I went to Fort Wadsworth

[music] >> I'm standing right [music] now in front of one of the most important military positions in American history, Fort Wadsworth. Look around [music] this place. Giant stone walls, the cannons, the tunnels, the cliffs overlooking the harbor. [music] For more than 200 years, nations understood something terrifyingly simple. If this point fell, New York City was exposed. This fort was built to guard the entrance to New York Harbor. Enemy ships entering these waters would have faced [music] overwhelming firepower. Soldiers stood here day and night protecting millions of people they would never meet [music] because think about it. Think about what they were protecting. New York City is without question the single most influential city [music] on planet Earth. The world's commerce is here. The world's media is here. The world's finance [music] is here. The world's culture is here. The world's politics are here. If you wanted to damage America, [music] you would target New York. So, of course it requires a defense system. Of course there were walls. Of course there were guards. Of course there were barriers. [music] Of course there were protections because the more valuable something is, the more protection it requires. And yet somehow when it comes to our own souls, >> [music] >> modern society suddenly acts confused by this idea. Inside every single Yid is an neshama worth more than $10 million, $10 trillion. A piece of the rabbinic neshama that's eternal and infinite and holy. >> [music] >> And yet people get uncomfortable the minute you start talking about walls and boundaries. And they say, "Why can't I watch what I want? Why can't I go anywhere? Why can't [music] I hear everything? Why can't I expose myself to everything?" What do you mean why? You don't have a Manhattan without a Fort [music] Wadsworth. You won't just say, "Eh, let everybody in. Whatever happens happens." It's insanity. Every civilization in history understands that if you don't guard the gates, eventually the enemy walks in. >> [music] >> Our spiritual lives are the same way. The yetzer hara never arrives in your in your life just holding a giant sign [music] saying, "Hello, I'm here to destroy your life." No, he slips through openings and small compromises, [music] tiny little breaches, unprotected entrances, one image, one conversation, one environment, one addiction, one [music] poisonous influence after another, after another, until suddenly the person himself doesn't even recognize what happened. [music] And that's why the Torah gives us defenses. That's why we build Fort Wadsworth in our [music] life. Not because Judaism is afraid of the outside world of life, because Judaism understands [music] value. Of course we have to protect our bodies because the body houses the neshama. Of course we should avoid certain environments [music] filled with lashon hara and filth and negativity. Why would you expose something holy to spiritual pollution? Of course we need boundaries and standards [music] and filters and self-control. The stronger and more precious something is, >> [music] >> the more protection it deserves. Nobody mocks a billionaire for having security guards. Nobody laughs at a country for protecting its borders. But [music] the moment a Jew protects his soul with an extra filter, a little more tzniut, a little more restraint [music] in where you're willing to go, suddenly people act like it's strange. You're an extremist. No, it's not strange. It's called wisdom. Fort Wadsworth teaches us something powerful. The soldier standing guard [music] here understood that the entire city of New York behind them depended on whether the gates held strong. And the same is true for us because every thought you allow in, [music] every image, every influence, every environment is either strengthening your inner world or it's weakening [music] it. And maybe the greatest tragedy in modern society is that people spend fortunes protecting their phones, their homes, their bank accounts, their social security numbers, their [music] passwords, their identities while leaving their souls completely unguarded. A Yid protects what is precious. [music] A Yid remembers that not everything deserves entrance into the palace because the soul is too valuable to leave [music] undefended.