Earning Respect | Rabbi Shlomo Landau

Rav Chananya Hertzberg was a noted Menahel and Mechanech for many years. He was one time driving with his Rebbe, R’ Shlomo Freifeld z”l, in the Catskills. They got to the town of Woodridge and R’ Shlomo Freifeld turns to R’ Chananya and he says, Would it be okay if you can walk into this bakery and get me a pastry and a coffee? I'm a little bit hungry and a little bit thirsty. Of course, Rebbe. Stops the car, he parks, walks into the bakery, he gets the coffee, he gets the danish. He comes back and he gives it to his Rebbe, and he notices that R’ Shlomo Freifeld is sad, something is wrong. Rebbe, he says, is everything okay? And R’ Shlomo points across the street. There was a drugstore and in the front window of the drugstore were magazines and there were a few Yiddishe boys that were looking at the front window. They were looking at the magazines. R’ Shlomo was beside himself. R’ Chananya turns to him and says, Rebbe, what do you want to do? He says, I want you to walk into the store. I want you to find the owner. And I want you to ask him how much money he makes in the month of July and August off of magazine sales. What, Rebbe? That's a little strange. Please, he says. R’ Chananya, please go in there. R’ Chananya walks in there. He goes over to the proprietor, he says, I know this is strange. I know it's weird. My rabbi's in the car. He wants to know how much money you make, what are your profits in July and August, off magazine sales? The guy says: What? He says: Please, it's for my Rabbi. He says: You know, okay. Makes a little Cheshbon, he says to him, $150. This story goes back 40-50 years ago, maybe more. He goes back to the car. He says to him, Rebbe, he said $150. On the spot, Rabbi Freifeld takes out a checkbook and a pen, and he writes out a check for $150, which by today's standards is probably $1,000. He says: Go to the proprietor and ask him if he would agree to remove those magazines from the front window of the store, and I will pay him this $150, he'll have nothing to be worried about. Again R’ Chananya was a little bit taken aback, but the Rebbe says, you do. He walks into the store, he walks over to the proprietor, and he hands him the $150 check. And the fellow says: What's happening here? He says: My Rabbi doesn't want the boys to look at these pictures. Would you agree to take them out of the store window? The fellow said: He's willing to pay $150? He says: Yeah, it's important to him. Wow, he says. I respect that. Tell your Rabbi he can keep the $150. Starting today, I'm going to move the magazines to the back of the store. These boys should not have to see this. You know, it's absolutely amazing and remarkable. Sometimes when it comes to Shemiras Ha’einayim, we're concerned. If we don't look, if we walk with our eyes down, people are going to look at us like we're strange. There's something wrong. It's not true. When a person does the right thing, particularly in the area of Shemiras Ha’einayim, people just respect them. And most importantly, we gain respect in the eyes of the Ribono shel Olam himself, and there's nothing more amazing than that.