Why the Torah Doesn’t Trust Willpower

A recent New York Times essay by psychologist Angela Duckworth argues something counterintuitive but deeply resonant: willpower doesn’t work nearly as well as we think. The most disciplined people, the research suggests, don’t succeed because they are better at resisting temptation in the moment. They succeed because they arrange their lives to avoid temptation altogether.

While this insight feels modern, backed by psychology, neuroscience, and data, the Torah taught it thousands of years ago.

One of the most striking moments in the giving of the Torah occurs before the revelation itself. Hashem commands Moshe to warn the people:

Set boundaries for the people around the mountain… lest they break through to see Hashem and many of them fall” (Shemot 19:12–21).

This is puzzling. The Jewish people are at the holiest moment in history. They are spiritually elevated, purified, and preparing to hear the voice of God. If ever there were a time to trust human self-control, this would be it. And yet the Torah insists on distance. Do not touch the mountain. Do not come too close. Do not test yourselves.

The Torah understands something profound about human nature: even at our best, self-control is fragile. Desire, curiosity, impulse, and emotion can overwhelm intention. Holiness does not eliminate temptation; sometimes it intensifies it.

The Torah’s response is not “try harder.” It is “make fences.” As the Mishna in Pirkei Avos famously declares, “Make a fence around the Torah.”

A fence is not an admission of weakness; it is an act of wisdom. You don’t build a fence because you plan to fall. You build it because you’re human.

This is perhaps most clearly expressed in the laws of yichud, the prohibition against a man and woman being alone together in a private setting. At first glance, the law can feel insulting. What, I don’t have self-control? Don’t you trust me?

The Torah’s answer is gentle and brutally honest: not always. When he was vice president, Mike Pence made headlines for an interview he had given where he revealed that he does not eat alone with a woman without his wife and will not attend events with alcohol unless his wife is attending with him. As he put it, “It’s about building a zone around your marriage.” Many people were dismissive or even critical of Pence, calling out this policy as being extreme and even unfair to women. But, from a Torah perspective, he was the wise one!

Chazal are acknowledging reality. Temptation does not announce itself in advance. It emerges quietly, unexpectedly, and often when and where we least anticipate it. The goal of Halacha is not to test our willpower but to spare us from needing it.

As the Gemara teaches, “Ein apotropus l’arayos,” there is no effective guardian for forbidden relationships (Ketubos 13b). Even great people can stumble if they linger too close to the edge.

Modern psychology now echoes this ancient wisdom. Dr. Duckworth describes what researchers call “situational agency,” the practice of structuring one’s environment so that temptation is less accessible. People who succeed don’t stare temptation in the face and win heroic internal battles. They move the cookies out of the house, they leave their phones in another room, or they don’t download the app.

This is exactly what happened at Har Sinai. Hashem did not say, “Stand close and control yourselves.” He said, “Stay back.” Physical distance was meant to create psychological and spiritual distance. The boundary itself was the protection.

Duckworth proceeds to describe our modern environment as “ultraprocessed,” or a world engineered to hijack attention and desire. Social media, junk food, and endless scrolling are designed to bypass reason and trigger impulse.

Which is why Judaism insists: Move it farther away. The Yetzer Hara is not crude or obvious. It is subtle, patient, and strategic. Its power lies not in overwhelming force but in proximity and repetition.

If you don’t want to be distracted when you’re with your children, leave your phone in another room, or place it face down and out of reach. If you don’t want to look at something you know you shouldn’t, delete the app, install a filter, or block the site entirely. The Torah never asked us to prove our strength by staring temptation in the face. And if you don’t want to eat a certain food, don’t bring it into your home. Successful dieting often starts at the grocery store, not at the dinner table.

In a world overflowing with distraction and temptation, the most powerful spiritual move may be the simplest one: step back, set a boundary, and choose the environment that allows your best self to emerge.