It's All Right Here | Rabbi Binyomin Weinrib

The Sefarim HaKedoshim connect the Mida of Yesod to the concept of Shemiras Einayim. Kedusha, the idea of being holy, of being elevated above this world, is connected to the Mida which is called Yesod, which is translated as foundation. And the question is, What does Yesod, foundation, have anything to do with Shemiras Einayim? How does having a proper foundation help me to have real Shemiras Einayim, to be able to be connected to the world of Kedusha? And the answer is very simple. The Gemara tells us that when Hillel HaZaken came into the Simchas Beis HaSho’eva in the Beis HaMikdash, Hillel said a puzzling statement. Hillel said, If I'm here, then everybody's here. And the Sefarim explain that what Hillel HaZaken was saying, was אם אני כאן, where I am, wherever I find myself, הכל כאן, I recognize that everything that I need is right here with me. Hillel HaZaken said that when a person wants to experience real joy, the joy of the Simchas Beis HaSho’eva, you have to recognize that you have everything you need right in front of you, inside you, to look inwards, as opposed to outside, to try to find satisfaction in life. Not to let our eyes wander around us, to try to look for things outside, outside stimulation, but rather to recognize אם אני כאן - הכל כאן that the person that I'm having a conversation with is the only conversation that matters right now. The Tefillah that I'm davening right now is the only thing that matters. That wherever I find myself, whatever I'm doing, if I'm spending time with my wife or children, if I'm learning or davening, if I'm walking on the street, if I'm able to be truly focused to have Yesod, to have foundation, to be totally present wherever I am, then I know the secret of Shemiras Einayim. Then I stop allowing my eyes to be looking externally, to find outside stimulation, but I start to look internally, I start to live a life of פנימיות, where I look inwards, in order to recognize that Where I am, everything is. Because the secret of having proper Shemiras Einayim, is Midas HaYesod, is having a foundation, is being rooted to the place that I am. I had the zechus, a few years ago, to be by the Heiliger Amshinover Rebbe shlit”a on Chanukah morning. He spends the whole night preparing for lighting the Menorah, lights the Menorah right before the morning, and then spends another 2-3 hours by the Menorah before he allows people to come into his house. It's already 9, 10 o’clock in the morning, he's been up the whole night, preparing, involved in עבודות, הכנות, preparation for the Menorah. In the hall, there’s about 100-150 people in a line, walking past him to wish him a Freilichen Chanukah. The moment that I stood in front of him was a moment I'll never forget for the rest of my life. I stood in front of the Amshinover Rebbe who had been up the whole night. It wasn't the first night of Chanukah, he had done this for days on end, and when I stood in front of him, I felt like the whole world stopped. Everything froze. And he told me the words: A Freilichen Chanukah, and a Freilichen תמיד, that you should be joyous constantly. And I saw what it means to live a life of Yesod, to live a life of foundation, to be totally present wherever you are. That the person that you're talking to is the only thing in the world that matters. And when we’re able to live that way, to live inwardly, when we're able to live a life of being present wherever we are, then we're able to know the secret to proper Shemiras Einayim.