daf bit: Sukkah 52

The mishna on yesterday's daf describes (at some length) the festive water-pouring ritual held at the temple at the beginning of Sukkot. (He who hasn't seen this hasn't seen true rejoicing in his life, we're told.) From this the g'mara on today's daf gets to a discussion of the yetzer hara, the evil inclination. Rabbi Yehudah explains that in the end of days the Holy One blessed be He will slay the yetzer hara in the presence of the righteous and the wicked, both of whom will mourn. To the righteous it will have the appearance of a towering hill and they will weep, saying "how were we able to overcome such a towering hill?". To the wicked it will have the appearance of a hair-thin thread and they will weep, saying "how is it that we were unable to conquer this hair-thin thread?".

R. Chana b. Abba said: it was said at the schoolhouse that there are four things that the Holy One blessed be He regrets creating: the exile, the Chaldeans, the Ishmaelites, and the evil inclination. The exile, because "My people were taken away for naught" etc; the Chaldeans from a passage in Isaiah that it would have been better had they never existed; the Ishmaelites because "the tents of the robbers prosper and they that provoke God are secure" (robbers = tent-dwelling Ishmaelites); and the evil inclination from "I will gather her that is driven away and her that I have afflicted" (the affliction was the creation of the evil inclination). (52b)