You Can Keep the Coin | Rabbi Binyomin Weinrib

When the Rebbe Rashab, R’ Sholom Dovber Schneersohn, the fifth Lubavitcher Rebbe, and his older brother, R’ Zalman Aharon, were young children, they would often go to visit their grandfather, the heiliger Tzemach Tzedek. Once, as they were preparing to go in, to enter the room of the heiliger Tzemach Tzedek, R’ Zalman Aharon, then a young boy, realized he didn't have his hat, and he felt it was inappropriate to enter into his grandfather's room, the Tzemach Tzedek, who was at that point, the Rebbe in Lubavitch, to enter into his grandfather's room without his hat. So he told his younger brother, R’ Sholom Dovber, You go in and I'll wait outside. R’ Sholom Dovber goes into his grandfather's room, the Tzemach Tzedek’s room. The Tzemach Tzedek sees his young grandchild, gives him a hug, a warm embrace, a kiss, and takes out from his drawer a small little coin and gives it to him, a show of affection, a show of love from a grandfather to a grandchild. R’ Sholom Dovber comes out of the room and shows his older brother, Zalman Aharon, what he got from his grandfather. He got a coin, a beautiful, glittering coin. Zalman Aharon is jealous of his younger brother, and he grabs the coin out of his hand and begins to run away. Sholom Dovber begins crying and shouting: You stole my coin! You grabbed the coin from me! The coin that I got from our grandfather, the Tzemach Tzedek. And then he stops himself and he wipes away his tears and he says: You know what, Zalman Aharon? You can keep the coin. I have the kiss from our Zeyde. I have the kiss of the Tzemach Tzedek. Every time one of us is faced with a temptation in any area, but especially in the area of Shmiras Einayim, we're given two choices. On the one hand, we can have something which is eternal, something which is lasting, something which is going to be there forever, the kiss from the Ribono shel Olam for doing the right thing. But at the same moment, we also have the temptation of going out and grabbing that coin, grabbing that shiny, glittering gold coin, which represents temptations that are here but are fleeting, that are here right now, that look exciting, but are not going to get us the real enjoyment, the real satisfaction, the real fulfillment we want in our lives. Let's all make the proper choice, the choice that the Rebbe Rashab made, the choice of understanding to tell the Yetzer Hara, You can keep the gold coin. I have the kiss from the Ribono shel Olam.