Yetser

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יצר


Genesis 46:24 names him as the third son of Naphtali, his siblings were Yachtse-El (יחצאל), Guni (גוני), and Shilem (שלם).

Numbers 26:49 gives Yitsri (יצרי) for the tribe; though most English versions render Yetser incorrectly as Jezer and the tribe therefore as the Jezerites.


See also 1 Chronicles 25:11, where a Yitsri (יִּצְרִי) is listed as one of the 288 choristers and musicians in King David's royal orchestra. It is uncertain if this is the same person mentioned eight verses earlier (1 Chronicles 25:3) as Tseri (צְרִי) - Chronicles is riddled with errors, both scribal and historic, and the context suggests that this one is simply a matter of bad proof-reading.

The name means "to form" or "to fashion", and is specifically connected with the craft of pottery (cf Isaiah 44:9, 2 Samuel 17:28). 

Of the several words used for divine creation in Genesis 1-3, the root Yatsar (יצר) occurs only once, but in the very important creation of Man in Genesis 2:7
"Then YHVH Elohim formed Man from the dust of the ground - וייצר יהוה אלהים את-האדם עפר מן-האדמה - Va-yitsar YHVH Elohim et ha adam aphar min ha-adamah."
The same usage recurs later in the Tanach, especially in Yesha-Yahu (cf Isaiah 43:7, 49:5 et al).

It is used most commonly in the Psalms, too many references to list in full, but c.f. 2:9; 33:15 for examples. Psalm 74:17 uses it for more general creation, as does Isaiah 45:7, while Psalm 94:9 is very specific - the creation of the eye.

It also acquires the secondary meaning of "destiny" (presumably because Elohim has a divine plan, "formulated" or "fashioned" from the beginning) in the Yehudit of Yesha-Yahu. Cf Isaiah 22:11; 37:26; 44:21; et al.

How do we get from Yetser as a person's name, via Yatsar as the root for "to form" or "fashion", to the Rabbinic concept of "Yetser ha-Tov" (יֵצֶר הַטוֹב) and "Yetser ha Ra" (יֵצֶר הַרַע), usually understood as a Unistic or Monotheistic response to the Dualistic concept of Good and Evil? 

The route is really quite simple: it regards this as the way that Humankind was formed or fashioned.

The concept is quite simple too, and important, because it is one of the fundamental differences between Judaism and Christianity. 

In the concept of Yetser, all things stem from Elohim (or YHVH), regardless of whether they are good or bad, and all things return to YHVH (or Elohim) in the same way; to honour the deity for both these aspects we are called upon to "justify the judgement", to accept whichever outcome may arise; and in terms of the individual, we have the liberty to make our own choices, but need to make them consciously and thoughtfully, reconciling the two impulses, the one towards the creative and the other towards the destructive, the one towards the moral and the other towards the immoral, in favour of the Yetser ha TovFor a deeper understanding of this concept, cf Genesis Rabbah 9:7Avot d'Rabbi NataBerakhot 32a and especially Maimonides' commentary on Berakhot 9:5.

In Zoroastrianism, Ahura Mazda created the twin spirits, Angra Mainyu, the destructive spirit, and Spenta Meynu, the good spirit - are these the origins of the Yetser ha Tov and Yetser ha Ra, brought back by Ezra and Nechem-Yah (Nehemiah) from Medean Persia? 



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