Anxious Feet and Troubled Eyes
Toras Avigdor | March 03, 2024
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Anxious Feet and Troubled Eyes

Toras Avigdor | June 27, 2025

Now, the Gemara (Brachos 43b) states that הָּסַּ‚ הָיﬠƒס¿ּפ – a hasty footstep, רֹו‡¿ּמƒמ ̃'' ̇מ „ָח∆‡ ̇∆ל∆טֹנו םָ„ָ‡ ל∆ׁ ̆ יוָינ≈ﬠ– takes away one five-hundredth of a man’s eyesight. That's what the Chachomim say, that if you’re in a hurry, you're afraid you'll be late and you’re rushing with anxiety, whatever it is, you have to know that it's going to affect your eyesight. The Gemara says “one five-hundredth” but it’s not measured with a caliper; it means that the anxiety takes away a little bit of man's eyesight.

I remember once I went to an eye specialist. I was seeing rainbows and I didn’t know what it was; I was afraid. Baruch Hashem, it wasn’t serious. The doctor discovered that it was a piece of foreign matter lodged in the tear duct. But I remember one of the questions he asked me, before he examined me, was “Do you get angry often?”

Now, the Gemara (Brachos 43b) states that הָּסַּ‚ הָיﬠƒס¿ּפ – a hasty footstep, רֹו‡¿ּמƒמ ̃'' ̇מ „ָח∆‡ ̇∆ל∆טֹנו םָ„ָ‡ ל∆ׁ ̆ יוָינ≈ﬠ– takes away one five-hundredth of a man’s eyesight. That's what the Chachomim say, that if you’re in a hurry, you're afraid you'll be late and you’re rushing with anxiety, whatever it is, you have to know that it's going to affect your eyesight. The Gemara says “one five-hundredth” but it’s not measured with a caliper; it means that the anxiety takes away a little bit of man's eyesight.

I remember once I went to an eye specialist. I was seeing rainbows and I didn’t know what it was; I was afraid. Baruch Hashem, it wasn’t serious. The doctor discovered that it was a piece of foreign matter lodged in the tear duct. But I remember one of the questions he asked me, before he examined me, was “Do you get angry often?”

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