The Pearl Necklace | Rabbi Shraga Kallus

There was a little girl whose father gave her some spending money. She took that spending money and bought fake pink pearls. She was very fond of her pink pearls. She would look at them constantly, very happy with her purchase. One night, her father came into her room, sat on her bed and said, My darling daughter, who do you love the most in the world? And she said: You, of course. He said: More than anything else? Yeah. Even more than the pearls? -Yeah. More than anything else in the world. So he took out his hand and he said to his daughter, Okay, so give me the pearls. She said: The pearls? He said: Sure, the pearls. You love me more than anything else in the world. No, not that. This story repeated itself night after night. One night, he came into the room and noticed that his daughter was very determined. He said to her, Who do you love the most in the world? She said: You. He said: More than anything? -More than anything. Even more than the pearls? Even more than the pearls. Can I have the pearls? And with a tear running down her cheek, she took the fake pink pearls and handed it to her father. As she was handing it to her father, her father reached into his pocket and took out a beautiful red velvet box. Inside the box were real pink, beautiful pearls. He said to her, My darling daughter, if I'm asking you for something and I love you so much, you're never going to lose if you give it, you're only going to gain. Every day we say in davening, HaKadosh Baruch Hu asks us to protect our eyes, to be Shomer our Kedushah. And he tells us, Give up the fake pleasures of life, the synthetic stuff. And if you give up the synthetic pleasures of life, you're opening the door so that I can shower you down with the real joys of life, HaKadosh Baruch Hu tells us. So you'll never lose by protecting your Kedushah, by being Shomer your eyes. You're only going to open up the door to all of that Bracha that HaKadosh Baruch Hu will shower upon you.