Shmiras Einayim: Discovering the Inner Person, Seeing Beyond Chitzoniyus, and Overcoming Dimyon

Transcript

Shmiras Einayim. The topic of today's times. Mashgiach told me that, mashgiach shlita told me that this is the, the, with the hei ha-yediah, the topic. I began by telling him, hey, in Europe they never spoke about it. It's true, they never did. This was not a topic in yeshivas, the Litvish yeshivas. There was never discussion about these things. Maybe at the end, I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. In other words, I wasn't there to tell you really what the reason is. Maybe at the end of the shiur we'll have a shtickel pshat, a shtickel havanah in it, why today's times, the nisayon is much greater and stronger. Now, of course, in a Ruchniyusdige oifen, you could say that, you know, the yetzer hara, you know, he knows how to get people. In those days, the oilam who learned, who davened, you know. Today everybody's learning and davening, so he has to krich arein and get you some other way. You know, I hear that. I was thinking about that a little bit. In Europe, you didn't need hirhurim ra'im to ruin a guy. First of all, there was a time he did it through hirhurim ra'im of kefirah. Haskalah. Haskalah was the loshon, sura achrei levavchem v'achrei eineichem. And then there was stam azoi, the whole inyan. It wasn't chashuv to be benteirah, to learn, to daven. But today everybody's learning and everybody's davening, so how do you get them? You get them like this. I also declared that America is the yetzer hara of Eisav. We'll discuss that a little bit. I want to discuss a little bit Eisav. But then again. That's all, you know, maybe. Does anybody know chush b'drachmanus? Could you come and say what the reason today we suffer more from that? In mussar we could daher, what's the goyrem, what triggers this yetzer hara. But to say why the Eibishter, it's hard a little bit, right? Again, I don't have the answers, but I could just give you hirhurei libi, things that I think about. In Europe it wasn't such a big discussion. It wasn't a discussion. And the pshat, like I'm telling you, is that the yetzer hara got you other ways. Got you other ways. You know, in Volozhin, yeshivah, they used to have books of kefirah. It was unbelievable. The Alter of Slabodka used to read the mail, you know, he used to read the mail. Rebbarin used to open up the letters. Rebbarin's letters, yedua from the sister. Rebbarin's own sister sent him a letter to go to college and maises, mitzachin. Who knows if that's not why Rebbarin was so into college. Mamesh, he made his lifelong mission to hack up the college and the daas Yisrael. Rebbarin was a product of Slabodka of his time, you know what I mean? That was the ikar nisayon, like, that was it. Today, what are you going to talk about, college? There is a yeshiva, I know a yeshiva talks about college today. Reb Chaim Epstein, I didn't want to say his name. He talks about college. The kids in his yeshiva don't even have a high school diploma. What's college? Anti-college. Anti-Chaim, because anti. Nobody hacks in. What's the pshat? No, it's because of the time he grew up in. He heard Rebbarin. You hung around Rebbarin, it was drilled into your head, this anti-college. This was mamish—every other word was the anti-college. That was mamish, Rebbarin, that was Rebbarin. Rebbarin's big thing was mamish, ah. And you see that Reb Chaim, as a talmid, doesn't stop with lust to stop. Avadeh, that's not telling you, that's what I'm telling you. No, Rebbarin was a product. I'm not even so sure. I think it's a combination of both. The nisayon was b'das. It wasn't farais. That's definitely that was the big nisayon. I'm asking, I'm asking, I'm asking, but this is what it was. You know, in Europe it was, in Europe it was, it was kefirah dekaskala, and America was haskalah, shem haskalah was knowledge and college, and Reb Aaron fought this. Okay, today, to get up and talk about college, I don't even know how to spell the word college. It's not nigeiah. What are you gonna, right? What, you're working on the word college? The point being, the point being that the nisayon is an ander sort nisayon. So the question is, how do we tackle it? Like I said, I spoke to the mashgiach, I read the—

Book that he gave me, I went through it cover to cover. It's called Windows of the Soul. Windows of the Soul. The hakdamah, the even hapinah, so to speak, the cornerstone, the beginning, is that you have to work on identifying the olam hapnimi within the person. That's mamash what you have to—what's the right word I'm looking for? A person has to come in terms with the fact that this a mensch is an outside creature. There's a chitzoniyus, and there's a whole penimius to a person. In other words, the identification of it, that there's such a thing as a person could be external. Then there's the internal, the internal person. Who are you on the inside? Your neshama, your hergeshim, and your machshavos. This is what he starts the book with. He brings from the Alter of Slabodka, and he says that this is the beginning, step one, penimi. A lot of times you hear from people, I'm a ben Torah on the outside, but inside there's not much. Huh? Inside, yeah, yeah, yeah. Can I tell you what the right word I'm looking for? He's not in touch with that penimius. He doesn't view himself that way. He views himself according to his external, who he is. And I'll explain to you what I mean. The whole shiur is based on this, because I'm going step by step. We've had some captains at times to say that the sign of the door is to be me'anoin kol ha... but is, avadeh the yeshiva and everything, our avodah is that the baro should be katoyfen. That's what this part. This is the part. We identify ourselves and we view ourselves externally. And the truth is, the I and what's going on with me is really what's going on on the inside of me, not what's going on on the outside. And I'll discuss this. Let me explain to you what I mean. A person can view himself and the world around him, like I said, chitzonistic. A person can view himself pnimistic. The Mishnah tells us, איזהו גיבור? הכובש את יצרו. איזהו עשיר? השמח בחלקו. So you can say an ashir is a rich person externally. A gibor is strong externally. Or you could say that's nothing. Well, what is that? That's the external of the person. What's going on inside me is the real me. And if I'm a gibor, I'm a gibor inside. And if I'm ashir, I'm sameach b'chelki inside. And it's about what's going on inside. You know, taiva is an interesting thing. Taiva, I believe, is tofes makom only on the outside. It's an exterior thing. Inside, the inner person has nothing from a taiva. Nothing. It doesn't bring him any happiness. It doesn't fulfill anything. I like to call, like, empty calories. ... Yeah, but the body ain't getting any nutrients from it. A taiva is the same way. A taiva is an empty calorie. Yeah, vade, it's very sweet to the palate, but the minute it goes on the inside, it goes right out. There's nothing from it. The body cannot be mazen himself from it. I believe it's in the pasuk itself. The pasuk says by the eitz hadaas. But what do you see in the eitz hadaas? That it was taiva l'einayim. Remember the lashon of the pasuk? Let's bring the... Nechmad l'mareh, v'savah l'einayim. So I was thinking, what's the double lashon? I always wondered, what does it mean? Say nechmad l'mareh, looks good, no? It's gishmak, choimet. Choimet means that I want it. So what's taiva l'einayim? Shteit, nechmad l'mareh, ... so what's the double lashon? What are the two leshonos? Now understand, Adam HaRishon's chet is not just Adam HaRishon's chet. Adam HaRishon's chet, what the understanding of it is brias olam.

Rishon was a microcosm of the whole world and all the people that came. ... but he said three hundred-something shmoozim, and he said that that was only ... And now he's going to start working on the ... achar. Three hundred-something. I heard it from my zeide; מסתמא it's in the printed ... something, a number in the three hundreds of before the chet. And now first he's going to start the ... achar chet. You know what the pshat is? All the mussar and all the problems, it's linked in ... maaseh. So if the Torah went out of its way to tell us that by chet ... it's this, מסתמא there's a limud in the double lashon. Let's see the lashon again inside. ... Yeah, yeah, yeah, here it is. ... ותאיבו עץ למאכל, ותחשב לעיניים, ונחמד העץ להשכיל, ותקח מפריו ותאכל. So it says first the other way around: ותאיבו עץ למאכל. No, I always thought it says ... I always thought ... You quoted it that way. I thought it was that, but it's this. It doesn't make a difference. I'm tired. It's ... You have to be gentle. It's really on my list, on my list, drop of brain cells. It's hard. I wake up in the morning and I only sleep for three, two, three... It's very hard. D'brach Hashem, the person gives me koach alei to talk. But do you hear the diyuk, Vateira ha'isha ki tov eitz la'ma'achal, so what's vechisavah le'einayim? Why? Because I always thought to myself, first it's al ein re'iyah, halev chomed, and then afterwards it's, right? So the first part of the aveirah is the einayim. So why say it the other way around? Vateira ha'isha ki tov ha'eitz la'ma'achal, vechisavah hu la'einayim. What's the pshat? So I want to say a me'oredike vort here. There's two inyanim. There's one inyan of ayin ra'ah, which is the start. It's called sirsul aveirah, lashon of Chazal. That's the shadchan for the aveirah. The one who shadchans off the aveirah is the eyes, because the eyes didn't come and, you know, you wouldn't have the shidduch between you and the aveirah. But then there's another nekudah. It's a description of what taivah is. Vateira ha'isha ki tov ha'eitz la'ma'achal, vechisavah, the taivah is just einayim, because the inside of the person has nothing from it. It's an external thing. Taivah is meizin ha'einayim and not more. In other words, a person has a certain look, a person has a certain, you know, this is מבט, but this fulfills that. For example, you think you need this, and you feel that this is good, and you... So it substitutes that, but once it reaches inside, it doesn't do much, because it doesn't. Huh? Because I use that lashon, somebody's not nizon einav. Nizon einav. That's exactly what I want to ta'ina. That's exactly what I want to ta'ina. It's meizan ha'einayim, but not more. She'eino— that's exactly, it's one of the raayos I did. Shelo yirtzeh l'nizon einav b'mah she'eino shelo. So you see that the only thing that has from it is just the eyes. The only thing that has from it. It's very— I'm not saying not. I'm trying to— you'll soon see what I want with this. What I mean to say is I'm trying to identify what does taiva do to the person, and the answer is nothing. The only thing that enjoys it, unfortunately, is the eyes. The eyes enjoy it. It's taiva la'einayim. That's what it does. It's meizan ha'einayim. Pierce that, it becomes empty, like empty calories. You like the— you like it. It's becoming— you'll soon see. I worked on it. I worked on this yesod, and you'll see what I want. I want tremendous insight into the whole sugya. Okay. Okay. See, I even wrote the lashon, meizan ha'einayim v'lo ha'pnim. It's meizan.

Okay. Esav is the quintessential. In English we call him quintessential. My... tell me what quintessential means. Am I allowed to use such a word in Lakewood? Sure. What's the word? Quintessential. Quintessential? Quintessential. Okay, explain to me what it means. Go ahead. Explain, explain what it means. You got it, right? Quintessential means like the epitome. Yeah. So that's it, quintessential. That's it. The shpitz, das is... the musag. A darshan von gezogt, the quintessential... Okay. Something very interesting in last week's parsha. He comes back from the field and he's exhausted. What does he ask? 'Hal'iteini na min ha'adom ha'adom hazeh.' He didn't know it was a soup. I mean, what exactly? Maybe he didn't know what it was. It looked like red stuff. So he said, 'Give me the red stuff.' He was tired. He was dizzy. It was Thursday night. Give me the red stuff. Kenzai, kenzai. I'd rather say that in pshat. But yeah, it's a good kasha, right? Imagine you walk into the house and tell him, 'Can you give me some of that black stuff over there? You want meat? You want chicken?' I have a better kasha for you. You look further. 'Vayikra shmo Edom, al hayom hazeh.' He's called Edom. Call him, machveis, nazid, I don't know, call him taivech. What's the ... from Edom? He's just a siman because he came and give me the red stuff. So therefore he got a nickname called Red. ... Imagine a guy goes, What's in that pot looks like green stuff? Oh, Mr. Green. ... Mr. Green. It's very, very, very modernish, pshat, no? Isn't also because he came out red? Oh, but that's not what it says in the Torah. He came out admoni. Torah says because of this. And this is one of the kashas I don't understand. If you look at the beginning, it says he came out admoni, came out red, kulu kaderes se'ar. So what'd they call him? They called him Esav because of that. They called him Esav. Later on, with the red stuff, he becomes Edom. So what's pshat? Not ... Edom can't just mean that it was a nickname for him, because you see that his whole people after him were called Edom. Called Edom. Yeah. To what? I can't hear. ... I know, they were called Edom. So you see ... Right to the ... who they are. That's exactly what I'm saying. I don't know who said it, but I'm saying it. I'm saying I don't ... that's exactly what I want. It's exactly what I'm saying. I'm saying a beautiful vort. The delivery is a little slow tonight, but I know exactly what I want. I'm saying good. Vayosed Yaakov nozid, vayavo Esav מן השדה והוא עייף. ויאמר עשו אל יעקב הלעיטני נא מן האדום האדום הזה, כי עייף אנכי; על כן קרא שמו אדום. So why is it קרא שמו אדום for that? It's a peldige zach, no? What's the pshat, rabosai? What's the pshat? What's the pshat? What's the pshat? Okay. על כן קרא שמו אדום. I want to say a pshat like this. Reb Yerucham says a pshat, shtikel vort. Edom, red, red catches the eye. Red is something that catches the eye. You know, there's a halacha, and Reb Yerucham brings this. I don't know if it's in Reb Yerucham's sefer, but they say over from Reb Yerucham: You're not allowed to wear red clothing. Why? What's wrong with red clothing? The answer is because red is an attractor. Red gives very—you know, attracts. I want to tell you an interesting fact. Red cars get the most tickets on the road. As a matter of fact—just four wheels, they tell you that.

The red cars get the most tickets on the road. As a matter of fact, the insurance is much more. If you want to have insurance, it's much more with the red cars, because they're stopped by the cops. It's double as much. It attracts the eye. Red, red, red attracts the eye. Okay. That's a good reason why they're not so many red cars. Yeah, people don't want it. Racing cars are red, you know. Vilda guy, he's always got a red car, you know, like the cool guy, because they want to attract the people should look at them. Poshes, not for poshes. Red isn't attracting. Okay. This is pshat: Vayar Yaakov nazid. Vayavo Esav min hasadeh, vayeif Ais Yaakov. Give me. What does he want? Al kein kara shmo Edom. He's called Edom. Why? Because his eye sees red and he gets attracted to it. It's an uptaitch in the mensch that he gets attracted. Gets attracted by the eye, by the ayin, the taiva. Heilech achareinu. In other words, he doesn't even see a soup. To him it's red stuff. Give me the red stuff. He doesn't see. It's not what the red stuff is. As long as it's red, give me the red. Whatever catches his eye. That's what it is. Whatever catches, he's got to have it. That's what it is. Okay. This, rabosai, we can say, ... Esav lives... Chitzonius. Hey, so this chitzonius, it gets caught by the eye. Yankev Avinu is the opposite. Klal Yisroel is the opposite, that they don't get caught by the chitzonius, by the eye, right? Okay, it's pnimius, and I'll show you what I mean. In the parshah before, the peleg hazach. Peleg hazach, you hear? Yankev Avinu sees Rachel, and he goes over and he kisses her. So first let's see, what's pshat he sees her? Avraham Avinu never saw Sarah. Famous kasha: how he was mekadesh her, how he was mekadesh without seeing her? That's a maaseh, yeah? Right? Pashut, he never saw her. Chazal tell us he never saw her. Yitzchak, ... בכלל didn't see. If you notice, the lashon of the pasuk is very interesting. It says over there, VaYisa einav, Vayar, v'hinei gemalim baim. He saw the gemalim. In the first pasuk, he saw the gemalim; he didn't see the isha first. ... that's pshat, VaYisa einav. Looked down. He had to pick his eyes up, like he wasn't looking around. So the truth is, I don't know if it should be a kasha, because he was davening. What? Yeah, we can talk about it. Nothing, we can talk about all this. This is peledike sugya, you hear? Nothing, he didn't say anything. Afterwards it says, He brought her to Sarah, vhinei Sarah, and then he loved her. Could you imagine you tell that to your wife: I love you because you're like my mother. You try that. That's it. That's not good. Imagine you tell your wife, she said, No, you remind me of my mother, that's why I like you. You're done. You're done. You might as well find yourself a room in a basement somewhere, because it's over. He took her in, v'hinei Sarah, and then by Hagar, he loved her. Here, it works the other way around. He sees her first. What's he looking at her בכלל? What's he looking? Avraham Avinu, huh? This is before anything. This is, he sees her from far. He found his own shidduch, no? He was ready to marry, for not marry. He walks and he sees a woman in the street, וַיַּרְא, and he walked over and he kissed her. What's that? What's anything? Huh? By who? By who? ... Slowly, what's that? ... What does he know? Yeshua was gone. He walked up to the girl. He walked over to a girl in the street and he kissed her. So what? It says that she was coming. She was coming. What does he know? ... That's the pashut. Yes, so what I'm saying. No, he's saying that they told him. I don't even know if that's true, that they even told him. Let's not see the... and if they did...

That's how you learn the pshat very well. That's how you learn the pshat. So he knew already this might be his shidduch. Maybe. So maybe he looked al tzas l'kadesh isha ad sheyirena, and he went and he gave her a kiss. That was giving the kiddushin. Okay, Rav Pinkus's gadol feels it's a kashya. Pinkus says, he doesn't understand what's the pshat. He looks at Yanki Kook, at Nishke, all of a sudden he comes and he looks. She says a tremendous vort: Harei shera'iso, he saw her, like Yankev Avinu. Hamuvin bazeh, shelo hayah shayach eilu kol inyan haprishus klal. Yankev was allowed to look, there was no problem. Inyan of prishus, keivan shehaysa lo kiddushin loikis, lo hayah tzarich lachshosh klal. He didn't have to be concerned. Very interesting, huh? Because I'll say for the most of this, the Ula, I think, carried the ... because the ... whatever. The Gemara says, Shidamya lei k'kshura, he brings, like an eitz, like a koitz. He brings this Gemara, he brings the Gemara. Tzubis, ... Now the Gemara says, k'shura, kedamya lei k'kshura. He says this vort, the same thing, and he looked at her like a piece of stick. He says, not the ... Okay, azoi zogt. All right. You see, they didn't know just from laying Rachel. You see the difference? Now you're going already in. Now you're missing another sugya, I don't know, because there the pshat is the simanim and the voices and the mefareshim say she was under the bed, she was talking. You see the difference? Rachel was talking. Chazal say Rachel spoke from under the bed. He knew. Of course he knew. It was dark. He couldn't see. She was... Oh, it was dark. It was at night. And the kallah was covered. The kallah was covered. The kallah was covered. There was no light. As they state in mefarshim. But they were telling her. You know, they were telling her. Leah, Leah, Leah, Leah, Leah. That's where it comes from. That's where the Sefardim get it from. Where do you think Sefardim get it? Avadi. The Chassidim, they go, No, no, no, no, no. So they do it now by everything now, you know that. They do it every time it's about mitzvah, they do it. They do it by everything. Leah, Leah, Leah, Leah, it's Leah. The people that were trying to hint it to Yankiv, it's Leah. They state Chazal, because they knew love and tricks, gantz gut. Oh, Yankiv. You came. You probably came just for the... We started a long time ago, this thing. Okay, so I'll just give you a quick chazarah. All right, we're discussing that shemiras einayim is very important to identify that a Yid is about his inside, not about his outside. Eisav is about Edom. Edom is red. Chazal say red catches the eye. Esav is all about external, while by Yankif, everything was internal. The same thing, the same world. A person could look at it, Esav gibor, right? He's strong. That's externally. We say, Esav gibor, internally. What's a gibor? Different cook. So you might think, right, Esav is Edom. Edom, he was called Edom because of the soup; it caught his eye. I'll tell you an interesting fact. The red cars, you know, they stop double as much as regular cars. Red cars are stopped double as much as regular cars. Red catches the eye of the cop. The insurance is even more. Al kol panim, it is. Insurance is more. The bright red cars, the insurance is more. Sports cars, the insurance is more. Everybody knows that. It's a klal. Okay. What do we want? Yankif Avinu sees Rachel. Pinkas says, Hayitachen? Avram didn't see Sarah. Yitzchak didn't see... We said a very nice diyuk. He saw the gemalim. It says, Vayisa einav vayar es hagemalim. Nishke zan de frey, he just saw the gemalim. He didn't... It's a nice vort. Ida Torah, Yitzchak sharah rak es hagemalim v'lo es Rivkah. It's a good vort. It's a good...

Tag a vort. Va'ise einav, vayar v'hineh gmalim ba'im. Nande volt gezen de frey, ert gezen di gemalim. Azoy zogt. Okay, right? A chassidishe — all the sefarim speak — va'ise einav, he had to pick up his eyes because he looked down תמיד. Okay, azoy shteit. Yankev, he sees Rochel, he goes over, vayar. He sees her, he kisses her. What's going on over here? So he says a vort: shelo yeshayech eilu kol inyan haprishus klal. There was no such a thing as prishus. So he had no promise, shmiras einayim; he could have done what he wanted. It's very interesting. The Gemara says, Reb Yochanan hayah yoshev achari tefillah. Reb Yochanan used to sit by the mikveh. Huh? Let me ask you a question. If you sat by the mikveh afterwards, you'd be okay? Everything's all right? Let me ask you a kasha: are you allowed to do that? It says over there they looked at him and he was beautiful. It was beautiful. So I'm asking you a kasha: are you allowed to do it? You try to walk within a block of the mikveh, you'll have signs in the streets about you that you're a rapist. ... That's the ... guy. You're allowed to see achari tefillah. He didn't look. Could you imagine a Rosh Yeshiva zitzt achari tefillah, sitting by the mikveh? They have signs in yeshiva: Don't nobody ... No one's allowed to park the car within two-mile radius. And if you have the shoymer, I'm gonna come and then clop you with a stick. It's the same like Reb Yochanan. Reb Yochanan, he had to look good. Uh-huh. It depends who you're ... All right. Ketzis yoshves... Ketzis saying this vort, you hear? Yaakov ... that be'emes he was allowed to sit, so heshayach ... you're not prohibited klal. Kivan she'oiso lo kidushah lo kis, lo yitzarech lashesh klal. What's the pshat? Huh? No, I stuck in Reb Yechiel. I'm just saying, you see this nekudah that some people are mufta. You see that some people are mufta, okay? He says like this. He says like this: Vayishak Yaakov l'Rachel, yeah? Vayishak Yaakov l'Rachel, it says in the pasuk he kissed her. So the Siforno says, from here we learn that he did nothing wrong, because why would the Torah write it if it was something wrong? Why would the Torah go out of its way to write it? So the lashon is an interesting lashon of Siforno. You have the Chumash? Who has the Chumash here? He says that he didn't do anything wrong al pi ha-musar. You know what he means by musar? What does that mean? It means even ethically he didn't do anything wrong. Forget about issur, issur. Vayishak Yaakov l'Rachel, you have it? Yeah, so read the Siforno. Very interesting lashon of Siforno. I never understood the lashon. Go ahead, yeah. It just goes to ... No, there's a Siforno. Vayishak Yaakov l'Rachel, zogt the Siforno, melamed shelo asah ... shelo kahalachah, no. Oh, that's the Ramban. Here. Ki achi avihu, ki achi avihu, lo yedia, lo yedia. Come, come, let's go, let's go. Lo yedia, lehodia, shelo chata b'musar. The pasuk, ki achi avihu. The pasuk says it was a ki achi avihu, lo yedia, shelo chata b'musar, k'shenasak ois. It wasn't by musar. I guess he means ethically. Ethically there was nothing wrong. In other words, it was never even a shayla halachically. Maybe because she was a ketanah, like the Ramban says. The Ramban says why was he allowed to kiss her? So the Ramban says, because a ketanah. The Chizkuni says that he told her this: Vayagid Yaakov l'Rachel ki achi avihu. Why does he tell her this? Because she's looking at him. Who's this guy? He's going to kiss her? I call the police. What's this tzachakta? So he told her, says the Chizkuni, ki achi avihu.

So the Chizkuni clearly he told her before. What did he tell her after? So one pshat in the Chizkuni is he told her before he kissed, and the other pshat in the Chizkuni is he told her after. But either way, he did nothing wrong. Why? Because sof kol sof was a chiyuv. You know, you know, the nephews, I guess, and uncle — well, Chiyaviv causes a lot of kissing. Cousin, it's a ... nekudah, and she's a ketanah. He was able to marry this ketanah. Seven years he had to wait, huh? Eighty-something, no? Sixty, seventy-something. He was in his seventies, high seventies. How does anybody need to get married? So what do you have to come on to kiachiviv? You mean because even a zeideh shouldn't be kissing people in the street? You mean that's the pshat? No, I'm saying there's no ... we're not talking about — I mean, how did ... became his wife? He knew her, he knew. What? He said, the Baal Teshuvah says ... he had the kesher, right? ... We have to discuss this. This Reb Aharon has a whole shtickel on this. We have to talk this. B'kitzur, there's a very nice Rambam in Moreh Nevuchim, there in perek ... it's a very nice Rambam. אבל מגיע איש מבני אדם מהשגות האמיתיות, מה שהשיג לעניני המספר מבני אדם, מתעסק בצרכי הגוף, ושכלו כולו באש ה' יתברך. It's possible that a person could talk. And deal like a regular human being, but in his mind, es mit der Rabbeinu shleilam, he's bichlal not here. V'hu lefanav tamid b'libo. He's here, but the head is somewhere else. V'af al pi shegufo miBnei Adam. And he says that's pshat: Ani yesheinah, v'libi er. Kol dodi dofek. Zos hamadreigah hi madreigas Moshe Rabbeinu: V'hi shamim Hashem, v'atah poh omed imadi. V'zos gam kein — it's a beautiful me'orer nevuchim — v'zos gam kein madreigas ha'avos, asher hegiar k'vasam laShem yisbarach, ad shenoda shemo bahem la'olam, Elokei Avraham, Elokei Yitzchak, Elokei Zechmi olam. U'k'shehayu mis'askim b'hanhagas bnei adam, v'harbeis mamon, they were making money, u'mishtadlim b'mikneh u'v'kavod, lo hayu osim osam rak b'eivareihem levad. With their hands — their hands were making money, but they were not. I like the Rambam. Where did the lashon Rambam? Lo hayu osin osam rak b'eivareihem levad, v'libam v'dei'osam lo yasuru milifnei Hashem. But their daas and their heart was lo yasuru me'es Hashem. So I want to know, rabosai, like this. It brings afterwards from the Rabbeinu, the Rabbeinu says a pshat: You see clearly, haYishak wasn't the ahavah, physical, because if it was, what's the pshat that at that moment, ha'asir of Klal Yisrael, like you spoke out, with techiyas hanevuos, right? Then he says another vart. He says another vart. He says, if you take a look a minute, almost, hayi b'einav kiom machad. Zogt the Baran, if it was physical ahavah, it couldn't have been kiom machadim. Beautiful raya. But you know what the pshat, rabosai? I read the whole shmues. I went through his whole shtickel. Yeah, but it was very quick. He worked for seven years. Seven years. It was kiom machad. You try to make an engagement for seven years. You try to send letters and flowers for seven years. But they never met the girl first, so it's not like here. Al kol panim, rabosai, I went through the whole shmues, rabosai. It's all very good. It's just he doesn't answer one thing. He doesn't explain what's the takke pshat. There's no Ashmires Einayim. That was why he was able to look at them. He goes through the whole cheshbon that the Ribbono Shel Olam was mashriach Shechinaso alav when he kissed her, and it was kiom machadim, because it wasn't regular ahavah. So what is it? I want to say a meirdike derech. Truly, it's read really in that Rambam. When you look chitzoniyusdik, when you look chitzon...

Avad, avad, you're kissing a woman. Chafoi. My father once told me a maiseh, because Reb Leib Malin once came over to him, and he told him, Neisheh? Du veis vos hengt badir in kar? My father was on his way up to the mountains, and his sister asked him to bring up a dress. She was in the mountains by my zeide. See, hung the thing on a hook. He said, Du veis vos hengt? He couldn't believe it. It was hengt badir in a kar? My father goes, No, what? ... You know, it's all in the perspective. Avad, a chitzoniyus. It was a woman, a lady, a lady, a woman. Yankev Avinu saw pnimiyus. Yankev saw one of the Imahos. He saw a cheftza shel kedushah. He saw a cheftza... mamish a heilige zach, yeah? And that's the pshat why he kisses her, and that's why he cries while he's talking to her. Vayishak, he kisses her. What is he? That he won't be covered with her. And I'll tell you even weiter. Not that he won't be covered with her, Klal Yisroel, because the cheshbon is that Klal Yisroel is going to have to go l'galus, and they're going to have to be on the road and daven. He sees in her the mother of Klal Yisroel. That's all he sees. Chitzoniyus, you're right. On the external, she's a girl, bas Lavan. I hope that's why it was kiyam machad. You know, it's kiyam machad. For a lady, and for ahava to a lady, seven years is a long time. But for the ruchnius, to marry a rachel, it's kiyam machad. You ever try sayed? Did you enjoy the learning? Flies by. That's when you have it. That's when you learn. This is—he didn't get it. You see my point? Nachon. Nachon for this shidduch, it's kiyam machad. It's like a sefirah. It's like a sefirah. Like a Sefiras HaOmer. He was preparing. You missed the Sefiras HaAmer. Yeah, the whole hour he spent. I tayne, oydik in the nekudah. You notice, he tells Lavan, Hava li es ishti. You know, I'm so upset. ... I'm so for the olam, but whatever it takes for the olam, it's fine. Yeah? He tells Lavan, V'avo eileha. Yeah? Give me my wife, because I want to live with her. ... Rashi, Preg Rashi. He talks like that. Could you imagine going to yeshiva? Forget about that you don't talk like that anyway. Yeshiva? I think you should give me less time for me to... Rashi's mevair. You know what the teretz is, rabosai? He looks at the whole thing. Klal Yisrael. He sees Klal Yisrael as that bichlalnish... It's a famous kasha. It's a famous kasha. Why ...? We'll talk about it on Shabbos. It's one of the kashas rishonim. Okay, it's almost time. I want to get to the nekudah. Rabosai, that's the pshat, the Rambam. I think the Rambam is saying a me'odige vort. The hands were working. The hands were doing olam hazeh. But the pnim of them was with the Eibishter. They were living in an entirely different world. I think that's also the pshat, rabosai, Vayisa kolo vayeif. No one understood the lashon. What do you mean, Vayisa kolo? Did he cry? What, he cried loud? How do you explain the pasuk? He sees her, Vayisa kolo vayeif. He cried. Kol yankev. It's like tefillah. It was a ruchnisdige bechiyah. It's not cry. Vayisa kolo. It was like tefillah, like Torah. I thought it was klal Yisrael. There's a me'odige shtikel Chazon Ish. We'll end with this. Me'odige Chazon Ish. In Chelek Gimmel of Maaseh Ish, he brings down about a...

Photography, picture. So the Chazonish writes the following here: Yesh omrim, that a matzleima, to make a picture, ein b'zeh issur al pi nigleh, ela sheanashim gvohim ro'im b'zeh tov. They see in it, what's the tov? Take a picture of a guy, it's tumah? What's the re'inus? Take a picture of a person. Chazonish didn't let. Chazonish didn't let. There was one picture from his chasan, and it got lost, and he was very happy it got lost. He had like one picture from his engagement. Say it, say it b'chol. Chazonish didn't hold it. He didn't let pictures. Chazonish never let pictures. Because he didn't catch it. Chazonish also used to throw up when he saw somebody clean-shaven. He used to... I never read this. This is new to me. Chazonish threw up when he saw somebody, I don't believe that. He saw somebody clean-shaven. He said... No, he didn't do it. You know what the pshat is? Pictures only toifes... I'll tell you when I was noticed. You should know, I like to... Pictures only... I'll tell you how I know this. I'll tell you how I know this. Pictures only toifes the chitzoniyus. A picture is the biggest liar. Listen to me carefully. Listen to me carefully. I want to show you how I know this. There are people who are beautiful, and they don't come out good in pictures. You know why? Because their beauty is an internal beauty of a chein, and the picture cannot be toifes that. You know, why you have the diamond pictures? Yeah, it's playful. It's captions. But you have the diamond pictures. Nothing else. It's very shay. You have the diamond pictures. Cut the line. You should stand there by the eyes and take a picture. Let's catch the eyes. That's the chelek. In chelek beis, he writes clearly. In chelek beis, he writes clearly, and he was in a house where there was mirrors, and he almost got a heart attack. He said it himself. Reb Chaim said it open. No, he thought that someone wanted to come into the house. He was trying to open the door for the guy. Why were you afraid? Reb Chaim said it open. Why? He thought someone was coming to the house. He was in someone's house. Vilna says that there was mirrors on the walls, so he thought he was... Reb Kiveiger was brought to a place to relax with the sun, whatever, and he got to a hotel, whatever he was staying, and he sees there's a chashuvah looking in, and at the other end of the hall he goes over to meet him. I don't know big ma'ases. I just know what it says. Ma'aseh yesh of Chaim Kanievsky is a known. Down here, and he held that it was tumah in a matzav, because the pshat is this: it's only tofeis the chitzoniyus of that. Interesting story. ... He said, Wait for ... He said, ... Okay, fine. ... He's waking up the guy ... Bacher had a picture of himself hanging. ... Yeah. I heard a similar maaseh with the ... I heard a similar maaseh with the ... He saw a picture. Somebody showed him a picture of a chassid, a big chassid. You know what I'm saying? He says, ... Yeah, that's what he said. He said, Tell me who he is. It looks like ... It's fine, the same story. I heard this over from ... What do I want, ...? A person lives inside. What's the shayach to look ... someone else? Look at me. ... Yeah. It's just a pnimiyusdike mentch. ... ... You’re right, yeah. Guys working all day, guys driving cars all day, whatever.

You don't understand. You don't understand that this person, without all the makeup, it's not what this person really is. ... Do you know? So what? But if you know that the yetzer... But if you're an intelligent guy, and you know that the yetzer is telling you stupidity, everything is dimyonis. The whole world is dimyonis. Everything. Let me ask you. So let me ask you. If you're... that's all here. If everything was simple, then... So let me ask you a pashut shaila. If, let's say, your boss then, he comes over to you and says, You know, I like you. Great guy. I like you. He's intelligent enough to know this guy is selling you bill of goods. It's sugar, right? You know he's lying to you. So why don't you... You know this nekudah. Without the makeup, they all look the same, all right? As the... by the Gedolim. Gedolei olam teach people this, all right? I heard this from Gedolei olam. I don't want to say which Gedolim told me this yesod. Without the makeup, they all look the same, all right? So in what part of your brain don't you get it that it's just lying to you? It's catching your eye. ... It's like Esav, that, whoa, it's red, it's beautiful, yeah, but it's a soup. You don't see the soup. No, he sees the red. He sees the rouge and then the blush and the... Has that the rouge and the blush and the... has that this soup. ... You got ... makeup on top of a soup. That's all it is. But think about it. You don't ask him. Because I'll say, I want you to know the end. I want you to know, okay, I'm gonna tell you a story, but we're family. We all came here because, you know... I could say what I want. Everyone struggles with these things, so you came for chizuk. Okay, so let me tell you. I had a talmid that was... I start. Okay, let me tell you. I told you this. I went to a masyo. I told him, I told him, I never heard anybody talk lashon... I never heard. My whole life, I never heard. My father never spoke to me. I never heard about it. I never... Yiddish... I never heard, never, never, till I came to yeshiva. They start talking Chinese... Even when yeshiva... Only Chassidishe yeshivas. Chassidishe yeshivas talk about... very good, a lot of them are very good. I don't know. I never heard. So I asked this from... You're right, in Europe they never spoke about it. They never spoke about it. So either the pshat is that—we started with this—either the pshat is the yetzer got them a different way, got them with haskalah, with other inyanim. Yes, today's yetzer hara. So I hold this is where it comes from. We have a lot of gashmiyus. When nitfas a lot by chitzoniyus, they get things. You know, the pictures today, by everything, the whole thing of pictures. You want to know something? You don't even need a person anymore. You can send a picture, an email, and it's—the mensch doesn't even have to be there anymore. There'll be a tekufa where you can just stay home and email your... for shidduch, email. This is the... But that picture, you know, the photographer takes thousands pictures of us, thousands, thousands pictures. Yeah, what were you saying about... I walked in, I'll tell you this, I walked in Meridian, Meridian in Slope Park. Meridian in Slope Park. It's showing you that I'm not making up a story. Meridian in Slope Park. Meridian is for the mortgages. Meridian mortgages and Slop Park is over there next to Prospect Park. Kitzel. They have a Rav over there, it's a Rav, and the gabbai is a fray, okay? That's the shul over there, the Kitzel. Meridian over there, so I walk in there, and I see they have a big screen. Now why do they really have a big screen? They need it because— No, no, I'm talking about in Meridian, in a business. Why do they need a big screen TV? Because the stock market. It has to do—the mortgages have to do with the stock and the rates, the... are good. So I walk in there and I see it, I... I'm looking at it, wait a second.

On the screen? On the screen. No. So I asked, she talks about mortgages. I don't hear talk about mortgages. It didn't sound right. Jewish people? Wait. And the minute—it wasn't even the news either—the minute she got on, you see, mitanmov, aleh, aleh. Oh, the... They're sitting and writing, and all of a sudden everybody's eyes went up. And I saw it. I saw it. I saw everybody standing and staring. So I looked. What is everybody staring— I almost died from, from, from, from mius and goel, from—she looked like the most horrible person I've ever met in my life. I got scared from what she looked like. אפילו פושע got scared from it. So I turned around to one guy and I said, looks like everyone is enjoying this person. Zi heist a sheina? So the guy looks at me, dead gorgeous, shlamish. What are you— She looks like she has a pancake of makeup on her face, like— it looks like she has a face mask, and her eyes and the eyelids. I thought I was looking at Ronald McDonald. I’m not lying to you. And I started to clear, what is it that I’m missing? And you know what the pshat is? The yoifi—what I understood, yoifi. You know, I’m going to talk about on Shabbos. Do you know that the Rishonim go through explaining the yoifi of Rochel? She was tall. The Rosh is tall. There’s a Rosh. The Rosh says the yoifi of an isha is that she’s tall, and the eyes and the face, and the Rashbam talks about Rochel’s face and Leah’s rakos. Ich, I have to know from the Rishonim the details of—what is it, a card of shidduchim to find out, you know, she has blue eyes. He talks about colors of eyes. The Rashbam talks about colors, shechoros and levanos. And he doesn't mean white eyes and black eyes, only Dracula has black eyes. He meant the dark and light. The Rashbam, look at the Rashbam. ... Be'einei lei rakos shehein, dark eyes and rach, lighter eyes. ... What’s tzacha, blue eyes, ... What’s tzachachta? There’s a yoifi. There’s a yoifi. There’s an external yoifi and an internal yoifi. And all these people that you look at, kol shekein in the ... They’re reshaim. They wouldn’t want to be with you in the same room, you don’t understand. These people, unless they were paid, they wouldn’t be with you in the same room. They’d run out. They’re disgusted from you. How can you even look at them? ... What are you talking about? ... Read, read, read Rashbam. ... Yeah. ... Rakos. It’s not soft. Leah had the rakos. No. So it means Leah had the levanos. No, eina rakos, eina lei rakos. Right, forget, he’s tinying the ... Right. Einan rakos kelevanos. Right. That means Leah had the rakos. Right, right, right. And what’s pshat levanos? Leah had the levanos. Oh, I’m sorry, I apologize. I just realized. I apologize. You know what I mean, the ... You know, the ... keeps me, I would stay for as long as I have to stay. Okay, ... Mayer, ... you’re never here during the week. Go tell ... ... Chazon’s ... ... You’re too late for the chazon, otherwise you could ... ... Light eyes, blue eyes, dark eyes ... The Rosh. ... to get right out of the Rishonim here. Leah had lighter eyes. Rahu.