Holiness is in the eyes

Vision possesses such lofty importance because the eyes are the windows to the "soul of the soul." A blemish to the sense of vision, when the eyes gaze upon some forbidden image, is grave indeed, as stressed by the verse in the Book of Eichah, "My eye affects my soul because of all the daughters of the city" (Eichah, 3:51).  This means that what a man sees can cause him to lose a portion of his holiness. The instant a man gazes at something improper, immediately a sexual fantasy is triggered in his mind, causing drops of holy seed to be uprooted from their place and to be jettisoned outside where they are lost and captured by the realm of the klipot [shells of impurity]. Here, they are doomed to remain in captivity until the erring man repents with a true atonement by rectifying the Yesod which he damaged. This penitence releases the souls and sparks of holiness from captivity and redeems them.

Through sanctifying his vision, a person brings an additional holiness upon himself - a state of exalted thought - that sanctifies the mind and the eyes from looking at evil images.

In addition to this, a person should strive to reach a higher level in the love of G-d by reciting the "Tikun Yesod Yeshuat Eliahu," after the morning prayers, in a feeling of submission before G-d, that He should grant us immediate salvation, for we are drowning in our troubles, and we lack the strength to save ourselves. [This Tikun or rectification of the sexual covenant consists of 13 Psalms in the following order followed by a confession: Psalms - 69, 55, 22, 129, 27, 125, 13, 124, 89, 85, 72, 28, 29] Just like our ancestors who were trapped at the sea before G-d divided it for them, saving them and defeating their enemies, we must beseech G-d to redeem us now from this harsh exile and rebuild our holy Temple, Amen and Amen.

These are the things we must do now. For if we delay in truly returning to the G-d of Israel, and wallow in the forgetfulness of time, and in false and vain delusions by going after the way of foreign nations, straying arrogantly after the cravings of our hearts, without observing the Torah and its commandments with a true fear of G-d, and without doing the holy tikunim we need in order to return to our sublime transcendental roots, then, G-d forbid, it will be like it was at the time of the destruction of our first two Temples, when we refrained from living our lives according to the Torah and mitzvot. 

This spiritual downfall of old brought an outbreak of immorality in its wake, with senseless in-fighting between Jews, jealousy, hatred, a lack of national unity, a proliferation of lusts, and a stubborn unwillingness to listen to the reprimanding of the Sages, who were held in ridicule and scorn. With this, the fences of modesty were torn down, and the dietary laws of kashrut were violated as the division, jealousy, competition, and senseless hatred between Jews increased to the point where no man trusted the kashrut of his friend.

And how vociferously the holy Prophets cried out in order to turn the people back to the good, but all for naught. No one listened - neither to the Torah, nor to the holy Sages, the Tzaddikim of the generation. Therefore, the Holy One, Blessed be He, didn't listen to them, as is written, "He who shuts his ear to the teaching of Torah, his prayers are considered an abomination."

Just before the destruction of both Temples, there were clans of hooligans, poor in moral character and good deeds, who had the audacity to call themselves prophets or rabbis, as the verse says, "Thy prophets have seen for thee vain and foolish visions; and they have not exposed thy iniquity, to restore thy captivity; but have prophesied for thee burdens of falsehood and deceit" (Eichah, 2:14).

These men, known as "lenient" rabbis, consistently spoke falsehood and deceit, saying that G-d appeared to them in nocturnal visions. They pretended to look after the holy Jewish People with vain and ill-spirited proclamations, saying, "Don't worry, everything will be all right. Even if you are lax in sexual matters, it isn't so bad, you have our permission to walk about the streets of the city in immodest attire, and we are permitting you to assemble, men and women, and youths of both sexes together. Therefore, dear brothers, why are you so worried and troubled? Behold, all of you are the holy children of Avraham, Yitzhak, and Yaacov, and you are leading your daily lives according to our authorized rabbinical supervision. Even if you pollute your eyes with forbidden images, even if you have slipped into immoral sexual practices, there are ways to amend these things, it isn't such a terrible thing, for sure, G-d will forgive you."

But, unfortunately my cherished friends, things did not come to pass according to these prophets of falsehood. The opposite occurred.  Harsh and mighty judgments fell upon us, along with terrible sufferings that we had never known, may G-d have mercy, as it says, "who will fall by the sword, who by famine, who by thirst?" Until it came to the point where holy and compassionate Jewish women cooked their own children, may G-d save us from these atrocities.

In this fashion, both Temples were destroyed, the Second like the First, all because of the sins and wickedness of these same false prophets who constantly led the Jewish People astray with improper and deceitful guidance. All of the machinations of these evildoers came in an hour when the Jewish People were under siege, at a time of utter weakness. This brought about national collapse and destruction until the Jews were cast into exile and forced to endure the grave sufferings that have accompanied our holy nation for nearly two thousand years.

Cherished Jew, stop and think. Have you considered where you are headed? Do you long to cleave to G-d, may He be blessed, by being His beloved, faithful child in our Holy Land? Or would you rather be exiled once more? G-d forbid, may this never come upon us. Behold, my dear son, take heed to these heartfelt words that are filled with the love of G-d, the unique One of the world - you have been warned! Open your eyes!

My dear friend, by reciting "Tikun Yesod Yeshuat Eliahu" in a serious, heartfelt manner after one's morning prayers, a Jew, the pinnacle of creation, restores, little by little, the holiness of the Brit [sexual behavior] that he has desecrated by foolishly chasing after the vanities and illusions of this world. It is important to know that the klipot and the impure spirits that were created and consequently multiplied by the many sins of an erring individual in sexual transgressions and the spilling of seed in vain, they possess holy souls. The moment that the souls were ejected from him, the sparks that are the souls, were immediately seized into captivity and blemished.

These souls are held in ransom by the kingdom of evil in the depths of an exile of sighing and suffering, in the captivity of the Sitra Achra [the realm of evil called the "Other Side"]. The vitality of these klipot comes from the holy souls that were extracted from the wasted semen that was seized. In this manner, their numbers and power are increased multifold each day. They use this power, taken from the man who fell into sexual mistakes, to bring havoc on the world, in a variety of harsh and abnormal tribulations. When these klipot multiply in the world, or in a particular location where licentious is great, they bring about death and plagues and terrible illnesses, may the L-rd save us.

Destruction of Holy Temple

This teaches us that we are guilty for the moral decline, which is highlighted by the permissiveness of our time, and the fact that women and young daughters of Israel dress so immodestly. These are the daughters of our holy Matriarchs. Woe to the eyes that have seen this. What more is there to say? My cherished brother, reflect and think about this - what requests can we make of G-d after our eyes have seen such degrading sights, immodestly dressed women parading so brazenly in the streets of the Land of Israel?  To our chagrin, the fire of immorality has spread to our holy camp, and many families have been ruined, amongst them the guardians of Torah and mitzvot.

Remember my dear brother, we are creatures of flesh - how much sorrow we cause our Father in Heaven by following the lusts of our hearts? He longs to save us from our bitter exile, but He can't because of our sins. Our Father in Heaven sits and weeps profusely over His children and over the suffering that awaits transgressors, as it says, "In the hidden places, My soul weeps." Concurrently, there is a great upheaval in all of the spiritual worlds, and the celestial court cries out with tears and a loud, bitter scream, along with the righteous in Heaven. Oy!

Look, my son, to where we have fallen by not guarding over the modesty of our streets, and by not guarding the holiness of our eyes and our thoughts. Our minds have become numbed, darkening our nefesh, ruach, neshamah, chiyah, yechidah [the five divisions of the soul]. This is a terrible Chillul Hashem [desecration of G-d's name], causing a man to lose the Torah that he has toiled so hard to acquire. This is brought about by gazing at forbidden things, at the base, impure, and shameful parades of immodesty on our streets, and by the absence of fear of the Living G-d.

This is what causes the sufferings and the destruction of our nation Israel. The time which we are going through now is called, "It is a time of suffering for Yaacov, and from out of it, the salvation will sprout." This is a suffering so great that previous sufferings are forgotten in comparison. Know that all of the strength of these klipot of darkness emanate from you, and what have you done to rectify it?  Have you rectified your eyes by learning Torah with a true fear of Heaven? Have you rectified your attributes? Or have you decided that from this day forth you will sanctify your material life and raise it to a spiritual level, as our holy Forefathers did? Therefore, my bother and loved one, give satisfaction to the Holy One Blessed Be He by becoming righteous in your ways. Become a beloved son to your holy Father by loving Him with a great and fierce love, as it says, "And you shall love the L-rd your G-d."

From this time forth, in returning to "the L-rd your G-d with all of your heart, and with all of your soul, and with all of your might" let the following guidelines accompany you in all of your ways in this life. By doing so you will be called a friend and loved one of G-d.

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