elchanan, and Wurzweiler School of Social Work. He currently learns in Lakewood, and is the author of the Sephardic Congregation of Paramus’ weekly Torah Talk. He can be reached at
[email protected].