Chasidut zu Wajikra 6:78

In Noam Elimelekh Parshat Tzav, on the verse “Zot torat haOlah,”⁵⁵⁵Leviticus 6:2. it says: “It is impossible for one to break all his tendencies with which he has grown up with from his mother’s womb. Rather one must raise them to holiness. For example, one who has the trait of anger should turn away from ‘external’ anger and be angry at the wicked. So too with all traits.” This refers to the aforementioned hasidic avodah, of ‘for from it we shall take to serve the Lord.’

If you feel the awakening of a bad character trait, whether you feel jealous or hate someone, and even though you are aware that it is something to get rid of but find it difficult to do so, or any evil fancy that strikes you and you find it difficult to push it away and nullify it, then use this method. And if you are not currently standing in prayer, or if you are praying and have reached a place where you can pause, then say the verse, “esh tamid tookad al hamizbeach lo sichbei – burn a continual fire on the altar, it shall not be extinguished,”¹⁹⁹Vayikra, 6:6 a practice recorded in the Ari z”l siddur in the name of the Ramak that he received from Elijah the Prophet. Or say with all of your strength, “haCna’ani haChitti haEmori ve’haPritzi ve’haYevusi ve’haGirgashi,”²⁰⁰These are six of the names of the seven nations that lived in the land of Cana’an before the arrival of the children of Israel. Nechemia, 9:8 as my holy ancestor, Rebbe Elimelech of Lyzhensk advises us in the Tseitl Katan. And the Maor VaShemesh tells us that it is good to change, sometimes saying the first verse, and sometimes the second, because when you overdo any one method it looses its power. However, if you are standing in prayer in a place where it is forbidden to interrupt, then use the following tactic. Look at this disturbing or evil attribute which has come to you, and envision it as a cruel, vile, and filthy animal that has jumped into your mind, and its filthy feet are defiling the holy place within you. It opens its dreadful maw and nibbles away at the strands and sinews of your very soul. Be careful not to think the evil thought itself, but just think about the evil thought, and about the evil animal which destroys you, body and soul, God forbid. You should be in a complete state of shock, and cry out in your heart, “am I like an adulterer (God forbid)?²⁰¹The Rebbe Zts”l actually writes, “am I an adulterer.” For someone who is not actually engaged in adultery, God forbid, this is an analogy. That is to say, entertaining or even whoring after a distracting or enticing thought while praying is analogous to cheating on God. Am I already rotting in the lowest pit of hell (God protect us)? If you want to use this method at a time when you are not davening, then you can actually say these words out loud the way you said them to yourself in the bitterness of your heart.