The Depth of Preparation for Matan Torah: The Secret of Guarding the Eyes and the Sanctity of the Home
Lesson No. 195 | Wednesday, Parashat Nasso, the eve of the 5th of Sivan 5759 - A lesson at the 'Meshivat Nefesh' Yeshiva
The central condition for receiving the Torah and meriting a spiritual revelation on the holiday of Shavuot is the purity of the eyes and the sanctity of the Jewish home. Rabbi Berland shlit"a explains how blemishes of sight create screens that prevent a person from seeing the Divine light, and how absolute loyalty to one's wife—who represents the aspect of the Shechinah (Divine Presence)—opens the gates of Heaven.
Rebbe Nachman teaches that every forbidden sight is an aspect of tzaraas (spiritual leprosy), which burns the mind, the heart, and all of a person's 248 limbs and 365 sinews. The Midrash Rabbah on Parashat Nasso asks why the portion of the metzora (leper) is juxtaposed with the verses discussing the sotah (suspected adulteress). The answer is that first and foremost, the person himself is afflicted with spiritual leprosy. Every opening of the eyes and looking at a strange woman is a betrayal of his wife. Only after a person is filled with deceit and cunning does he reach the state of a sotah. A man must know that besides his wife, he does not know any other woman in the world.
The First Condition for Receiving the Torah
The first condition for receiving the Torah is separating oneself from forbidden sights. Before the Giving of the Torah, the Children of Israel were told: "Be ready for three days; do not draw near to a woman." The intention here is a strange woman—a woman who is not yours, whose very existence you are forbidden to acknowledge. This is the condition to break free from illusions and receive the Torah.
Regarding this, Rebbe Nachman says: "And I have commanded the young men (ne'arim) not to touch you." The 'young men' refer to the eyes, and a person is required to shut them hermetically, to restrict his vision, and not to look at anything spiritually blemished in the street. After the sin of the Tree of Knowledge, the holiest thing—bringing souls down into the world—was turned by the Sitra Achra (the Other Side, or forces of impurity) into the most impure thing, in order to defile all of humanity.
The moment a person has screens created by blemishes of the covenant, he cannot hear the Ten Commandments or see the voices and the lightning. After all, each and every person can see the voices of the Giving of the Torah! Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev said that he would not go to the mikvah until he saw the Holy Chariot. Every person can see the Chariot—the faces of the lion, ox, eagle, and man. Why does a person degrade himself to the lowest depths of the abyss instead of seeing the Chariot? He only needs to remove the screens caused by blemishes of the eyes.
The Sin That Delays Teshuvah
Many times a person walks in the street, stumbles in forbidden sights, and says to himself: "What sin have I really committed? Who saw me?" The Rambam writes in Sefer HaMadda that even if a person does teshuvah (repentance) for all the sins in the world and sheds oceans of tears, if he makes light of guarding his eyes and thinks, "What did I do wrong?", his teshuvah is delayed. Looking with the eyes is the greatest sin, because there is absolutely no justifiable reason for it. A hungry person eats a little more, a tired person sleeps a little more, but what reason do you have to look?
The Baal Shem Tov explains the verse, "These seven are the eyes of Hashem, which range through the whole earth," saying that a person who hides in the innermost chambers and thinks no one sees him suddenly feels the need to look to the right and to the left. Why? Because at that very moment, a battalion of angels arrived to stop him from committing the sin! The eyes of Hashem range after him everywhere.
The Gemara in Tractate Avodah Zarah says that the Angel of Death is entirely full of eyes. Every forbidden sight that a person stumbles in builds another eye and another part of his own Angel of Death. A person builds with his own hands the Angel of Death that brings destruction to his home, Heaven forbid.
The Wife is the Holy Shechinah
When you stumble in a forbidden sight, you sin against your precious wife who is devoted to you day and night, and you cause a separation between the Holy One, Blessed be He, and the Shechinah (Divine Presence). Rebbe Nachman teaches that the wife is the aspect of the holy Shechinah. A man must respect her and listen to her voice, in the aspect of, "Whatever Sarah tells you, listen to her voice." Everything the wife says is the holy of holies.
In every generation, there are righteous women upon whom the world stands. Regarding Devorah the Prophetess, it is said she was a "woman of flames" (Eshet Lapidot), and the commentators explain that torches of fire were seen above her tent, exactly like at the Giving of the Torah. The Geulah (Redemption) from Egypt came in the merit of the righteous women, just as Miriam the Prophetess rebuked her father Amram not to despair and not to divorce his wife because of Pharaoh's decrees. The women were the ones who held onto their emunah (faith), went out to the fields, gave birth to children with self-sacrifice, and merited to see open miracles.
Seeing Hashem Face to Face
We are standing just a few hours before the holiday of Shavuot. A person can arrive at the Giving of the Torah neglected and in despair, or he can merit to see Hashem in the aspect of, "Face to face Hashem spoke with you." To merit this, he must close his eyes, be completely attached to his wife in the aspect of "and they shall become one flesh," and not know any other woman in the world.
In this way, all the screens and spiritual afflictions of the soul will fall away. Rebbe Nachman writes in Likutey Moharan that in order to be saved from the evil inclination, which burns like a billion bonfires, a person sometimes literally needs to press his fingers tightly into his eyes, shut them firmly, and walk in the streets with absolute guarding of his sight. Only in this way does one merit to receive a new Torah and an immense spiritual revelation that has never existed before.
Part 1 of 4 — Lesson No. 195