Chavie had a hard time getting up in the morning. Her warm bed and fluffy blankets seemed much more inviting than the wintry day outside.

"C'mon Chavie, get up!" called her older sister Shoshi.

"But it's so-o-o cold outside," murmured Chavie from under the blankets.

"That's your yetzer hora complaining," Shoshi reminded her sister. "Let your yetzer tov tell your yetzer hora that if he's so cold and tired, he should stay in bed while you get up. That way you'll be rid of him all day!"

Chavie lifted the corner of her blanket and sighed. "Why does the yetzer tov have to be right next to the yetzer hora in my heart? The yetzer hora is so close that the yetzer tov is also being convinced it's too cold to get up! You know, Shoshi, if only the yetzer tov were further away, like up in my head, it wouldn't be influenced so easily."

Shoshi laughed. "Oh, Chavie! The whole idea is that the yetzer tov should be close to the yetzer hora, so that it can influence it in a good way. If the yetzer tov were higher and separate, it would be much harder for it to get the message across."

Shoshi is right, and we can learn about this from an episode in this week's parshah.

When Yosef finally revealed himself to his brothers, all of them were overcome with deep feelings. Yosef and Binyamin embraced each other and wept. Our Rabbis explain that they weren't only crying out of excitement; they both saw something in the future that made them weep.

Binyamin saw that the Mishkan of Shiloh, a city belonging to the tribe of Yosef, would be destroyed. And Yosef saw that the Beis HaMikdash, which would be built in Binyamin's territory, would be destroyed.

Our Rabbis learn this from the passuk that describes Yosef and Binyamin's meeting: "And he fell on the neck of his brother Binyamin and he wept and Binyamin wept on his neck."

The word "neck" hints at the Beis HaMikdash. In Shir HaShirim it says, "your neck is like the Tower of David." Our Rabbis explain that just as a person's neck sits at a high point on his body, the Beis HaMikdash towers high above its surrounding areas.

But if the Beis HaMikdash is high, why don't we compare it to a person's head, which is higher than his neck?

The Beis HaMikdash is high, but not the very highest. Indeed, our Rabbis tell us that it was twenty-three cubits lower than Ayn Aytom, the spring from which water was taken for the Beis HaMikdash.

The head is the highest part of the body, and it gives direction to the rest of the body. But the head can't function on its own. It needs to be connected to the rest of the body. The nerve center at the base of the neck makes this connection. Through this center the messages from the head are sent out to the other parts of the body.

The Beis HaMikdash is like the neck, because through it, HaShem's holiness is spread throughout the world. It is not so high that it is removed and separated from the world. Instead, it is connected with the world so that HaShem's holiness can spread out from it.

Each one of us is like a miniature Beis HaMikdash. Our yetzer tov is not separate from ourselves, nor does it tower above us. Instead, it is right down here, close to the yetzer hora - near enough to give it the right messages and directions.

(Adapted from Likkutei Sichos, Vol. X, p. 146)