There is a puzzling phrase in the blessings said after reciting the Shema Yisrael (Hear O Israel) during the evening prayers: “…and remove the Satan from before us and from behind us…” The Hebrew word “satan” means obstruction (see Numbers 22:22) and generally refers to spiritual impediments in our lives, both internal and external. But what are the obstacles before us and behind us referred to in this blessing?
There are numerous approaches to understanding this phrase.
One is that spiritual impediments before us are temptations to do the wrong thing. It may be an inappropriate sexual attraction, an opportunity to be less than honest in a financial matter or a luscious piece of chocolate cake beckoning to us. We are all intimately familiar with these kinds of challenges. But the “satan” behind us is not trying to entice us sin and do things we shouldn’t be doing. There is a voice inside of us that sometimes pushes us from behind to do noble things and positive things – but to overdo do it. To set goals for ourselves that are too high and over reach. To take on commitments that we are not yet ready to handle. To want to do lofty things, but to bite off more than we can chew. We sometimes made grandiose plans, only to fall on our faces and give up all together. The spiritual trap of taking on too much and too soon can often be more of a challenge than resisting those come hither temptations we face head on.
Another approach to understanding the nature of these spiritual impediments is that those before us are the temptations to sin that we are all too familiar with. The spiritual impediments from behind us are the feelings of pride, self-satisfaction and complacency that can set in after we are successful in overcoming the temptations that confront us. These feelings can become like termites that slowly destroy our spiritual health and we have to be very careful to guard against them.
