Parashas Tazria - Blemishes of the Soul and the Battle to Guard the Eyes

Rebbe Nachman says: "...Have I not commanded the young men (ne'arim) not to touch you... (Ruth 2:9). The eyes are called 'young men' because they are the servants of the intellect. 'Not to touch you' (l'vilti nog'ech) refers to the concept of the blemishes of the soul (nig'ei hanefesh). For when a person's sight is scattered and he looks at everything in front of him—meaning he does not shut and close his eyes from the sights of this world—this is the aspect of the blemishes of the soul." (Likutey Moharan, Torah 65)

The Rebbe says that "not to touch you" refers to the blemishes of the soul! Every forbidden sight burns the mind, burns the heart, and burns all 248 limbs and 365 sinews. Every forbidden sight is tzaraas (spiritual leprosy)! Every forbidden look brings more tzaraas upon the soul, more tzaraas, and even more tzaraas.

The Slonimer Rebbe says: "In whom the blemish is" (Leviticus 13:44) — the blemish is within you! The wounds are inside the soul! Inside the soul, there are wounds! The entire soul becomes afflicted with tzaraas, entirely covered in wounds, entirely rotting from the blemishes of the eyes! The moment a person stumbles in guarding his eyes and does not immediately do teshuvah (repentance) and express regret, he creates more barriers, more layers of tzaraas, and more blemishes upon the soul. "In whom the blemish is" — it becomes another blemish and yet another blemish.

A person must remove these blemishes of the soul, this tzaraas, by stopping forbidden sights and the blemishes of the eyes. "And I have commanded the young men not to touch you" — the Rebbe says the "young men" are the eyes! A person must close his eyes hermetically and realize that this is the ultimate battle! The entire war is about guarding the eyes.

The Root of the Test: The Shattering of the Vessels in the Eyes

Reb Noson explains in Hilchos Tefillin that the "Shattering of the Vessels" (the primordial cosmic collapse that created spiritual imperfection) began with the eyes. The primary shattering was in the eyes; that is where the breakage occurred! Therefore, a person's entire test in life is solely in the eyes. That is his test, that is his spiritual work, that is where all his battles lie—this is exactly what he came into the world to rectify.

"Better is the Sight of the Eyes than the Wandering of the Soul"

The sight of the eyes, a blemish of the eyes, is even more severe than an actual physical sin! A person might commit a physical sin once in a lifetime, but with the eyes, a person can blemish endlessly! The sight of the eyes can happen every single second, at every single moment.

The Body of Light and the Body of the Snake

Hashem created Adam HaRishon (the First Man) with a body made of light ("garments of light"). He illuminated the world from one end to the other; the heel of Adam HaRishon would outshine the sun. He had no Yetzer Hara (evil inclination)! The Yetzer Hara was only created within him after the sin.

After Adam HaRishon sinned and his original body—the garments of light—was taken from him, he needed a new garment, a new body. The primordial snake became impregnated within him, and he received a body derived from the snake. Therefore, all of our bodies are bodies of the snake! This is not the body with which Adam HaRishon was originally created! This current body is not our true body; our entire body, all of our physical senses, are influenced by impure forces (shedim)! We received our entire physical body from the snake.

When a person looks and blemishes his eyes, he is actually seeing snakes! Because everyone possesses this body of the snake! Whether men or women, until the coming of Mashiach ben David, and even until the Resurrection of the Dead, it will be forbidden to gaze improperly, because everyone has a Yetzer Hara and a body derived from the snake. Every time there is an improper gaze between people, there is a joining and connection of two snakes! There is a snake within the man and a snake within the woman—a male snake and a female snake. When they join together through an improper look, chaos (andralamusia) is brought into the world; destruction comes to the world.

The Secret of Chaos and the Destruction of the World

The Megaleh Amukos asks: What is the meaning of the word "andralamusia" (chaos)? "Andler" in Russian means male, and "musia" means female—Andler and Musia. When there are blemishes of the eyes, when there is an improper connection between "andler" (male) and "musia" (female), it creates "andralamusia" in the world. It causes killing, destruction, and devastation across the entire world.

A person opened his eyes improperly—a bus exploded! He opened his eyes—a car accident happened. With every improper opening of the eyes, every forbidden look, he creates chaos in the world. He connects the male snake with the female snake; he connects the snake within him, the impure force (Samael) within him, with the impure force (Lilith) within her, with the snake within her. Instantly, this causes killing and destruction in the world.

From every forbidden look, chaos is unleashed upon the world. If you looked... you didn't actually see anything real, you saw snakes! The senses through which you looked are not true senses at all; they are impure forces! These physical senses are impure forces impregnated within you.

A Lifelong Mission: The Struggle Until a Hundred and Twenty

One must know that guarding the eyes is a lifelong struggle that lasts until a hundred and twenty years. It is spiritual work at age seventy, at age eighty, at age a hundred, and at age a hundred and twenty. As long as a person is inside this physical body and has not yet sanctified it, and has not yet purified it from the filth of the primordial snake, he must shed oceans of tears to avoid seeing forbidden sights.

A person might ask: Why do I need to close my eyes all day long? Why fight with my eyes all day? Why battle them constantly? What is this for? What, can't I just be a normal person like everyone else? People walk with their eyes wide open in the streets, looking right and left, forward and backward, up and down, to all six directions of the heavens! Why do I have to be the exception? Why is the entire test focused on the eyes?

To this, Reb Noson answers: Because the primary Shattering of the Vessels occurred in the eyes, that is precisely where the primary test lies.

The Condition for Teshuvah: A Resolute Decision

The Rambam says in Hilchos Teshuvah: If a person does not make a firm decision to guard his eyes, his teshuvah (repentance) is ineffective! Even if he repents for every sin in the world, even if he sheds oceans of tears over all the transgressions he has committed, if he is dismissive about guarding his eyes, it holds back his entire teshuvah.

The Rambam says: Improper sight of the eyes is a massive iniquity; it is the greatest iniquity of all! Because it is a sin for which there is absolutely no excuse! If a person is hungry, he might eat a little more than is permitted. If a person is tired, he might sleep a little more than is permitted. But the sight of the eyes! What possible reason do you have to look? How can you open your eyes? How can you look?

If a person takes this lightly and says, "What did I do wrong? How did I sin? Why are they making such a big deal out of this?", the Rambam says this attitude prevents his teshuvah! However, if he does teshuvah immediately and regrets his actions, then everything is erased.

If a person decides that he is not going to guard his eyes, the Rebbe will not help him! The Rebbe helps someone who makes the decision to guard his eyes! Can a person violate the negative commandment of "Do not stray after your heart and after your eyes" a hundred thousand times a day and then say, "I have a great Rebbe!"? There is no such thing!

The Rebbe might help him by giving him the mindset to guard his eyes. He might send him a friend who will teach him about guarding the eyes, or show him a teaching of the Rambam that discusses guarding the eyes, or show him a passage in Likutey Halachos that speaks about guarding the eyes—that is how the Rebbe will help him! But before any of that, the person himself must decide to guard his eyes with all his strength! He must nullify the Yetzer Hara with all his might!

Then Rebbe Nachman says: If there is still some remnant of the struggle that you could not overcome, Heaven forbid, I am willing to help you with that remnant. But I will not do all the work for you—what, am I your servant?