Falling in Fantasy
How often have we seen heads of state, judges, and other important people throw their entire career down the drain because of one imprudent act fueled by lust?
Translated by Rabbi Lazer Brody
The Geula, the full redemption of our people, is dependent on two things: emuna and personal holiness. Emuna is the all-inclusive mitzva that contains all the other mitzvot. Pgam Habrit, blemished personal holiness that is exemplified by spilling one’s seed outside the context of performing the mitzvot of procreation and/or marital relations, is the all-inclusive sin that contains all other sins.
King David said in Psalm 34, “Leave the bad and do good.” Guarding one’s personal holiness is leaving the bad, while learning emuna is doing good.
With emuna, a person can not only overcome and destroy the evil inclination, but he can also attain the level of prophecy. Emuna channels a person’s powers of imagination into the direction of holiness. A person with steadfast emuna believes that everything in life is from Hashem and that everything is for the very best. He is happy with his lot in life. Therefore, if he is married, he has no desire to look at any other woman in the world. He knows that Hashem gave him the woman that is perfect for him and he is satisfied with her. Emuna therefore protects him from both sin and insanity.
A person who fails to guard his eyes cannot possibly be pleased with his lot in life, for he yearns and lusts for 
everything that he sees. He covets all the time, even other people’s wives. Inasmuch, he violates the Ten Commandments every single day.
Consequently, a person with emuna is completely good. He is satisfied with what he has and does not desire that which is not his. He is never angry, for he knows that other people can neither hurt him or help him, for everything comes from Hashem. He competes with no one and is not jealous of a single soul on earth.
King David says in Psalm 89, “My covenant shall remain faithful.” This is a play on words in Hebrew that also may be translated, “my personal holiness is emuna.” King David, Hashem’s holy anointed King of Israel and father of the Messianic dynasty, is teaching us that emuna is the sweet fruit and result of personal holiness.
Conversely, nothing destroys emuna like a breach in personal holiness. Rebbe Nachman of Breslev teaches that women’s modesty and men’s personal holiness will expedite the coming of Mashiach. Our sages in the Gemara (Sota, 11b) say that the redemption from bondage in Egypt was by virtue of righteous women. We therefore urge the women of today to dress and act in a modest fashion, for this will expedite the redemption that we’ve been longing for during the past 2,000 years.
Personal holiness starts with the eyes. Our main test in life is resisting sexual temptation, and sexual temptation begins with the eyes. We must therefore dedicate ourselves to guarding our eyes. If a person terminates his tour of duty in this world without having guarded his eyes, the Heavenly Court will chastise him that he neglected his main mission in life. We must therefore pray constantly for Divine assistance in guarding our eyes.
The whole matter of women’s beauty and sexual lust is total fantasy, but the evil inclination invests unfathomable resources in attempting to ensnare people in this dangerous trap. Even the pleasure of the outright sexual act is fantasy. So many people harbor this fantasy in the forefront of their minds all day long, to the extent that it drives them insane. How often have we seen heads of state and people who have risen to lofty heights in their field of endeavor – judges, military commanders, statesmen and diplomats – throw their entire career down the drain because of one imprudent act fueled by the fantasy of lust. How inane? Is that not insanity? Would you throw years of hard work and achievement away for a few seconds of fantasy and pleasure? Nothing could be more ridiculous and contemptible.
A person can learn 600,000 letters if he learns Torah for twelve and a half hours straight. This is comparable to learning the entire written Torah. Yet, if he goes out on the street and looks at one woman, he loses all the holiness that he worked so very hard to attain. His Torah learning becomes a gift to the Dark Side. We must therefore make praying to guard our eyes a top priority. Don’t throw your life away for fantasies.
