The French poet Baudelaire once remarked that the devil’s greatest success is his ability to convince us that he does not exist.
Whereas Judaism does not believe in the devil quite as Baudelaire does, it does believe that there is a “devilish” force called the yetzer ha-ra within each of us, and that that force works in very subtle ways. At the same time, with ambivalence, we definitely do tend to believe that this yetzer does not exist.
Jewish writings through the ages have debated the nature of this force. All these writings ultimately trace back to a verse in this week’s Torah portion: “The devising of man’s mind are evil from his youth.” (Genesis 8:21)
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