Chazal call attention to the fact that the word rmhhu is spelled with a double “yud”. They infer from this exceptional case the dual nature of man. Two yetziros, creations, came into being. Man is a composite of mortal and immortal, earthly and heavenly, the yetzer tov, the good inclination, and the yetzer hora, its evil counterpart. He is created for Olam Ha’zeh, this temporal world, and Olam Ha’bah, the Eternal world. Horav S.R. Hirsch, zl, notes that while there are two “yudin,” only one “yud” is enunciated. One yetzira is audible while the other is quiescent. One is predominant, while the other remains subordinate. It is present, somewhat removed, but not totally dismissed. The most noble of men, the one who has reached the apex of spirituality, still belongs to the earth; in contrast, one may still observe a ray of spirituality, shining through even in the lowest of men.
Chazal enlighten us with the idea that right from the beginning man is endowed with these two tendencies. Nothing Hashem has created is evil. The difference lies in how one makes use of his gift. Each inclination can be used to serve the ideal of purity and holiness. Only the misguided who believe that the sensual world has not originated from Hashem. Indeed, a whole religion has fallen prey to this belief – to the point that the concept, “be fruitful and multiply,” the first mitzvah given to man, is “below” the dignity of its priests. In Judaism, both inclinations are considered to be the work of Hashem. Man is a unique creation in whom the Divine and the mundane, heavenly and earthly, spiritual and material, the immortal and the mortal, join together to serve their Creator.
