"The wisdom of cunning is understanding his way, and the foolishness of fools is deception" (Mishlei 14:8)
The yetzer harah (evil inclination) is portrayed to us through various allegories. Perhaps the very first means of understanding him, is alluded to us by way of the serpent in the Garden of Eden. The serpent teaches us of the cunning nature of the evil inclination and his deceitful ways of luring us to evil. With this in mind, the Vilna Gaon explains how the above passage gives us an insight of how to go about combating the yetzer harah. Just as he employs trickery to overcome us, we too are capable of studying and implementing the "wisdom of cunning".
How does the yetzer harah go about his business? First, he learns the nature of the person he is dealing with, and then sets traps where the person is most likely to fall. Similarly, by understanding one’s own nature, the person can counteract the yetzer harah, setting up precautions in those areas that he is most likely to stumble. The "wisdom of cunning" then, is by "understanding his ways".
On the other hand, others might not want to understand and would rather go in the direction that they are accustomed to. They will surely fall into the cunning traps that the yetzer harah has prepared for them. In this sense, they are compared to fools who were "taken in" by the yetzer harah. Thus their sins, referred to as the "foolishness of the fools", came about through the "deception" of the yetzer harah.
Courtesy of JewishAmerica (www.JewishAmerica.com)
Usher Smith has studied at Yeshiva Shaarei Torah (Monsey NY), Talmudical Academy Of Central NJ (Adelphia NJ), and Beth Medrash Govoha (Jerusalem Israel and Lakwood NJ)
