The Power of Life and Death | Rabbi Shlomo Farhi

If you had a gun, you'd be careful with it. More careful than a pencil, right? A gun is dangerous. A gun is powerful. I want to talk to you for a minute about how powerful your eyes are. The Gemara tells us that Rebbe asked, במאי מחדדנא טפי? What way did I become sharper than all of my friends? Why was I the one that wrote and compiled all the Mishnayot? And listen carefully to what Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi says. You know what made me better than all of my friends? I got to see Rabbi Meir מאחוריה. I saw Rabbi Meir from the back. That's enough. Just seeing such a great Tzaddik once and from behind was enough to make me elevated more than all of my peers. And the Gemara says, Rebbe continued and said: And if I'd have seen him from his front, it would be even more. And he quotes the pasuk, Your eyes should see those who you're supposed to be in awe of, the great Tzaddikim. If seeing a Tzaddik one time and from the back could have such an impact on a person, elevating them, we understand how important and how powerful eyes can be. But I would like to wager that Rebbe did not learn this himself, because there is another Gemara, a Gemara in Masechet Megillah, where Rebbe asked a question of Rabbi Yehoshua ben Korcha. He asked him: Why did you merit to live a long life? And listen to his answer, my friends. He says: Because in my life, I did not look in the face of a Rasha, of a wicked person. Looking in the face of a wicked person carries with it a shortening of life, looking in the face or even in the back of a great Tzaddik carries with it a blessing of becoming sharper and more elevated than all of the other Tana’im. If that is the power of eyes, to be able to see a Tzaddik elevating you, or to be able to see a Rasha and decreasing your life force, understand that these have in their power the power of life and death. What you look at actually makes an impact on your quality and on the length of your life. Careful what you look at. It makes all the difference in the world.