Busy Giving Thanks | Rabbi Moshe Tuvia Lieff

Mori v’Rabi, Maran HaGaon R' Shlomo Zalman Auerbach zt”l, said a Chiddush in davening a successful Amidah, Shmoneh Esrei. We pour our hearts out, שפכי כמים לבך when it comes to Barech Aleinu for Parnassah. Refa’enu to heal those that are not well. Shema Koleinu for every בקשה. Modim, said R’ Shlomo Zalman, the עיקר is מודים אנחנו לך. על נפלאותיך וטובותיך שבכל עת, ערב ובוקר וצהריים. Make a list of all the things you have to be grateful for. Modim should take a long period of time. If a person acknowledges and thanks HaKadosh Baruch Hu for all the good in life, what won't HaKadosh Baruch Hu give him? What doesn't a father or mother do for a child that always says thank you, always acknowledges a gift, minuscule or magnificent, thank you, thank you, thank you. By saying Modim, the parent loves the child and will do anything for them. When we say Hallel, we say that twice. we say that also twice. Four times we plead אנא השם. Six times, It's a 6:4 ratio. 60% of Hallel is הודו להשם כי טוב. There was a fellow who was married for 40 years, and נישט מער געדאכט לא עלינו, לא עליכם didn't have any children. And he basically gave up. That was the Retzon Hashem. He's in Eretz Yisroel and his friend says, Go into the Beis Yisroel, the Gerrer Rebbe zt”l, for a Bracha. I'm not a Gerrer Chosid, I have no Shaychus to the Rebbe, it's not נוגע. You can't lose. Go to the Rebbe. He goes to the Rebbe, and he tells him his tale of woe. And he says: Yungerman, young man, האסטו גוט באַדאַנקט הקדוש ברוך הוא פאר א שידוך? Did you spend the time thanking HaKadosh Baruch Hu when you got married, for your wonderful Shidduch? האסטו גוט באַדאַנקט Did you thank HaKadosh Baruch Hu, for your house that you bought, for your דירה? Did you thank HaKadosh Baruch Hu for your business? If you don't thank HaKadosh Baruch Hu, how can you expect to have anything? The day was Rosh Chodesh. He poured out his heart. הודו להשם כי טוב, הודו להשם כי טוב, הודו להשם כי טוב. He cried his eyes out. And that year, he was zoche to זרעא חיא וקיימא, to a child, a wonderful child. It's all about הודאה. And there's a wonderful side effect of constantly giving הודאה. You don't spend time on what you don't have. People say the glass is half empty or half full. The glass is full. It's just in a larger container. הודאה means you focus on what you have than what you don't have. Then you don't stray and you don't look and you don't think. You’re not jealous. You don’t look at somebody else’s life, at their home, at their family, at their car, at their house. It’s not נוגע. It’s הודו להשם כי טוב. If I'm so busy getting up in the morning and saying: מודה אני לפניך, I'm so busy giving הודאה in Shmoneh Esrei, I'm so busy thanking Hashem for everything that I have, I simply don't have the time to worry about what I don't have. That's another important approach to securing our Shmiras Einayim. Let's focus on the beauty of our lives, on the Chesed of Hashem. By focusing on the Chesed of Hashem, we won't be distracted by those things that try to influence us and take us over. The Yetzer Hara will have no quarter. We’ll be zoche to live lives of Kedushah and Tahara, לקדש שם שמיים ברבים.