Lift Up Your Eyes!

Translated from Rabbi Arush’s feature article in the weekly Chut shel Chessed newsletter. The articles focus on his main message: “Loving others as yourself” and emuna.  

Have You Eyes in Your Head? 

Has it ever happened to you that you were searching for some item in the house and couldn’t find it, and suddenly you saw it sitting in front of your nose? It was there all the time, but you just didn’t see it. Sound familiar? “They have eyes, but they do not see…” 

Indeed, the eyes, that wondrous creation of the Creator of the World that serves us wonderfully in this world and truly gives us life – to the point that a blind person is considered by the Gemara to be dead – that mechanism knows how to trick us and lie, and sometimes it simply refuses to see what is right in front of it.  

It can happen with trivial items. We fail to find the car keys and are delayed for a few minutes because of that. And it can happen as well in fateful matters, such as on the day of the terrible massacre, when the surveillance and intelligence systems that know how to identify even the slightest movement “missed” an onslaught of pick-up trucks, tractors, motorcycles, and thousands of terrorists, including all the preparations for it.  

Therefore, to see the truth, it is not enough to be blessed with eyes. One must pray at length to see what needs to be seen at the right time. And that is why we pray before learning: “Uncover my eyes so that I may behold the wonders of Your teaching.” Open my eyes. 

Kohelet says, “The wise man has eyes in his head, while the fool walks in darkness.” The fool has eyes as well, but he doesn’t see what he ought to, and therefore, practically speaking, he lives in darkness.  

Eyes and Heart 

Rashi opens this week’s parasha with the words: “Why is this parasha closed? (that is, contrary to the usual practice, there is no extra space between the last words of the previous parasha and the beginning of this one). Because after Yaakov Avinu died, the eyes and hearts of Yisrael were closed to the misery of the bondage which they [the Egyptians] then began to impose upon them. Another reason is: because Yaakov wished to reveal to his sons the date of End of Days, but the vision was closed to him.”  

Bnei Yisrael’s eyes were closed. They didn’t see and they failed to note the process of placing them in bondage that had begun. And when the eyes are closed, the heart closes as well. In other words, if the approach and the interpretation one gives reality is distorted, then the feelings also become blunted. And so, with our eyes wide open, we walk of our own accord into the trap and sink willingly into exile. 

But one must know that this is true for the opposite as well. Sometimes a person feels he is surrounded by darkness and exile, but that is only because his eyes are shut. He doesn’t see the immense light that is all around him; he doesn’t see the countless salvations and Divine Providence acts in his life. The geulah is right in front of him – but the eyes are shut, and the heart feels that it is in exile.  

I have been approached numerous times by husbands who show up with a list of complaints about their wives, or vice versa; this can happen with parents and their children as well. But after I taught them what Rabbi Nachman teaches about searching for and seeing the good, encouraging and strengthening the good points, and saying many good words – they came back to me and say, “I just didn’t know my wife! I didn’t see how good my husband was! How much light I have in life! I didn’t know my child was so special, and that he has so many good qualities!” 

It’s All a Matter of Seeing 

Two people can go through the same nisayon (test) in life. One of them may suffer and wish to die, while his fellow learns and becomes empowered, is encouraged, and grows and maintains his joy. What is the difference? Their emuna (faith). And what is emuna? Emuna is being able to see Hashem in everything that is happening to you – in the midst of the hiding of the face. One person sees Hashem, and the other – his eyes are shut tight. 

Yosef Hatzaddik appears in his full glory once again in our parasha. What kept him going during the difficult years he went through? The fact that he saw Hashem! He always saw Hashem in front of his eyes – in the pit, when he was sold, in Potiphar’s house, and in jail as well. 

And you should know, that looking up, seeing Hashem, not only opens the heart and brings joy to the soul and causes the person to see the truth and the light of Hashem, but also attracts a reciprocal look from Hashem. The Creator of the World looks back at us, which means great salvations, and the geula coming closer. As the Tur, the great posek, says: 

When people are saying Kedushah in the shul and the congregation says together, “Kadosh, Kadosh, Kadosh,” it is good to shut one eyes in holiness and raise the eyes upward. And the reason the Tur brings is the words of Sefer Heichalot, attributed to Rabbi Yishmael Cohen Gadol, who had the merit to go up to Heaven and tell what he saw up there: “The Holy One, Blessed Be He said to the angels: You are blessed to Hashem, heavenly angels and yordei Merkava if you will say to my children what I do when they are hallowing me and saying, “Kadosh, Kadosh, Kadosh”. Teach them that their eyes should be looking upward, to their house of prayer, and they should be elevating themselves, because I have no greater pleasure in the world than when their eyes meet mine, and my eyes meet theirs. And at that time, I, on my throne, grasp the figure of Yaakov, and hug it and kiss it, and mention their exile and quicken their salvation.” 

To See the Love in the Eyes 

This means that when we look up and wish to see Hashem’s eyes, so to speak, then Hashem too looks at us, and He has such great pleasure that there is no greater pleasure in the world for Him than He has at that time. And this causes the speeding of the coming of salvation.  

That is why the poskim say, “One must be very careful with this slight movement of raising one’s eyes upward, and to do it happily and with desire and great joy that we, of flesh and blood, can do this, that the Holy One, Blessed be He, boasts about us in all the worlds and publicizes among the angels and the Seraphim how much He likes and loves us.” If we take this in a broader context, this means that each and every one of us ought to “raise his eyes”. In other words – not to look only at the superficial level, but to search for Hashem and see the Divine Providence in the world. And when you see the Divine Providence, you are actually seeing Hashem’s love; and Hashem revealing His love is what ends the exile and quickens the coming of the final Geula. 

One can say that that is Rashi’s second interpretation: “He wished to reveal the End of Days and it was closed to him.” When the eyes are closed and they do not see Hashem’s love, it is impossible to reveal the end. And now, in our generation, when we see and know from the holy books and from what the tzaddikim say that Hashem wants to bring the complete Geula, this is precisely the time when we should lift our eyes heavenward and see all the immense love that Hashem has for us. 

And This is Just the Beginning 

We are going through a period in which it is very easy to look at the darkness and feel the distress and the exile all around us. But that is just because our eyes are shut. And this causes us to feel we are in exile and to sink into our feelings of distress. Our mission is to open our eyes and pray to Hashem that he will light up our eyes to search and find and see only the endless good and light being revealed during this period – only the Providence, the process of the complete Geula that is going forward in huge steps. And it is precisely this positive look Heavenward that opens our eyes, and that is what will open our hearts as well to believe and be joyful and trust Hashem, even during the most difficult times. 

It is hard to say this, but every missile that falls and doesn’t harm any person is a sign of love. We are prohibited from ignoring all the thousands of miracles that we see daily. With every missile Hashem says to us: “I love you and I am watching over you.” 

The stories that are beginning to come from the soldiers in Gaza about open miracles and Divine Providence, show us that within all the pain and distress there is great love; there is a Creator of the World who is waiting for us to see His good and look in His eyes and He will look into ours and quicken our salvation. And that is just the beginning; for when the fire dies down and the dust settles – and all our soldiers will return safely – we will see and hear much, much more than that. And the more we open our eyes to see the revelation of Hashem’s light and love, so too the Geula will come closer, with mercy!