Parshas Vayishlach

After Yakov fought the Malach of Eisav, he asked him, "What is your name?" The response of the malach was, "Why are you asking for my name?"

This is the essence of the yetzer hara. He tries to disguise himself so we don't realize we are doing the wrong thing. Things become unclear when we are fighting the yetzer hara and don't realize it's him. Things like, "I'm saying this for to'eles" or "I'm going online for a good reason" (and end up wasting so much time) are ways the yetzer hara traps us. Any time we are tricked into thinking were doing something good but the loss outweighs the gain, we should realize it's time to back down.

May we be able to be vigilant, on guard and aware of these tricks so we can come out winning the battle against the Sar shel Eisav, the yetzer hara!