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download (9)The disciples of R’ Pinchas of Koretz confided to him how afraid they were of the pursuit of the Yetzer Hara (evil inclination). “Don’t worry” he replied. “You have not reached a high enough level for it to pursue you. At this point in time, you are still pursuing it.”

THINKING ABOUT THE TEACHING:
The Rebbe wasn’t telling his students to ignore the evil urge. He was teaching them to be a bit more humble. Our sages teach that the greater the person – the greater their Yetzer Hara. For example, if I was going to take up boxing, they wouldn’t match me up with the heavy weight champion of the world. I would be adequately challenged by someone of much lesser stature. As we grow spiritually, the challenges Hashem sends our way get tougher. We need bigger opponents to battle. The Rebbe was saying (at least this is how I understand the teaching) that they were not on such a lofty spiritual level yet that the evil urge was pursuing them. They were still on a level where they were pursuing it.