Parshat Matot - The War with Midian - by the Gaon and Tzaddik Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a (may he live long and good days)

Which people did Moshe choose to go out to war?

"When Moshe sent the People of Israel to the war with Midian, he chose the most righteous (tzaddikim), the holiest people, as it is written 'And arm from among you men for the army' (Rashi: righteous men), people who were at the Giving of the Torah and saw Hashem (God) face to face; they took people who never opened their eyes [to forbidden sights] in their lives."

They went out to war with soot to guard their eyes

"And when they went out to war and had to enter the houses of the Midianites, they were terribly afraid; they feared they would see something forbidden, for they had to take captives, men and women. Therefore, they did not suffice with guarding their eyes; each one took boxes of soot with him, and when they entered the houses, they would pour buckets of soot on them so they wouldn't see anything, as the Midrash Rabbah (Song of Songs 1:3) says: 'At the hour that Israel went to the war of Midian, they would enter in pairs to the woman; one would blacken her face with soot and the other would remove her jewelry.'"

"The whole world knows that the People of Israel are the Holy of Holies; we only need to go with shmiras einayim (guarding the eyes), we need to walk with our eyes to the ground. One must know that the Angel of Death is in the street; the Angel of Death is full of eyes, as the Gemara (Talmud) says in Avodah Zarah: 'The Angel of Death is entirely eyes.' He is a composite of eyes; all his 248 limbs and 365 sinews are made of eyes. Each person, according to the [forbidden] gazes he stumbled in, so will be his Angel of Death."

The Angel of Death is made from blemishes of the eyes

"If one stumbled in a thousand gazes, his Angel of Death will have a thousand eyes; if one stumbled in a million gazes, his Angel of Death will have a million eyes. Every forbidden sight a person stumbles in—if he doesn't cry immediately, if he doesn't do teshuvah (repentance) immediately—then he builds another floor in his Angel of Death."

"Rabbi Eliyahu Lopian says—one goes out from the Yeshiva (Torah academy), goes out the door of the house, and already the Angel of Death is waiting there to make us sin, to burn our brain and heart. Each of us, before he leaves the Beis Medrash (study hall), before he leaves the house, should know that he is now going out to war. Just as in a war, if a person knows they are shooting outside, he doesn't go out; he waits for the shooting to stop, and if there's no choice and he needs to bring food and water, then he goes out and crawls on the floor. And if the bullets are flying over his head, he crawls even more and clings to the floor, and he needs to know how to bend, and how to crawl, and how to twist, so that the bullets don't hit him."

"So too, when a person goes out to the street, he must know that shells are being fired at him, shots are being fired at him; he must devise a plan how not to stumble in any forbidden sight. One doesn't just jump into the street! One must go out with yishuv hadaas (composure/presence of mind). Therefore, every person, before he goes out to the street, before he leaves the house, should stand for a second, wait, and think: 'I am now going out to war.'"

The essence of free will is in the eyes

"Reb Noson says—all of a person's choice (free will) is in shmiras einayim (guarding the eyes). A person says, 'I am religious, I put on Tefillin (phylacteries), I wake up for Vatikin (sunrise prayer), I wake up for Chatzos (the Midnight Lamentation)'—these are all wonderful things, but they are not the essence of the choice. The essence of the choice is in the eyes. The moment a person guards his eyes, he will reach every level in the world; he won't speak lashon hara (evil speech), he won't be meticulous, he won't hate."

"King David says, 'Turn my eyes away from seeing vanity'—Master of the Universe, blind me, take out my eyes, I don't want to see anything in the world. The moment a person guards his eyes, he returns to [the state] before Creation; he merits to know that 'there is none besides Him' (Ein Od Milvado). He merits to know that Hashem is One and His Name is One. When he doesn't see anything here in the world, he nullifies the Creation, he nullifies this world; there is no fear, no creation, no evil, no Nazis, no terrorists—they don't exist, they are nothing!"

One must close all the eyes

"Reb Noson says—even if a person already merits to close his physical eyes, he must know there is more work! To close the eyes of the intellect! Not just closing the physical eyes; he needs to close all types of eyes. One must close eyes of jealousy, eyes of hatred, eyes of honor (prestige), because even if he closes his physical eyes, he can think about honor—he wants honor!"

"Now that he already closes his eyes, he thinks he is a tzaddik (righteous person), and he wants honor for it. The eyes of honor are the worst eyes. Therefore, one must close all the eyes he has, so that he has no gaze at the world at all, to disconnect all his senses from all the vanities of the world, so that he has no interest in any subject in the world, but only senses for Hashem Yisbarach (the Blessed Creator). He must dedicate all his senses to Hashem Yisbarach and believe in His Hashgacha Pratis (Divine Providence)."

One who closes his eyes from physicality, all secrets are revealed to him

"When a person closes his senses, he naturally has no sense for anything except Torah and prayer and to cleave to Hashem Yisbarach. He has no desire for anything physical, no craving for anything but Hashem Yisbarach Himself. Then he will merit to understand all the wonders in the world, all the secrets in the world, as it is written: 'Open my eyes that I may behold wonders from Your Torah.' If a person merits to close all types of eyes, then all the secrets of the Torah are revealed to him, because all the lights and all the secrets are found in the eyes. The secrets of Creation will be revealed to him—how to create heaven and earth, how to override the systems of nature; all the lights and all the secrets will be revealed to him."

"A person doesn't need to travel abroad for parnassah (livelihood); in the Land of Israel there is infinite money, infinite abundance (shefa). From the Land of Israel, the abundance descends to the whole world! One only needs to reach out his hands and bring a vessel to receive the abundance, and the vessel is holiness (kedushah), the vessel is shmiras einayim (guarding the eyes). For the moment a person opens his eye [to forbidden things], he loses the livelihood, he loses the abundance, he becomes a debtor, as the Rebbe [Nachman] says: 'Behold, there is a transgression whose punishment is that he will always be a debtor' (Sichos HaRan 112). The moment the eyes are open, he becomes a massive debtor. If a person begins to guard himself from forbidden sights, he will begin to see such miracles, such wonders, such signs; Hashem will perform miracles and wonders with him."

"For every holy thing, there are ten klipos (husks/forces of impurity) that prevent it. For every holy movement, there are ten klipos. For every effort in guarding the eyes, there are many obstacles. A person closes his eyes and they pop open like a spring! He closes them again and they pop open again like a spring. And the truth is, he should do this a million times a day until one day he merits to guard his eyes. And even if he fell a billion times, he should not despair, because on the billion-and-first time he will rise. One must fight for these things all the time; one must fight for this 24 hours a day. The more a person fights, the reward will be doubled and redoubled. The war is infinite, and the reward will be infinitely more."

Courtesy of 'Tzama Nafshi'