Evil inclination

A desire or inner impulse to do evil deeds. Or: the name of an angel whose role is to incite a person to do evil.

("Rabbi Yehoshua says: an evil eye, the evil inclination, and hatred of people remove a person from the world" - Avot 2:10; and: "The Torah speaks only in opposition to the evil inclination. For if the Holy One, blessed be He, did not permit it, he would take it upon himself as forbidden" - Rashi on Deuteronomy 21:11; and: "The deed is presently in another's hand, and I have no claim on it, and the evil inclination of great money in our days is very great" - Shalom Aleichem, Five and Seventy Thousand, 20; and: "Sometimes the soul wastes away in longing for the roots of its source. And there is [one] like an old dog, bereft of years, longing for the years of its youth that were cut off, and for his evil inclination that they left for sighs" - Y. L. Peretz, The Reincarnations of a Tune; and: "Now it is clear to him that the evil inclination set its eyes on him to cause him to fail, and laid this snare for him" - Y. Burla, Longings, 51; and: "One who sends army commanders to cause disorder to examine the boys brings the evil inclination of money into the hearts of the commanders" - Agnon, On the Knob of the Lock, A Simple Story, 69)

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