The Ultimate Battle
Have you ever felt that your mind was being bombarded with all sorts of images “forcing” you to engage in impure fantasies?
Our sages tell us that the eyes see and the heart desires – the body does the rest. When it comes to performing the mitzvah of Shmirat Habrit, maintaining personal holiness, the ultimate battle is waged in the mind.
The part of the human anatomy most associated with sensuality is the brain. This is the part of us that can become most inclined towards impurity. Our job is to keep it directed towards kedusha, or holiness.
It is a battle of epic proportions.
I always considered the late summer – particularly Elul – to be the hardest part of the year. I can’t walk to the local coffee shop without being tempted to look at someone who didn’t dress up completely. As the summer progresses, there are more and more of these images. It reaches a point where I feel like I can never leave the house. All it takes is a slip or two, and a breach in my neshama has formed. These snapshots that enter my mind are a lot harder to get out.
I remind myself that Rosh HaShanah is almost here. Just a month longer and spiritual reinforcements will arrive. The month of Tishrei is transforming, it revitalizes. Being faced with a judgment of death can scare any of us into sensibility. The heights we reach on Yom Kippur render even the most tempting physical desires pointless. By the time we dance over our beloved Torah, the weather has cooled and everyone is covering up a lot more.
But what do we do now? How do we make it through these remaining weeks?
We have to realize exactly what is going on around us and inside us. We need to retool our strategy and make an effective combat plan for the last battle of the year.
Have you ever felt that your mind was being bombarded with all sorts of images “forcing” you to engage in impure fantasies? Did it ever feel like every second you were being hit with a new idea for a fantasy and as hard as you tried to resist these urges, the hits just kept coming?
This happens to a lot of us.
We try to fight these “invitations” with our minds. While already engaged in battle, this combat plan is the only one available to us. Over the long run there is a better option. The most common misperception is that our thoughts dictate action. In the case of sexual purity, the reverse is true. Our sages remind us that first the eye sees, which is the action, and then the heart desires, which is the thought.
Instead of waiting for those thoughts to subdue us, and to have to focus on defending ourselves from the impure “invitations,” we need to attack. We need to engage in our own positive actions which render the inclination for these lusts weaker. The stronger the action, the less appealing these thoughts will appear.
The battle of the mind is a lot like two managers picking their teams for a big game. In this contest, we are the managers for both sides. With each action, we are choosing who will play for the side of holiness, and who will play for the side of darkness. When we get a glimpse of that woman barely dressed and can’t resist but to stare for a few moments, we are choosing Ty Cobb to for the side of impurity. When we overeat on unhealthy foods, we are poisoning our soul. Filling one type of desire usually fuels a need to fill other types of desires. Whether we want to or not, we are selecting Barry Bonds and Pete Rose to be added to the team.
Fighting the war for Holiness when the side of impurity is armed with these players becomes a bigger challenge. It can also be an unnecessary one.
The best way to keep fantasy at bay is to fill our actions with as much Kedushah as possible.
As we gradually perform positive actions, we begin to choose who will be on our team. Doing our best to avoid places with too much to look at is like choosing Ted Williams to fight for us. Reciting the ten psalms Rebbe Nachman gave us to purify our neshamot is like adding Mickey Mantle to the mix. Once we focus on learning about shmirat habrit and all that we can do to improve ourselves from the heart, our team captain is Babe Ruth.
Brothers, we are at the finish line! Now is the best opportunity to show Hashem how much we love Him. There is no other time during the year where we have the Divine opportunity to exert ourselves so much to prove our love to our King in Heaven.
It can’t be a coincidence that all of the big dangers we have faced in the last five years have come during the summer months. Even the 17th of Tammuz and the 9th of Av have been during these exact trials. Rabbi Lazer Brody reminds us that our holding the laws of Shmirat HaBrit are directly linked to Hashem guaranteeing our security and prosperity in the Land of Israel. Hashem is testing us. We can redeem the nation right now. We can enter our Day of Judgment with so many merits to our credit.
Even if we have succumbed so many times to these temptations of the eyes, the heart, and the mind – remember what Rebbe Nachman demands of us — Don’t despair!
Hashem sees everything. He knows that there has never been a time of so much universal impurity before. He knows that we face more obstacles to Holiness than in most generations. He knows how hard we have to try just to stay sane.
When we see our kids in the distance running towards us – aren’t we overcome with joy? When our two year old toddler falls down while running, and then resists the urge to cry just because he really wants to be with daddy, aren’t we overcome with the most awesome feeling of love for him?
Our Father in Heaven feels the same way towards us! Even when we fall down, we have the most amazing chance to get up off the floor and show our Father how much we love Him and how badly we want to cling to Him. Hashem will receive the same joy from us. He will feel the same love for us.
Hang in there and keep up the good work! Happy New Year!
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