Eyes to the Mountain 

The quintessential battle cry of a Jew overcoming his yetzer hara is Yosef Hatzaddik’s decisive “Vayima’en” — endowing Klal Yisrael with the power and fortitude to overcome their struggles for all generations. Today, the Vayimaen movement’s daily three-minute videos have transformed the lives of so many, revealing every Jew’s holy spark and the faith Hashem has in every one of us to withstand the temptations He alone put into the world

We’ve learned the hard way that symbols of strength can be anything but. We took pride in those two towering structures defining New York City’s skyline; today, the gaping void is a constant reminder of our vulnerability. The most powerful governments have crumbled, the wealthiest corporations have gone bankrupt.

Strength, we’ve come to learn, is untrustworthy.

Why is that?

“Eizehu gibor?” asks the mishnah in Pirkei Avos. “Hakovesh es yitzro — he who overcomes his yetzer hara.” The Maharal explains that all other forms of strength are determined by societal perception. Transient realities aren’t necessarily real, and the strength we once believed in was actually never strong in the first place. The kovesh es yitzro, however, is absolute. It is the one true strength that no one can take away.

Yosef Hatzaddik is the very paradigm of a kovesh es yitzro. The encounter with Eishes Potiphar was set to all but consume him, and then… in one decisive moment of strength — “Vayima’en!” — Yosef triumphs, endowing Klal Yisrael for all generations with the power and fortitude to win their battles.