Shalom and thank you for your question!
If I understand correctly, you ask if it is true that each Jewish person is equipped with an evil inclination in addition to the G-dly soul that G-d breathed in to us from the moment that Adam was created.
Yes it is true. Let me redefine it it slightly in light of Chassidic teaching, the inner or esoteric part of the Torah.
We possess a G-dly soul and an ‘animal soul’. The G-dly soul is what gives life to the body, distinguishing it from a lump of clay. The G-dly soul is also in charge of our spiritual goals and moral compass. It is like a flame constantly striving upwards to it’s source, away from complacency and closer to doing G-d’s will and being refined and G-dly. The animal soul is the basic ‘software ‘ for human functioning. It is the part of us that naturally wants to eat, drink, be merry, develop our talents, and much more. All this so far is not evil. But within the animal soul lurks the evil inclination. This is the one who will cool our enthusiasm for keeping G-d’s commandments faithfully. You pay your synagogue dues and fast on Yom Kippur, it might tell one person, that’s really great- you don’t have to be so fanatic as to keep Shabbat…
To a person who leads a completely religious lifestyle the evil inclination may persuade him/her that doing some heinous sin in secret is ok. G-d forbid. Or the evil inclination may take a person who learns alot of Torah and/or does alot of kind deeds and say – you know what, you’ve done so much – let up for a while. (I’m not referring to a genuinely needed rest…)
So why would G-d do this to us, why would He program us in a manner that seems to be self – defeating? After all, the Talmud teaches us that G-d created (and Chassidic teaching explains that G-d constantly recreates the world and all that is in it,) the world in order to have a dwelling place in it. A dwelling place for G-d means a place where the Divine will is carried out. So why indeed create the system with an inherent bug?
The reason is free choice. If we are programmed to do everything in accordance with G-d’s desire, nothing has really been accomplished.
If a person is used to keeping G-d’s commandments, it is very good, but there’s still something lacking. In a diet you can have a plateau… a stage where you are not putting on weight but not losing.
Spirituality it is different. If you are not putting conscious effort in to choosing to do the spiritually correct thing for your life’s mission, you will inevitably experience some sort of spiritual decline.
If you are used to keeping Shabbat and don’t think about it, don’t learn a little more about it and refresh and renew spiritual goals, keeping a connection for example with like-minded people, you are likely at some point to have to face a decision which may compromise your Shabbat observance, a test. You may suddenly be offered an invitation to attend an important event on Shabbat and have to deal with that. If you have been renewing, as i mentioned above, you are more likely to muster the strength to make the correct decision. This would then be the correct use of free choice- and as such a fulfillment of God’s desire for a dwelling place in the physical world. All this applies to moral issues in relationships as well. They are no less part of the Torah.
So what about all the mistakes we’ve made?
They are also part of the Divine plan, as it says in Proverbs, “seven times shall the righteous fall and rise…”
Regular people fall and rise constantly, and that struggle IS our purpose. It actually gives G-d pleasure, especially of course when we succeed in making the right choices.
So, up till the time we make a mistake, we have free choice. From the moment we made a decision, it is Divine Providence.
Our job then is to acknowledge the mistake, regret it and resolve to do better next time.
This is particularly appropriate for the time of the year we are in. May you and everyone be inscribed for a good and sweet New Year. A year where we make the effort to redeem ourselves from falling into complacency… and a year that G-d will bless us with success in our physical and spiritual endeavors, paving the way for the true and Final Redemption, in good health and happiness!
