After the transgression committed by Adam and Chava, each perpetrator is punished. The first punishment is assigned to the nachash (snake). It is destined to slide on its belly and be satiated with dust. There will be hatred between snakes and mankind. Then the Torah uses the following phrase, הוּא יְשׁוּפְךָ רֹאשׁ וְאַתָּה תְּשׁוּפֶנּוּ עָקֵב, he will crush your head, and you will bite his heel. Literally, this may be understood that man will hit the snake on the head to kill it and the snake will bite man’s heel.
The Kli Yakar offers an alternative explanation that is quite appropriate for this time of year. The nachash symbolizes the evil inclination—the satan and the yetzer hara. This pasuk provides us with the strategy to overcome the yetzer hara. When the yetzer hara starts to entice us, he is like a spider web, loose strings through which one can maneuver. If we fight against the evil inclination from the beginning, as the pasuk states: הוּא יְשׁוּפְךָ רֹאשׁ – then man will be victorious. However, if we enable the yetzer hara to influence us and we follow those temptations day after day, we become entangled in a thick rope from which it is quite difficult to escape. If we wait until later to fight the yetzer hara, it will be difficult for us to overcome – וְאַתָּה תְּשׁוּפֶנּוּ עָקֵב – that is when the “snake” will be victorious.
This is the secret to overcoming the yetzer hara. We have to prevent its influence from the beginning. Once we are manipulated by the yetzer hara it is much more difficult to overcome. Often people get set in their ways. As we get older it is harder to change. This is who I am!
We are in the period known as “אַחֲרֵי הַחַגִּים,” it is a time on the one hand to try to get back to a normal schedule. Yet, it is also a time to reflect on all the items we contemplated on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. The behaviors we undertook to improve our actions—both bein adam l’Makom and bein adam l’chaveiro. The key to accomplishing our new year resolutions is to begin implementing them immediately. To take control from the start, as the pasuk states: הוּא יְשׁוּפְךָ רֹאשׁ, man will be victorious if he starts off strong!
In Sefer Shmuel (Shmuel II 7:5), in the middle of the night, Hashem appears to Natan HaNavi and instructs him to immediately inform David HaMelech that he cannot build the Beit Hamikdash. Why did Natan have to share this disturbing news with the king in the middle of the night? Rashi suggests that David HaMelech was a “doer, מָהִיר הוּא.” He acts immediately. If Natan would not inform David HaMelech quickly, David HaMelech would likely initiate the construction of the Mikdash that very night.
We need to execute and not just contemplate change. As we begin the new year, let’s start off on the right foot and immediately take concrete measures to implement all our undertakings. The longer we wait the less likely we will be able to successfully fulfill our pledges. Strong beginnings lead man to victory!
Rabbi Shalom Rosner is a rebbe at Yeshivat Kerem B’Yavneh and rabbi of the Nofei HaShemesh community. He is a member of the Mizrachi Speakers Bureau (www.mizrachi.org/speakers).
