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The Angel’s Deception

September 25, 2006

The email arrived three days after Faivel Stone passed away.

• • •

TO: Joey Freedman
FROM: Faivel Stone
SUBJECT: Shocking

Dear Joey,

Don’t ask me why I was given permission to send you this email. Obviously, it’s highly unusual to send email from where I am, but there is a reason for everything. Please focus on the message rather than its origin.

So what’s it like in this new world? I can’t reveal to you….no, that’s not really accurate. It is not possible to describe to you this world, nor can you comprehend it anymore than a blind man can imagine color.

But there is something compelling that I discovered here that I can share with you; something that you must know now for your own good. I have learned a startling truth, a shocking revelation: The world in which human beings reside is an elaborate scam.

Do you understand what I am saying? I was deceived my whole life and was made a fool.

Wait. There is more. Who do you think runs this operation? A band of thieves? No, you won’t believe it. Malachim – angels, known as the Yetzer Hora. Can you imagine? These angels are all over the place, scheming, conniving, and deceiving. Human beings believe events just unfold naturally, but they don’t. The Yetzer Hora manipulates situations to test man’s character, and he creates elaborate set-ups and complicated circumstances, to see how people will behave. These angels are exceptionally skillful con artists and do a phenomenal job of entrapment.

When I arrived here they showed me a movie of my life. Everything is laid out before you. The Yetzer Hora, who is invisible to man, was in every scene, busy doing his thing. The Yetzer Hora arranged events to test me on a constant basis. Watching the movie, I felt like a naïve simpleton who was conned over and over again into doing the wrong thing. He trapped me with his guile and tricked me big time.

Now, I know we’ve all heard that there is an angel called the Yetzer Hora who tempts men to sin. But I never knew or understood to what extent he completely controls the events of our lives.

Joey, I just had to let you know before it’s too late for you as well.

Faivel

• • •

Joey pressed the reply button and composed the following response.

• • •

TO: Faivel Stone
FROM: Joey Freedman
SUBJECT: What’s the Idea?

It is a sick joke to send an email in Faivel’s name three days after his passing. Who are you?

Joey

• • •

TO: Joey Freedman
FROM: Faivel Stone
SUBJECT: Please Listen

Joey,

I understand why you are upset and don’t want to accept what I wrote. Denial is a powerful defense mechanism to avoid painful truths. But it’s in your interest to recognize the reality sooner rather than later. Believe me, Joey, I am Faivel Stone and I’m telling it to you like it is.

How I wish I could live my life over again now. G-d created me for a purpose and placed me in the world to achieve important goals. I could have been an extraordinary tzaddik and done many great things. But to make human accomplishment meaningful, G-d assigned the angels with the task of creating challenges and placing roadblocks. The Yetzer Hora is extremely sophisticated in his work. He deceived me with the lure of wealth, power jealousy and lust. I swallowed the bait and got entangled in meaningless diversions that I imagined were of great import. Only when you go to shomayim (heaven) you discover how inconsequential these things really are.

Joey, I’m your friend. Don’t fall for the same traps as I did. Don’t wait until you arrive here to discover you’ve been taken in.

Faivel

• • •

TO: Faivel Stone
FROM: Joey Freedman
SUBJECT: I’m Getting Angry

You have some nerve playing this game with me. Do you think I am a child who can be easily deceived? What exactly do you want?

Joey

• • •

TO: Joey Freedman
FROM: Faivel Stone
SUBJECT: Stay Calm

Dear Joey,

Get a hold of yourself. I’m just trying to help you.

Think of it this way. In a famous incident in 1895, audiences watching the Lumiere brothers’ film, The Train Arrival in the Station, shrieked and ran out of the theater for fear of their lives. Having never seen a movie before, the people were convinced that what they saw was a real train, which appeared to be moving towards them and was about to run them over. The next time they saw the scene, no one panicked because they knew it was just a movie.

The Yetzer Hora weaves powerful deceptions, and his theater is the stage of life. But unlike the movies, human beings live their entire life convinced that what they experience is not an illusion.

Joey, I’m doing you a great favor. I only want you to recognize the masterful set-up of a crafty band of angels. This information will empower you to not be duped like everyone else.

Faivel

• • •

TO: Faivel Stone
FROM: Joey Freedman
SUBJECT: This is Outrageous

Stop your condescending mussar. I demand an explanation to this nonsense. I am not a fool.

Joey

• • •

TO: Joey Freedman
FROM: Faivel Stone
SUBJECT: I’ll Prove it to You

Dear Joey,

Please don’t explode. Let me share a story to prove my authenticity. Then maybe you’ll listen to what I have to say.

Two years ago, I came to visit you on a Sunday afternoon. Your wife was shopping and you were watching the kids. There was a new linen tablecloth on the table and your son Shalom placed an open ketchup bottle on the table. The children became rowdy and Chaim threw a ball to Shalom and knocked over the ketchup, which spilled over the new tablecloth. You were furious and yelled at your children. When your wife Rachel arrived home, you let her have it too.

“Don’t ever leave me alone with the kids again when you want to waste time shopping”.

That did it. Rachel was deeply hurt. “Well Joey, it just so happens that I was shopping to buy these ties for your birthday. Now I don’t feel like giving you a thing”. Rachel was so angry that she threw the new ties in the garbage.

I was appalled at your behavior, but you were defiant. For two weeks you refused to apologize and Rachel wouldn’t talk to you. Finally, you calmed down and realized that you were at fault, and you asked for Rachel’s forgiveness.

What you didn’t know at the time was that it was all a set-up. The Yetzer Hara arranged all the props – the new tablecloth, the ketchup, the ball and your new ties. He made sure the ball knocked over the ketchup and coordinated the episode around your birthday to maximize Rachel’s hurt. Now, if you had seen this Malach busy at work, when Rachel walked into the house, you would have laughed and said, “My dear angel, I’m not stupid! You are testing my nerves and ability to not get angry, but I see right through your con artist’s scheme. Rachel, it’s so nice to see you”. But to you, the scene seemed real and compelling and you blew it.

Do you see my point? If you realize that everything that happens to you is a setup, you will respond differently.

As a starting point, why not learn to control your temper. Remember, whenever you are inclined to get angry, a Malach is behind the scenes.

Faivel

• • •

TO: Faivel Stone
FROM: Joey Freedman
SUBJECT: I Get You Now

Meir Goldstein,

You gave yourself away. Everything is clear to me now. You were Faivel’s closest friend and confidant, and I’m sure he shared with you the story about the ties. You obviously broke into Faivel’s home and sent an email through his computer using his name. Last week I was upset with your work, and I gave you a poor performance review due to your ineptitude. You must have thought you could get me to change my attitude towards you with your imaginative emails. What you have done is outrageous. I will now do whatever I can to get you fired.

Joey

• • •

Meanwhile, in the heavens…

Angel: That was pretty slick. You got Joey to get angry, jump to unwarranted conclusions and take revenge. In a brilliant move, you let Joey know that life is a series of tests – and still he failed, which makes the crime far worse. So tell me? Who did send those emails? Was it Meir Goldstein? Was it someone else with a different angle? Or did you send it yourself?

Yetzer Hora: It doesn’t really matter.

Angel: Why not?

Yetzer Hora: Either way, another mission was successfully accomplished.

Rabbi Yaakov Luban is the Executive Rabbinic Coordinator of the Kashruth Department at the Orthodox Union. He is the Rabbi of Congregation Ohr Torah in Edison, NJ.


Other Elul/Days of Awe stories by Rabbi Luban:

* The Pendulum

* An E-Mail from Hashem

* A Story for the Days of Awe

* Changing Perspectives

* The Grand Slam

* The Merry-Go-Round

* If you received e-mail from an angel, would you heed… The Heavenly Call