The Wounded Soldier | Rabbi Daniel Coren

October 7th. One of the greatest mini-Holocausts that we've seen in our lifetime. A few months into the war, one of my close Talmidim, his name is Yehuda, he went to visit Tel HaShomer. Tel HaShomer in Eretz Yisroel is a rehab for the soldiers that were injured in the most terrible way, losing arms, feet. And I said: First of all, you can get a Bracha from someone that put their lives on the line. B. You can be able to be Mekarev them, be Mechazek them. The young Talmid of mine, Yehuda, goes to Tel HaShomer, and he's not scared, he’s undaunted. He speaks to them openly, Thank you. Give me a Bracha. One young man that he befriended, his name is Eden. And as he got a little bit closer, he told Eden: Listen, you got to say hello to my Rebbe. So he FaceTimed me. I was excited to see another Jew, and after a few minutes, I said: Eden, would you like to learn every single day, once a day, for about two minutes? Amazingly, we started learning Pirkei Avos, every single day, one Mishnah a day. And then we went from Pirkei Avos to Masheches Brachos, Maseches Shabbos. He was also dating a young lady, and Baruch Hashem, he started keeping Shabbos, Taharas HaMishpacha, all from one Mishnah a day. It was something amazing, to see the power of a Mishnah a day. As we got closer and the learning even became more comfortable, one day, Eden turns to me and says, I want to add something else to our learning. So I said: Eden, what do you want to learn? So he said to me, Shmirat Einayim. Shmirat Einayim? I'm, like, almost in tears. Why would this young man, who is not connected to Judaism, barely ever knew anything about learning, Mishnayos, Shabbos... Shmirat Einayim? So I quickly found a Sefer and we started learning Shmiras Einayim. One day, I turned to Eden and I said, Eden, I never really asked you, Why Shmiras Einayim? And this is what he said in Hebrew, maybe I'll say it in Hebrew first, אני רוצה לבוא הביתה, ולהתרגש כשאני רואה את אשתי. I want to come home, and when I see my wife, I want it to be special. I know if I'm going to be looking all over the place, it's going to take away from that special moment with my wife. And I said to myself: ריבונא דעלמא, we grow up, we're frum, we have Torah, we have לא תתורו אחרי לבבכם, we have all the sources, but you see that it could be a Yid that's not connected, but his Neshama knows that the real connection that he's going to have with his wife, the true connection, is going to come from Shmirat Einayim. And I said: Eden, you inspired me. And, you know, one of my favorite things in Eretz Yisroel is to go into a cab. You know why? Because you can meet someone, his head is shaved, he doesn't even look Jewish, you speak to him for a few minutes, you notice that he's Jewish, he could give you the biggest Mussar Haskel. And I was just now in Eretz Yisroel. I get into a cab. In a few seconds, right away, he goes, Rabbi, do you want to hear a Dvar Torah? So I said: Sure. And then he tells me, You should know I'm living with Hashem. You know why? Because I know that I’m a חלק אלוק ממעל. I'm stunned already. I realize this guy is my Rebbe. And he goes on to explain, If you know you’re חלק אלוק ממעל, you act differently. So many times when we have the challenge, if we would remind ourselves how holy we are, and sometimes we need the cab drivers to remind us, the Yetzer Hara will not be able to touch us.