But because you even want to try, you are considered a hero in the eyes of Hashem. What defines a hero? The Mishnah tells us, “Who’s a strong person? Who’s a warrior? Who’s a strong soldier? A person that’s able to overcome the Yetzer Hara, the evil inclination to say no to sin.” Rabotai (my masters), we read in the history books that, unfortunately, people lived in lands full of dictatorship, where governments controlled their lives and were very evil. But here and there, you had very strong people who were determined and had the guts to get up and try to topple the government. Some of them succeeded and took down the government, but many did not succeed. But because they even thought to go up against the government and fight for their freedom, they’re considered heroes in the history books.
A person who tries to fight back for emes (truth) and is determined to actually be holy is considered a hero. That is considered a person who’s a strong soldier of Hashem. “Eizehu gibor? Hakoveish et yitzro” doesn’t only mean that when you actually conquer the Yetzer Hara, you are a gibor. Of course, if you actually take him down, control your eyes totally, and become a holy person, of course you’re a gibor, a very strong person, and a huge tzaddik (righteous person). But it’s even more than that. It’s every time you try to conquer the Yetzer Hara. It’s every time a person in this generation, with the sins all over the place and the pritzus (sexual immodesty) so viral—it’s all over the place—even thinks to control his eyes, wants to control his eyes, has a strategy and a plan, and deep inside, his heart really wants to take upon himself to take down this massive Yetzer Hara in our generation, a person who even thinks, who tries to do that, is considered a hero.
“Eizehu gibor? Hakoveish et yitzro” means: Who is a gibor? Who is a strong soldier? A person that wants to conquer the Yetzer Hara. The whole world is going in the other direction, against HaKadosh Baruch Hu. More sins, more avarice. So a person who gets up against the whole culture and says, “I want to control my eyes.” Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose.