Winning Life’s Greatest Battle

Winston Churchill once said, “You have enemies? Good. That means you’ve stood up for something, sometime in your life.”

This week’s Torah portion opens with the words: “When you go out to war against your enemies.” The first Lubavitcher Rebbe explains that the fiercest enemy is not external, but internal—our default, self-centered inclination. At first, it may seem harmless, but left unchecked, it gradually erodes our concern for others.

The struggle is that self-love is natural. It blinds us to our flaws, making it hard to recognize our own weaknesses. Guarding against this tendency requires constant vigilance.

Real change demands extraordinary courage and persistence. It is, in truth, the greatest battle a human being can fight.

King Solomon teaches, “He placed the world in their hearts.” The mystics interpret this to mean that the outer world mirrors the world within us. From this flow two essential lessons:

1. We cannot simply blame the world—its leaders or institutions—for our troubles. They reflect the shortcomings within ourselves.

2. If we wish to change the world, we must begin by changing ourselves. There are no shortcuts.

The journey begins inward.

Just as wiping a smudge off a mirror won’t clean your face, fixing what’s external without confronting what lies within will never bring true transformation.