Hollywood and Our Future

The whole world in recent weeks has seen the gross repugnance of scandalous behavior. People who have been revered by the whole world because of their money and fame turned out to be below the level of beasts, to put it mildly.

I wonder if the same moral offenders ever took into consideration the profound effect that their conduct and personal deportment has on future generations. What inheritance does the morally-corrupt multi-millionaire think that he is leaving for his children? His bank account? His corporation? Oftentimes he loses them both and there’s nothing left but infamy.

The financial assets that a father leaves behind are not what affects his offspring.

The level of a father’s holiness is the factor that has the most profound influence on the future of his children. Rebbe Nachman teaches that the sons of a father who restrains his evil inclination will lead upright lives. In a generation like ours, where so many children and young people are falling off the path of Torah observance, such a promise is a wonderful incentive for a person to work hard in overcoming his evil inclination. They way to begin is by guarding one’s eyes, for Rebbe Nachman also teaches that sexual lust begins with the eyes (see Likutei Moharan I:36).

In Sefer Hamidot, Rebbe Nachman writes that a person who refrains from looking at women will have sons who write elaborations on Torah. Again, we see the far-reaching influence of a father’s actions on his children. If he guards his eyes, not only will they be Torah scholars, but they’ll elaborate on Torah! Who is silly enough to learn such facts and not make a concerted effort to guard his eyes? What could be a greater gift than sons who are Torah scholars and spread the light of Torah to others?

The opposite also holds true. A lack of holiness also influences future generations. If a father ponders women outside the context of marriage, then his sons won’t have the desire to learn Torah. Look what happens when he watches movies and has Hollywood actresses on his mind: when the father thinks about the actress he saw, and he harbors these images in his head, not only will his sons not want to learn Torah, but chances are that they assimilate altogether. Is it worth it? On a spiritual plane, any person who immerses his eyes and brain in Hollywood is destroying the future of his children.

Guarding one’s eyes is a minute-to-minute challenge, for closing one’s eyes goes against the grain of inquisitive human nature. But, when a person sees the promise of true tzaddikim, that by his guarding his eyes, his sons will write elaborations on Torah, then he should say to himself, “My children are everything! What lengths would I go to in order to have upright children? In that case, I must guard my eyes!”

Even if a person is upright, if his children are not, then he won’t rest in peace in Gan Eden. My father, Rabbi Machlouf Haroush of blessed memory, told me that one of his acquaintances in Morocco died suddenly. He came to my father in a dream and told him that he has no peace in the next world because his sons are violating the sanctity of Shabbat. My father went to his sons and asked them to observe the Shabbat for their father’s sake. He gave them signs of the veracity of the dream that they didn’t even know, so that they’d believe him. They listened to my father and started to observe the Shabbat. The deceased came again to my father in a dream and thanked him, for he now rested in peace.

Every parent must realize that his children are a critically important part of his life. If he doesn’t purify himself and his children, he will consequently suffer because of this and pay a dear price. And, if we sometimes see Torah scholars and upright Jews whose children are off the path of Torah, it’s likely that those scholars didn’t put enough of an emphasis on personal holiness and its effect on their children. If they don’t succeed in passing the Torah onto their children, then it won’t help that they themselves are tzaddikim. Great achievements in Torah won’t do much for one’s children unless he puts a strong emphasis on the area of personal holiness.

On the other hand, those tzaddikim who held personal holiness as their highest priority have merited sons, grandsons and great grandsons who live holy and pure lives, guarding their eyes like angels – all by virtue of their father’s efforts. May we all follow in their footsteps.