= Solution
Suppose $x\in J$ and put $u=1+yx$. If the <left ideal> $Au$ were proper, it would lie in a <maximal left ideal> $L$. But $yx\in J\subseteq L$, so $u\in L$ would imply $1\in L$. Thus $Au=A$, and $u$ has a left inverse $v$ with $vu=1$.
A left inverse alone is insufficient in a general operator algebra. Here $v=1-vyx$ differs from the identity by an element of $J$. The same argument supplies a left inverse $w$ of $v$. Then $w=w(vu)=(wv)u=u$, hence $uv=wv=1$. So $u$ is genuinely invertible.
Conversely, if $x\notin J$, part (i) gives a maximal left ideal $L$ with $x\notin L$. Maximality implies $L+Ax=A$, so $1=l+ax$ for some $l\in L,a\in A$. Therefore $1-ax=l\in L$ cannot be invertible, since a proper left ideal contains no invertible element. Taking $y=-a$ disproves the required universal invertibility. We have proved the <unit criterion for the Jacobson radical> in the requested form:
$$
\boxed{x\in J\iff 1+yx\text{ is invertible for every }y\in A.}
$$
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