If You Love God You Must Avoid Sin

1:10Because the nature of one's love depends on the nature of one's knowledge, a small amount of knowledge arouses less love, while a greater amount of knowledge arouses greater love. We need to know not only the nice things in the Torah, we need to know the things that are not so nice to hear. And the reason why, rabotai, is because if we know the significance of each one of the mitzvot, not just the reward they will give us—which is impossible for us to understand anyway—but the consequence as well. Violating these mitzvot, we say, "You know what? It's not worth it. It's not worth it to be modest. It's not worth it to even be in a gray area. Modest by some opinions. It's not worth it." So, the chachamim say, "Okay, the skirt has to be six inches below the bottom of the knee." So, she wears a skirt exactly six inches below the knee. Why?

2:15They didn't say it's supposed to be six inches below the knee because that's where you should wear it. So that's the minimum. Why are you playing with this red line? Any woman that has love for Hashem, has Yirat Shamayim, has fear of Hashem, has anything for Hashem, wears a skirt all the way to the ankles. Why, why am I going to play with this line? I mean, tell us, the clothes have to be loose-fitting. Why? So no one sees what's underneath. Leave everything to the imagination. Only a husband needs to know. She wears something that's halfway loose. Why? Halfway loose, but in reality, it is not loose at all. A pencil skirt, fine for who? For the dog. Yeah, it's fine for the dog to wear a pencil skirt. No problem. She wears a pencil skirt. Or she wears a pencil skirt, the yetzer hara, no problem. For a woman, a bat Yisrael, to wear a pencil skirt? Who told you this is allowed? What sefer says this is permissible? Who? Who said this? Oh, but I'm only wearing a sheitel once a year. Why? I'm not even talking about the women that wear it every day, Hashem yerachem.

3:31May Hashem have mercy on them for wanting to look like a sota. Why they want to do it, I don't know. However, I know it's a big desire, and they have rabbis on whom they unfortunately depend and who are undependable. Why take the risk? If you say you love God, express your love. But we're going to finish off with the last section that will provide some insights that might help you lose a little bit of sleep. The reason why is because we need to know this stuff. We need to know the stuff that is going to scare us a little bit because if we don't get scared, we're not going to act. The Prophet Job said in chapter 31, "I made a covenant with my eyes not to gaze on a maiden." And the Prophet Isaiah says, "He shuts his eyes against looking at evil" in chapter 33, verse 15. both referring to a person who doesn't look at a woman even when they're doing simple mundane things. Isaiah was specifically talking about women who were doing laundry in the river. So, when they were doing laundry in the river, they didn't want to get their skirts wet, so they would roll them a little bit—not, chas v'shalom, like people wear mini-skirts today or to the knee—just rolled a little bit where they saw a little bit of their ankle. The Prophet says don't even look at the ankle.

5:01The angel said, "Don't look." The Sefer Chassidim says there's no greater barrier to sexual arousal than closing your own eyes. You see, modesty is over there, down the road. Make a left. Yes, but it's really far. Can't tell you how many times I almost got into a car accident on the highway, simply because of a billboard on the right side. I was doing everything I could to look left or look right, whichever way the distraction wasn't. Why? Because that's what you have to do. But I'm not telling you to get into car accidents. You have to avoid these things; it's dangerous. It's spiritual cancer. You can't look at everything. Sexual temptation is the main test in life. It's sent as a challenge to refine us. For all those people that ask, "Why does Hashem give us such a big desire if we're not supposed to act on it?" It's a challenge to refine us. When you're subjected to this test, it puts you in a type of exile, like in Iggeret HaRamban, chapter 36.

6:22The Rambam in Hilkhot De'ot chapter 6 says that if you have bad neighbors, move to a different neighborhood. If the other neighborhood has bad neighbors, move to a different one. If everywhere has bad neighbors, move to the desert, move to exile. Now, we finally understand what the Rambam actually means. What is he saying? He’s not expecting us all to go move to the desert per se. What is he saying? If everyone in your neighborhood is immodest, close your eyes and turn away. If your community is not aligned with your values, and your surroundings are not conducive to Torah study, you must take action to safeguard your spiritual well-being. Close your eyes to distractions. Why? Because that way, you align yourself with focusing on your purpose. You are in a challenging environment, much like being in the Midbar, the wilderness. While others may be engaged in what is not meaningful to you, it shouldn't affect you. You don't have to be swayed by every influence around you. Close your eyes. Look away. Train yourself. Train yourself to protect yourself. Why? Because if you protect your eyes, you can actually learn Torah like a normal person, immersing yourself in its wisdom without unnecessary distractions. This discipline will enable you to grow spiritually and connect deeply with Hashem's teachings.