I posted this before and wanted to share it with you again...now that the summer is here, it is a good reminder to all of us.
After my last post, I wanted to give some chizuk to all of you on how to keep yourself pure and guard your eyes especially during the summertime.
People
think only men have to watch their eyes and that women do not have to
be so careful. But I want you to know that it is not true. One of the sheish mitzvos temidiyos,
the six constant mitzvos (that can be done at any moment of the day and
one receives reward for doing it) is in this week's parsha, Parshas
Shelach. It says, v'lo sasuru acharei levavchem v'acharei eineichem,
you should not look after images or things that are not appropriate for
you - this applies to women just as much as it applies to men!
I once heard an incredible thought on this topic from R' Zecharia Wallerstein.
He
spoke about how the guests who came to Avraham Avinu's house washed
their feet before entering his home because there was sand in their feet
and they worshiped the sand. Since he was so careful not to let a trace
of avodah zara, idol worship, into his home, he had them wash their feet before letting them in to his house.
So the question is, how far can a person go? If these people worshiped the sun, would he have closed all the shutters? It's only sand!
But Avraham was showing that you can never be too careful. He took such great care in making sure not to let a speck of avodah zara, in this case the sand, into his home - even though it was so tiny.
And
we see what an effect this had on his son because later on, Yitzchok
became blind from the sacrifices of his son Eisav's wives, sacrifices of
idol worship. Why did he become blind from this? Because his neshama was so sensitive to even the tiniest crumb of avodah zara that he couldn't handle the tumah,
the impurity, that came from the smoke of the sacrifices. This is what
caused him to become blind! It did not affect his wife, Rivka because
she didn't grow up in a home where even a little piece of sand was not
allowed into the house by those who worshiped it!
There
is only one body part that is so sensitive to something as small as a
grain of sand. If you had sand between your fingers or toes, it would
not irritate you. However, if a grain of sand somehow got into your eye,
it would bother you to no end. You would be busy trying to get it out,
rolling your eye in all directions, rinsing it with water, and doing
anything possible to get it out of your eye.
But what's the big deal??? It's ONLY a grain of sand!!
It IS a big deal because the eyes are extremely sensitive.
This
shows you just how sensitive your eyes must be spiritually and each
person must guard them so carefully. You must not allow even the
smallest grain of sand into your eyes! We learn from Avraham how
important it is to be careful with what you let into your eyes.
There's
a famous saying, "the eyes are the windows to the soul" - whatever you
let your eyes see will have an everlasting impact on your neshama. So guard your eyes carefully, especially in these summer months!
When
you walk outside and see women who are less dressed than dressed, turn
your eyes the other way! Look in the opposite direction!
When
you are online and see a link, picture or video clip that looks
tempting, quickly close the tab or window you are open to. Don't let
yourself stumble! Be strong! Resist the temptation and keep those grains
of sand out of your eyes so that you don't irritate them with things
you shouldn't be seeing!!
I know
it's hard. It's hard for me too. But think about how irritating it would
be if you had a piece of sand, one tiny grain, stuck in your eye. Think
about how quickly you'd run to the sink to flush your eye with water.
May you have much hatzlacha keeping your eyes pure!
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Im find it hard the whole year (meanwhile?) the advert, the language, nespaper/postacrd and the like, its everywhere, the whole year. ears at lat, somehow can shurt thanks G-d for mp3 players with uplifting music etc, eyes...sometimes I barely know where to look, feeling ashamed, 2 good options, the floor or upwards (and pray) but not when cycling ;)
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