The Road to Recovery | Rabbi Shlomo Landau

There was a yungerman who grew up in an insular community in Yerushalayim. And the challenges of Shemiras Einayim from billboards and advertisements was nonexistent. Sadly, his daughter became very sick and he spent a lot of time in the hospital with her. One morning, he walks into the hospital, and the Rosh Machlaka, the chief doctor, is examining her and he's shaking his head and he's, like - The situation is not good. The father says: Is there anything that we could do? And he says, I'll tell you something incredible. I just heard about a new drug, a new medicine, that I think could really help her. The problem is that there's only one pharmacy in the whole country that stocks that medicine. And it's in Tel Aviv. The father didn't have to hear anything else. He runs out. He hails the first taxi and he begins his journey to Tel Aviv and everything was smooth. They're going on the interstate highway, and he's davening that everything should work out well. But when they turned off to one of the sub-highways in the Gush Dan area, all of a sudden the challenges started. The billboards, the busses, even the people to his right, to his left. So many challenges for Shemiras Ha’einayim. And it was at that point that all of a sudden, the Satan went into battle mode, and the תאוות, the desire, becomes stronger and stronger. And he wants to look here and he wants to look there, and he feels himself falling, and all of a sudden he grabs himself. He's, like - What's happening here? And he remembers the famous Shomer Emunim that so many of the Vayimaen speakers have referenced. The Shomer Emunim says that in that nanosecond when you're about to, Chas V’shalom, be Nichshal in Shemiras Ha’einayim, it's a tremendous Es Ratzon. It's a moment that's so auspicious. And he says: You know what? I'm going to Chap myself. And he begins to daven and he says: Ribono shel Olam, in the zechus of controlling myself, of my Kedusha, please send a Refua Sheleima to my daughter, back in Yerushalayim. Not 60 seconds went by and his phone rings. And he picks it up, it's his wife. She says: Where are you? He says: I'm not even there yet. She goes: Come back. He goes: What's wrong? She says: Everything is right. The doctors don't understand. Inexplicably, she all of a sudden took a turn for the better, and they think she's going to be okay. The doctor said not to get her the medication. The Yeshua, the Refua, for his investment in Shemiras Ha’einayim was almost instantaneous. And that's incredible. But I think there's one added wrinkle to this, and that is that not only was he zoche to the Refua, but the Ribono shel Olam didn't even want him to have to get out of the taxi in Tel Aviv. And if healing his daughter was the way to make that happen, the Ribono shel Olam was willing to provide that Refua. Do you know what the Bas Ayin says? The Bas Ayin writes that there are two words in Lashon Hakodesh that have exactly the same letters, the word נגע and the word ענג. The Nun and the Gimel are right next to one another. The only difference is that in ענג - delight, amazement, Geshmak the Ayin’s in the beginning of the word. נגע - sickness, pain, hurt, the Ayin is at the end of the word. Says the Bas Ayin, When a person puts his עין, his Shemiras Ha’einayim, front and center, it's first and foremost, then what follows is the Nun and the Gimel, ענג - a life with incredible delight. But רחמנא לצלן, when a person is not into being Shomer their Einayim, it’s always the last thing they think about, the עין is at the end of the word, then רחמנא לצלן, there could be נגע, there could be all kinds of major challenges, problems and issues. This fellow went מאפילה לאור גדול, from a moment of tremendous darkness to incredible light. He went from a moment of נגע, of pain, of hurt to ענג, to the most incredible delight. Why? All in the zechus of Shemiras Ha’einayim.