Guarding Our Spiritual Vision | Rabbi Eli Mansour

There was a great Rabbi from Baghdad, 100 years ago. His name was Rabbenu Yosef Chaim. He’s the author of the Ben Ish Chai. He also has a Sefer עוד יוסף חי. And he talks about the senses. We have five senses, but he talks about three out of the five. He talks about the sense of taste, that comes from the mouth, and he says that in this world, it's the biggest pleasure that a person has. What he eats, the sensory of feeling the taste and enjoying and savoring good food and good drink. And then you have the sense of smell, that's from the nose. It's also הנאה, it's also a pleasure. And then the final one is the eyes, and that's the pleasure of seeing and looking and enjoying different types of sights, some permissible and, clearly, some forbidden. But the Rav goes on to say that those senses are also found in the soul of a person. The soul of a person has a mouth, the soul of a person has a nose, and the soul of a person has eyes. And when a person leaves this world, although there's no more eating, but the soul will smell. That's in גן עדן תחתון, in the lower level of Gan Eden the sense of smell will manifest itself. But then there's a higher level. The Neshama will benefit and exist from not eating anymore and not even smelling. But when it reaches גן עדן עליון, the upper level of Gan Eden, then the Neshama benefits from what it sees. Like the Gemara says, Tzaddikim sit and the crowns are on their head they're going to bask in looking and seeing at the glory of the Shechinah. That's the highest level of pleasure that's going to be in the next world. And therefore, he says, one must be very careful that he watches his physical eyes, because his physical eyes affect his spiritual eyes. And if a person wants to have good vision, 20/20, 20/15, in Olam Haba, in גן עדן עליון, and see and bask in the light of the Shechinah, he must be careful. And he says: Even if it takes great pain and even if it's great צער and great anguish to control oneself, it's well worth it. The eyes are the highest pleasure. And that's why he says: Look at the body. The mouth is on the bottom, and then we go above, the nose is higher, but the eyes are in the highest place. מעלין בקודש. And that's why when we make Havdalah on Motza’ei Shabbat, we remind ourselves of the highest pleasure. We make בורא פרי הגפן first, that's the פה. And then we make בשמים, we smell. And then we make בורא מאורי האש, that's the eyes. מעלין בקודש. So the Ben Ish Chai says, Watch your eyes in this world, because good eyesight in this world brings good eyesight in עולם העליון.