Parsha Topic: Clean Heart
You shall guard yourself for all evil. (Devarim 23:10)
From this R. Pinchas ben Yair derived that a man should not have improper thoughts by day, lest he have an impure emission at night. (Kesubos 46a)
Sefer Nefesh Hachayim writes awesome things about the importance of keeping our thoughts pure and holy. This is what he writes, at first quoting the Zohar. [In the following quote, the heart is considered the place where thoughts take place.]
When Hakadosh Baruch Hu created man, He designed him in similarity to the Heavenly Glory. Hakadosh Baruch Hu placed his strength and power in the middle of his body, where the heart is.
The Kodesh Kodoshim in the Beis Hamikdash is the heart of the whole world. Hashem dwells in the middle of the world, and every being receives its sustenance from it. (Similarly, the heart of man is the center of man, and all his limbs and organs derive their energy from there.)
Since this is so, (that the Zohar says that the heart of man is the Kodesh Kodoshim,) when a man’s thoughts stray to something impure, such as adultery, he is thereby bringing a harlot, a symbol of arousing Divine vengeance, into the heavenly, awesome Kodesh Kodoshim in the upper worlds. He thereby strengthens the forces of impurity and the Sitra Achara in the upper Kodesh Kodoshim.
(The severe result caused by this impure thought) is much greater than that caused by the increase in the power of impurity brought about by Titus, (the Roman emperor who destroyed the Second Temple,) when he had a harlot lie down in the Kodesh Kodoshim of the earthly Beis Hamikdash. (This is because the evil deeds of Titus took place only in the lower Beis Hamikdash, while a man’s thoughts have the same effect, but in the upper Beis Hamikdash.)
And so it is with any sin that a Jew brings into his heart. It is like bringing in a foreign fire. This applies to sins such as anger or other evil desires. It is truly a case of “The House of holiness and glory... was given to be burnt by fire.” (It literally burns the Beis Hamikdash.) May the All-Merciful One save us from this.
This is as Hashem said to the prophet Yechezkel: “The place of My Throne... on which I will dwell there in the midst of the Jewish people forever, and the House of Yisrael shall no longer render impurity to My Name... through their harlotry. Now they will distance themselves from their harlotry, and I will dwell in their midst forever.”
Pure Thoughts Build Beis Hamikdash
It is very important to know that if Sefer Nefesh Hachayim says that having improper thoughts is like bringing impurity into Kodesh Hakodoshim, then if such thoughts entered a person’s mind, and he does things to get them out of his mind, it is like he removed impurity from Kodesh Hakodoshim and purified Beis Hamikdash. He built Beis Hamikdash!
In connection with this, I will quote a Chassidic saying from one of the great Rebbes. He said that Chassidim think that the Rebbes, who are great tzaddikim, don’t have improper thoughts. The truth is that they do have improper thoughts, and sometimes even really bad ones. The difference between the Rebbe and his Chassidim is that when an improper thought comes into the mind of the Rebbe, he banishes it with such a fire that this act refines the whole world and brings kedushah and taharah to the world.
Chazal say that one of the things that a person can’t get away from every day is sinful thoughts. It’s a fact of life.
We definitely need to try as hard as we can to keep our minds free from improper thoughts. But at the same time, it is a special avodah to know how to handle it when such thoughts float in. When a person knows how to handle such a situation, when he gets rid of impure thoughts, he is performing an act of kedushah and taharah, an act of greatness, that is quite capable of building his whole personality.
We live in a generation that has harder nisyonos than anything that ever was before. The thoughts that come into our heads are terrible. But we need to know that if a person manages to get this under control, if he knows how to deal with it, he is a great and holy person. And the main thing is when an unwanted thought comes, don’t keep thinking it. Try to get rid of it.
The worst thing with these matters is to get down and despondent. Don’t let it get you down. You should always remember this important principle, that just as bad thoughts bring impurity into the Kodesh Kodoshim, so when you try to clean up your thoughts and get rid of the bad ones, you are actually purifying the Kodesh Kodoshim. You are doing the same thing that the Chashmonaim did for Beis Hamikdash after they defeated the Greeks. They renovated the Beis Hamikdash.
The Masters of Mussar, whenever they would come to this subject, would always mention the positive side as well.
לעולם מידה טובה מרובה ממידת פורענות – “The trait of Divine goodness is always greater than the trait of Divine punishment.” It is indeed very important for us, when we learn about how serious it is to commit aveiros and what great punishments they entail, to keep in mind the rich reward and tremendously good fortune of he who steers clear of these aveiros.
Just Stay Away
The big rule, the first rule, the fundamental rule in handling this whole issue is to look for ways not to get into the situation in the first place.
The biggest tzaddik who ever lived in our world was Yosef Hatzaddik. He was the tzaddik yesod olam. This means that the whole world stood on his merit. He supported the whole world.
There was another tzaddik who supported the whole world, and that was Noach. נח איש צדיק – “Noach was a righteous man.” But it was a very small and limited world. At that time, all that remained of the world was Teivas Noach.
Yosef was the tzaddik, the foundation on which the whole world stood. And even so, when Yosef Hatzaddik faced a nisayon, it says וינס – “He fled.” He simply ran away. Even though he was the greatest tzaddik who ever was, he still needed to escape the place of test and trial. And if he hadn’t escaped, he could not have withstood the Yetzer Hara.
This teaches us that the great principle in keeping up one’s kedushah is simply not to be where the trouble is. There is no better barrier to lust than closing one’s eyes.
Don’t go to all sorts of places, don’t go into those little shops that display those magazines. Don’t even get close to them.
In general, a person needs to train his eyes not to look everywhere. Let’s say you are walking down the street and there are open windows. Don’t peek inside as you are walking by. Don’t try to see what people are doing inside their homes. If you are walking up the stairwell in an apartment building, and someone’s door is open, just look aside. Don’t peek into their home. Besides the matter of tzniyus, it simply isn’t nice. It’s not derech eretz to peek inside people’s homes.
This is the first rule: keep away from where the nisyonos are. I am not talking about high madreigos. I am talking about very basic things that each one of us can and should do.
