thank you BB and EBD for sharing those gevaldige divrei torah

Although we may all aspire to 'climb to the top', every step along the way is a "מדריגה" in itself.        [get it 12 מדריגות]

            דבר בשם אומרו I heard this one from ידיד נפשי ShmirasEinayim

Rabbi Chaim Freidlander zatzal wrote a great aitza for guarding our eyes. Look in Sifsei Chaim on Moados Chelek Alef in the section Derech Shel Aliya.

He says that if we give ourselves the choice of either enjoying the pleasure of looking at women or not giving ourselves the pleasure, we are in for a struggle. Enjoy or don't enjoy. A plate of ice cream or an empty plate. What we have to do is realize the positive benefits of guarding our eyes, the tremendous zechus and kedusha that we can gain from shmiras eynayim. Now we have a choice between one pleasure and another pleasure, between a plate of delicious treife ice cream which will eventually make us sick or a geshmake seudas Shabbos with our families. That is a much easier choice to make.

You can now go and buy the sefer or follow this thread where I intend to post highlights from the sefer every few days if I see people are reading it.

thank you BB, looking forward to hearing more

The sefer brings from Vayikra Rabba 24:6. The posuk quotes the Shunamis saying that Elisha was a קדוש. The medrash says that was because she noticed that he did not look at her. The gemorah in Berachos gives other reasons, including the fact that he never had a wet dream, but we see that the medrash holds that by not looking at a woman one is fit to be called a קדוש by the posuk.

The Gemora in Shabbos 118b says that Rabbi Yehuda Hanossi was called Rabeinu Hakadosh because he never looked at his bris milah, which the Maharal says is kedushas hanefesh, and he never put his hands lower than his belt, which the Maharal says is kedushas haguf. Rabbi Menachem ben Simai is called "Benan shel Kedoshim" because he never looked at the shape of a coin.


Today I will try to become worthy of the title "kadosh" by guarding my eyes and my hands.

thanks for sharing these divrei torah

The Talmud Yerushalmi (Brochos1:5) quotes Hashem, "If you give me your heart and your eyes then I know you are mine."  (If you do not belong to Hashem, you are not hefker, you belong to the sitra achara.)


Do we want to belong to Hashem and be a soldier in his army? Guard you eyes from women and your heart from lust.


Isn't that better than looking and enjoying the view of the woman and not belonging to Hashem?

The Sefer והאר עינינו brings from Rabbeinu Yona in Igeres Hateshuva that someone who does not look at women is zoche, midda keneged midda, to see the glory of the Shechina in the future. The source is Chazal in Masechta Derech Eretz and the Medrash Rabba at the end of Parshas Acharei Mos. Seeing the Shechina in the future will be much more fulfilling than looking at the woman now. And someone who does not guard his eyes will not see the Shechina (Reishis Chochma Shaar Hakedusha 11:45).

In the same vein:

When we ask Hashem: V'sechzena eineinu etc., we are including a tefila for help in Guarding Our Eyes, because unguarded eyes can surely not see Hashem!

Me3 wrote on 25 Feb 2011 15:32:

i always understood this to be reb elimelech's point, to die for hashem while still living

The seforim bring down that the floor of the sukka, and indeed the mikva, is alef, dalet, nun, yud; the Shechina.
Reshis Chochma Shaar Hakedusha perek 8 is all about shemiras einayim. He says the eyes contain yod, kei, vov, kei and the ground is always alef, dalet, nun, yud. So whenever we look at the ground we are being meyached the 2 shaimos which is a yichud Kudshe Brich Hu (yod, kei, vov, kei) and the Shechina.


So get your eyes down to the floor whenever women are around, especially pretty guests in your sukka.

just the thought of being meyached these two awesome sheimos make me feel holy already!
thanx

The Sefer והאר עינינו brings a very big chizuk from the sefer Taharas Hakodesh (Shemiras Einayim chapter 4). Chazal say in Masechta Derech Eretz and the Medrash Rabba at the end of Parshas Acharei Mos “כל הרואה דבר ערוה ואינו זן את עיניו ממנה, זוכה ומקבל פני השכינה" He points out that  זוכה ומקבל is present tense, which teaches us that whenever we see a woman who we are attracted to and we look away, our soul sees the Shechina at that moment even though we do not realize it while we are still alive.
This is a wonderful time to say a prayer which will go straight to the Shechina. One prayer we can say is from SA, “God, please help me to find in You what I would like to find in that woman”. Alternatively, one could write his own prayer. Here is one that I wrote myself from pesukim in Tehillim:


1)קמ"ה ט : "טוב יהוה לכל, ורחמיו על כל מעשיו".
2)נ"א י"ב : "לב טהור ברא לי אלוהים, ורוח נכון חדש בקירבי".
3)קי"ט ל"ו : "הט ליבי אל עדותיך, ואל אל בצע" .
4)קי"ט ל"ז  :"העבר עיני מראות שוא, בדרכך חיני".
5)קי"ט י"ח  :"גל עיני,ואביטה נפלאות מתורתך".
6)פ"ו י"ג : "כי חסדך גדול עלי,והצלת נפשי משאול תחתיה".


7)מ"ב ג  :"צמאה נפשי לאלוהים לאל חי,מתי אבוא ואראה פני אלוהים".


1) Is praise, and 6) is thanksgiving, which is how Chazal tell us to start and end prayers. To say 3) correctly, you will need to add vowels. The Bais Yosef in Siman 1 explains the order of 3) and 4): We first ask Hashem to remove the things we have already seen from our minds, and then we ask Hashem to guard us in the future.
I added 7) for when I say it at the end of אלקי, נצור  right before עשה למען שמך  . One of the punishments of zera levatola is not to be מקבל פני השכינה and the Tur in Siman 122 says the reward for saying those four עשה למען prayers is to be מקבל פני השכינה, so I say this posuk to help.

Blind Beggar wrote on 16 Oct 2011 18:24:

NICE....