No Greater Protection | Rabbi Shimon Finkelman

A young man once approached my Rebbe, R’ Moshe Wolfson זכר צדיק וקדוש לברכה. He said he has a problem. He's never been to Miami in his life and now, for whatever reason, he had to go. And he said to R’ Wolfson, he knows Miami is a vacation spot, the weather is warm and there will be big Nisyonos with Shmiras Einayim. He’s not sure he can handle it. And this is what R’ Wolfson told him. He said: You know, I started my career as an elementary school Rebbe, and I loved teaching Yiddishe Kinderlach. And then I developed laryngitis and for two years, I could not teach. But I had to support my family, so I became a watchmaker. And I had to travel the subway and walk through the streets of Manhattan and go to the office where I worked. And besides the Shmiras Einayim issues getting to work, I had another problem. My boss had the radio blaring all day long, and it disturbed me very much. So I came up with a solution. Every morning, before I left for work, I chose a topic in Torah to focus on, to think about, and I taught myself to think deeply into that topic. I would go on the subway, I didn't notice the people, I was thinking in learning. I walked the streets, I didn't notice the people. I got to work, I was able to do my work, and at the same time, think about whatever Torah topic that was in my mind and I didn't hear the radio. And I want to tell you something. I wanted desperately to go back to the world of teaching Torah, but during those two years as a watchmaker, I grew more in Ruchniyus than all my years in Yeshiva. And therefore, he told the young man, if you have to go to Miami, go and use this Nisayon to grow. For growth in Ruchniyus, you're able to do it. It's really amazing what a person can accomplish in the most difficult challenge. When we think of preparing for a Mitzvah, we think of preparing for a מצוות עשה, preparing to sit in the Sukkah, preparing the ארבע מינים, preparing to put on our Tefillin. We don’t associate preparation with a לא תעשה. But the truth is, for the Mitzvah of Shmiras Einayim, it's good to prepare with R’ Wolfson’s advice. Before you go out, choose a Torah topic. It could be a Dvar Torah, a Mishnah, Pirkei Avos, the Daf Yomi, something. Something to focus on. And then, besides the Mitzvah of Shmiras Einayim, we’ll have the greatest Mitzvah of all, the Mitzvah of Limud HaTorah. And more than that, with our minds permeating with Kedushas HaTorah, we won't want to look where we shouldn’t look. The Torah will protect us from that. As we say and we sing on Simchas Torah, There's no greater Shmirah, no greater protection, בגשמיות וברוחניות than the Torah HaKedoshah. And with the advice of my Rebbe זכר צדיק לברכה, we’ll be able to overcome this challenge, wherever we go.