The Strongest Muscles | Rabbi Shlomo Farhi

Have you ever seen one of those advertisements where they show a person who's in great shape? What do they focus on? The person's arms, the person's shoulders, the person's chest, his legs. Showing you the biggest muscles of the person, indicating that this person's muscles are in great shape. But the two strongest muscles in a human being are none of those. They are these two, right here. Rav Hirsch tells us something fascinating in Bereshit, on the word ‘Ma’ayanot’. He says that the word ‘Ayin’, which means ‘an eye’, actually shares its root with the word ‘Ma’ayan’, which means ‘a flow of water’. And in his expression, he says it so beautifully, when he tells us that the flow of life, the flow of your spirit in life comes from your eyes. We all know this to be true. If you're in a negative place, if you're upset at someone, you look at everything that they do, and all you can see is something negative coming. You don’t like a person and they buy you something, you think: What does this person want from me? That's how it is. Negative eyes cause a negative state of mind. The same thing is true in a positive outlook. My friends, the pasuk is telling us something unbelievable here. It's telling us, in Shema every day, You will remember all of Hashem’s Mitzvot. And you will do them. And you shall not turn after your heart and after your eyes. What the pasuk makes clear is if your heart and your eyes are in the right place, then you'll remember every Mitzvah and do everything right. And if your heart and your eyes are in the wrong place, you can forget about that. What we are learning here is that there are no two stronger muscles than these in your life. And what Rav Hirsch is communicating to us is everything flows through your eyes. So you have to be so careful when you use your eyes for the wrong thing, because it's not just this that that's causing you to lose. It's causing a damage far greater. The flip side, obviously, is in a scenario of ‘ולא תתורו’. A person merits an incredible ability to remember all of Hashem's Mitzvot, and to do them with vigor, with excellence, and with strength.