The Secret of the Blind Beggar: The Spiritual Power of Guarding the Eyes

Lesson No. 65 | (Continued for about a minute from No. 64) Wednesday morning, Parashas Eikev, 15th of Av 5756 - at the Yeshiva

An in-depth article explaining the secret of the blind beggar from the Seven Beggars, and the immense impact of guarding one's eyes. The Rav explains how sight directly affects shalom bayis (marital harmony), and how closing one's eyes rectifies the shattering of the vessels and prevents destruction in the world.

In order for the lights of the world of Atzilus (the World of Emanation) to illuminate a person, he must create vessels for them. These vessels are formed through Torah study and guarding the eyes. Reb Noson of Breslov says that the most difficult test is guarding the eyes, and this is the secret of the first beggar of the Seven Beggars—the blind beggar.

The first beggar was completely blind, and the very first step in serving Hashem is to be blind and not look at the world. At the funeral of Rebbe Nachman, Reb Noson said that Rebbe Nachman's eyes never saw this world. A person can be born, and from the day he is born, never look at the world at all.

The Sight That Creates Angels or Destructive Forces

What is there to see here? The world is like a sewage canal. If you saw a bursting sewage pipe, would you stand there watching and counting the drops? You would run for your life. This is exactly how one must treat streets filled with immodesty—close your eyes, plug your nose, and run away. Passing through four amos (cubits) of impurity infects a person with an infinite number of kelipos (impure spiritual husks).

A person might not even know that such a spiritual work as guarding the eyes exists, yet that is where all the tests lie. When a husband elevates himself, his wife elevates herself as well. But if a husband tells his wife to dress modestly while he walks around with his eyes wide open, how can she walk modestly? Every forbidden sight creates a kelipah (impure husk), creating a demon that jumps onto the wife. These kelipos speak to her and prevent her from dressing modestly.

In contrast, if the husband would close his eyes, all the demons would die immediately. Instead, he would create holy angels that would go to his wife and bestow holiness upon her. A woman was created to cover herself from head to toe, and that is how Hashem created her. The one who destroys and corrupts her is the husband himself with his forbidden sights.

"A Woman of Valor is the Crown of Her Husband"

The wife is merely a crown, like the crown of her husband. The wife is like the husband's crown; the moment he becomes holy, the crown will also be holy. There is no need to try to influence her or talk to her; everything depends solely on the holiness of the husband's eyes.

The Shattering of the Vessels and the Rectification of the Lights

A person must know that his entire arrival into this world is for one thing only—guarding the eyes. The moment he guards his eyes, he will begin to ascend from level to level, from Zeir Anpin (the Small Face) all the way to Adam Kadmon (Primordial Man).

When Hashem created Adam Kadmon, the lights began to emerge. The light of A"B illuminated the forehead, and the light of Sa"G illuminated the entire body. When the lights connected, the light of Ba"N began to emerge from the eyes. This light descended in order until it reached opposite the navel, and there it began to burst outward. That is where the shattering of the vessels began.

Therefore, the beard reaches down to the navel, because in the beard there is no shattering. From the navel downwards, the shattering begins, and that is where all the lusts, wars, and tests are located. The tikkun (rectification) for all of this begins when a person guards his eyes.

Creating Vessels for the Infinite Lights

Every time we close our eyes, we return the light to its root and rectify all the shattered lights. All the lights that split apart and cause destruction in the world are lights without vessels. A light without a vessel is like electricity that burns the world; it turns into "luminaries of fire" instead of "luminaries of light."

"For the light of the eyes is revealed from the navel and below" (Etz Chaim, Shaar HaNekudim)

To rectify this, there is no excuse to open one's eyes. Even at a crosswalk, which concentrates all the kelipos in the world and becomes a drainage pit of impurity, a person can stand, close his eyes, hold a book of Tehillim (Psalms) or The Tikkun HaKlali, and see nothing at all.

When we guard our eyes, we create vessels for these lights that are scattered throughout the space of the world. These lights, when they are without vessels, are the ones that create the weapons of destruction and nuclear missiles in the world. But if we create vessels for them by closing our eyes, the lights will return to their root, and then the prophecy will be fulfilled: "And they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore."

Part 2 of 5 — Lesson No. 65

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