Steps You Can Take To GUARD YOUR EYES

0:14No, I mean, there are times, yeah, right, it's a good question. So, if a woman is in front of you, not even in the corner of your eye, you know, that happens. But sometimes the woman right in front of you, you're going to the Department of Motor Vehicles. You need to get a new license. The woman that is the attendant over there just came to work with underwear. What are you going to do? Not get a license? Or maybe you're going to bring the jacket from the car. You say, "Here lady, listen, I want to get a license, but I want to give you a jacket as a present." What are you going to do? Corner of your eye, you know, that happens. But sometimes the woman right in front of you, you're going to the Department of Motor Vehicles. You need to get a new license. The woman that is the attendant over there just came to work in underwear. What are you going to do? Not get a license? Or maybe you're going to bring the jacket from the car. You say, "Here lady, listen, I want to get a license, but I want to give you a jacket as a present." What are you going to do? obviously you have to get your license or you go to a supermarket, you want to get some challot for, uh, for a thing, but instead of the challot, you get Hashem. Right, so what do you do? There are people that exist in the world, Jews and non-Jews. There's nothing you can do about that, they exist in the world.

1:27They are going to cross your path, even if you're the most religious person on the planet. Even if you're Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, most of you are going to stay in a cave for 13 years. That's it. After that, HaKadosh Baruch Hu is going to kick you out. At some point, you're going to encounter people. What do you do? When you encounter those people, you are not allowed to make fun of them. You are not allowed to say, "How are you dressed like this?" You know why? Because by doing that, you're going to inherit hatred. Olam HaBa, inherit your Gan Eden. To go make fun of everyone in the middle of the street like that, you're not going to get it. There's not a mitzvah like this. Not a mitzvah like this, to go make fun of people. You want to help somebody, you want to rebuke them, tell them something in an appropriate way, at an appropriate time, and you know you have the appropriate skills, it's a different story. But to go start making fun of people and say, ah, filth, gross, ugly, all these things, just go to the zoo. Over there, it'll work out for you. People are people. You have to be cordial with people. It doesn't mean you have to be friends with them. It doesn't mean you have to hug every single person. But you have to be cordial. You have to be a civilized human being. A woman who is modest or immodest approaches you, you have to treat them exactly the same way. How is it? First, let's say they're a cashier or something like that. You say, hello, and then after that, you look down.

2:51hello, you know, know that they exist, because obviously you have to talk to them. After that, you look away, you look down, you look up, you look somewhere. Down is the best way. Yes, I need my license, and here it is. And also, yeah, and this is my ID, and this is money, and this is the credit card, and this is a CD by Rabbi Reuven. And I mean, it's a license, and this is, and that's how you talk, and that's how you talk. Because you cannot simply say, "Hey, listen, lady, since you don't have any clothes on, I can't talk to you, but here's my license." No, you can't do that. You have to be cordial and respectful, which, by the way, only this generation doesn't know how to do. Until recent history, that's how all people talked. Jews and non-Jews. Yes, ma'am. Yes, ma'am. What do you mean? But you're not even Jewish. Yeah, but that's how we talk. That's how you talk if you're a civilized human being. You don't look at somebody else's wife. You don't need to be Jewish to know this. Only this generation doesn't know this. Your grandparents will call each other ma'am, lady, appropriate name, not hey. "Hey" is to a horse.

4:07Yes, ma'am. Here you go, ma'am. Thank you, ma'am. Don't look at them. You go to some old-fashioned people. You go to some old-fashioned people, they're never going to look at your wife. Never. That's one of the things, by the way, you see. Some Middle Eastern people, Arabs, different types of people, they're never going to look at your wife. They may have crazy stuff in their head. They may do crazy stuff otherwise. But this they have. They don't look at each other's wives. Why? That's just society. That's how it's supposed to be. So you act like your ancestors act, even if they weren't religious. Hello? And you look down the whole time. Look down the whole time. That's it. That's how you do it. Now, that means, that means what? That the first look is not a sin. To see someone that exists in the world and you're encountering and approaching them is not a sin. What's a sin? If you continue staring at them. If by the time you left, you understand the measurements of different body parts, and you know how many earrings she has in her right ear versus the left ear, and the shade of lipstick she wears, you already know that's a problem. You have a serious problem. You looked too long. All you need to know is that a person is in front of you, and it's not your wife, that's it. Thank you, ma'am. Thank you, ma'am. Thank you... Let's say finished. Finished. Don't follow your heart, don't follow your eyes.

5:33Why? Because although your eyes are the ones that begin the crime, how come the Torah says the heart first? How come it says the heart first? In reality, the crime starts with your eyes, right? You look at her, you have stuff in your heart, right? The Gemara says no. Chazal say no. only reason why you looked at her is because those things were already in your heart. You already had desires; you were just looking for an opportunity. You were looking for an opportunity, and you got it. Chazal say: "HaShem brings The merit to the meritorious and the obligation to the obligated. The only reason you're constantly being presented with immodest, immoral people that want to sin with you is because that's what you want to do, pooky. That's what you want to do. You want to sin. So HaKadosh Baruch Hu says, go sin. The only reason why the guy came to you for tzedakah is because HaKadosh Baruch Hu says, this guy likes to give tzedakah, so I'm going to send him someone that needs tzedakah.

6:48I'm going to say I'm somebody who wants to give tzedakah. And that's the reality. So you have to know, if you become a tzaddik, the tests will become less frequent. They'll exist. Even Yosef HaTzaddik had a test. But less frequent, probably bigger, but nonetheless less frequent. If you're getting a test every two seconds, that's because you're causing it yourself. Yetzer Hara is on vacation already. You're doing it yourself. You're on autopilot. So you have to overcome that. How do you overcome it? By first preparing yesterday that Yetzer Hara is going to come. I have to go to the Department of Motor Vehicles. I already have to prepare myself how to talk to this lady, how to talk to this man, how to talk to, it doesn't matter who she is. She could be Fatima from the Middle East who only shows her eyes. I'm still not going to look at her. Why? She's somebody else's wife. it's definitely not mine. I'm going to look down: "Yes, ma'am. No, ma'am." In Hebrew, I can give it in Japanese. So that's what you do. Last question for the night? No, actually, we have a little time.

8:51"Yes, ma'am. No, ma'am." In Hebrew, I can give it in Japanese. So that's what you do. Last question for the night? No, actually, we have a little time.