“With all your heart” is a strong term, but one cannot serve Hashem in any lesser manner. Rashi cites Chazal who interpret “b’chol levavecha” as “bishnei yitzrecha,” with your two inclinations, your yetzer tov, good inclination, as well as your yetzer hora, evil inclination. We must endeavor to understand the meaning of loving Hashem with one’s good inclination. Certainly, there is nothing challenging about the yetzer tov. It encourages mitzvah observance and good deeds. What quality of the good inclination might be considered a challenge to overcome?
Horav Moshe Feinstein, zl, explains that at times, by following the intimations of his good inclination, an individual can be doing the wrong thing. Let us take the mitzvah of tzedakah, for instance. One feels compelled to contribute to a certain charity – but this charity is not considered halachically charitable. It would be better that he does not lend assistance to this organization. How often do we feel a desire to show compassion to someone who not only does not deserve our help, but help might even be detrimental to him. This applies to every good deed and every good character trait. Just because one’s heart tells him that it is “right,” he does not have license to act. That is the job of gedolei Yisrael, our Torah leadership. They determine what is correct and what just “seems” to be correct based upon their supreme and unbiased knowledge of Torah. Thus, we see that it might conceivably be more difficult to overcome our yetzer tov than our yetzer hora.
