"Thoughts of sin are worse than sin" (Yoma 29a)

Some commentaries question this statement in light of other gemarot, such as Kiddushin 39b, which seem to indicate that sinful thoughts are not punishable. Others offer suggestions as to why sinful thoughts might prove more harmful than sinful behavior. We shall focus on neither of the above and turn to a different question raised by commentators. Can we truly prevent sinful thoughts from occurring?

The Anaf Yosef, cited in the Ein Yaakov, offers two suggestions. He first mentions the possibility that we can not prevent sinful thoughts. Indeed, some temptations afflict the most righteous of souls. However, we can control what happens after these sinful thoughts arrive. Do we dwell on the sinful possibilities with great enthusiasm or quickly distract ourselves by thinking about other things. When thoughts of revenge emerge, do we relish the fantasy of publicly embarrassing our rivals or do we assure that those vengeful thoughts remain fleeting by diverting our attention elsewhere. According to this approach, Anaf Yosef suggests that the "hirhurei aveirah" (sinful thoughts) evaluated negatively by the gemara refer specifically to prolonged dwelling on the possibilities of sin and not to a fleeting thought of wrongdoing.

In his second interpretation, Anaf Yosef argues that we actually can prevent sinful thoughts but not by attacking them directly. Rather, he recommends filling one's day with Torah study and other positive endeavors so that dreams of iniquity have little room to enter. It is well known that adolescents hanging out on a street corner are more prone to destructive behavior when bored. Less well known is that the same phenomenon occurs with adults. Adults whose lives are filled with religiously significant activity will simply have less time for thoughts of sin and will also hopefully find their lives meaningful enough to lessen the need to look beyond the boundaries of religiously acceptable behavior for excitement.

One final approach comes form the Torah commentary of the Ibn Ezra. He cites the famous question as to how the Torah could ask people not to covet the house or animal of their neighbors. After all, such coveting seems natural and immediate. (Parenthetically, some authorities do maintain that violation of "do not covet" occurs only after one has done an action toward getting the item.) Ibn Ezra answers with a parable. The poor villager does not desire to marry the princess as he knows very well that she is out of his league. In the same way, humans are not jealous of the flying powers of birds as aviation is simply not part of our universe of possibilities. Apparently, our orientation toward various possibilities does influence which desires we have. Many of us are not tempted to steal or cheat on an exam even when we know we could get away with it and we would benefit from such cheating or stealing. Due to our moral recoiling from such behavior, the temptations seem much less tempting. This Ibn Ezra challenges us to internalize the wrongness of problematic practices until they start to lose their allure.

None of the above is meant to suggest that dealing with temptations is easy. We can understand the difficulties of the endeavor even as we recognize the importance of it and proceed with the three strategies outlined above.