A Test of Faith | Mr. Charlie Harary

Many times, when we talk about Shmiras Einayim, we connect it to all the things that we can't see, all the תאוות and all the challenges. And it almost feels like the purpose in many ways is just to protect and to look down. But Shlomo HaMelech in Mishlei says, In fact, your eye is a pathway to Bracha. Well, how is it a pathway to Bracha? Rav Shalom Arush has a book called, Say Thank You and See Miracles. And in there he writes something so powerful. He writes that before a person is given a gift from Hashem, his Emunah is tested. Well, how? Like, what's the test? I was once sitting with a Rav in Bnei Brak, a Tzaddik, his name was R’ Moshe Levy. And he says to me that you should know that in the world of פנימיות, when a person is about to get a Yeshuah, many times, you know what happens right before the Yeshuah comes? Hashem takes the thing that the person wants and gives it to somebody else. A person is davening for Shidduchim or for Parnassah or for health or for a job or a house or something, and before you know it, your friend, who doesn't seem to you that has davened as much as you or is as worthy as you, all of a sudden, gets the thing that you want. Ever happened to you before? It's a test of Emunah. If you really believe that the Kadosh Baruch Hu remembers you, knows you, knows what's best for you, hears your Tefillos and will take care of you, if you really believe that the Kadosh Baruch Hu is a כל יכול, and He's infinite, and it's not, like, one thing that He has, and you know how important the thing is, because you've been davening for it, why wouldn't you want someone else to have it? It must be that there's a חיסרון in your Emunah. And so, many times, he says, a person could be having Bracha coming their way, and the Bracha gets lost, because of their eyes. He says: Picture as if you have a wall around you of protection, and your Bracha comes within the wall, and as you look over to somebody else and you're jealous of them, the jealousy breaks the wall and you lose the Bracha. The Maharal says something amazing. He quotes a pasuk in Mishlei and says, What does it mean to have a טוב עין? He says: An eye, by nature, constricts. The whole world sends stimuli, but it can't take in all the stimuli. It has to constrict. He says: However, when an eye expands, when somebody takes from seeing himself and his life and his needs, and he expands it to somebody else, you know what ends up happening? וזה שהוא נותן בעין טובה when someone has an עין טובה, מורה, it shows, שהוא דבק בברכה יתרה You know what it means? If you've got an עין טובה, that means you must be connected to a higher source of Bracha, and it is that connection that gets you Bracha. We all want Bracha in our lives. But to have Bracha, we got to know how to use our eyes positively. And to use our eyes positively is to walk into scenarios where we see people that have that which we want, and we have to remember, This is my moment to make my eyes עיני טובה. So the rabbi told me the following, and I'll leave with you a bit of advice. Every time you see someone have the thing that you want, and you feel the קנאה coming on, daven to Hashem that that person gets double. I said: What? He says: Yup. Think about how that has to change your whole relationship to Hashem. If you see somebody that you're jealous of and now you're davening to Hashem that they get double, you’re rewiring your brain to believe, Hakol Hashem. You're infusing Emunah into your eyes. You're making your eyes an עין טובה, and you're bringing more Bracha into your life. Try it.