Guarding Our Hearts and Eyes
The Torah commands in the Book of Bamidbar (15), ולא תתורו אחרי לבבכם ואחרי עיניכם – “You shall not stray after your hearts and after your eyes.” This command is the source of the requirement to avoid inappropriate thoughts and inappropriate sights.
The Sefer Ha’manhig (Laws of Tefillin) writes that we place tefillin on our arms near our hearts, and on our heads near our eyes, in order to help us observe this command. By wearing tefillin near our hearts and eyes, we help protect ourselves from improper thoughts and sights.
Our Sages teach that we do not wear tefillin on Shabbat because the purpose of tefillin is to serve as a sign of our special relationship with God, and Shabbat itself serves as such a sign. It thus turns out that Shabbat supplants the role of tefillin. If so, then we may conclude that Shabbat, like tefillin, has the ability to help us in our effort to avoid improper thoughts and improper sights.
Another source of the connection between Shabbat and this requirement is a comment made by the Talmud Yerushalmi (Berachot): “The heart and the eye are two agents of sin. It is written (Mishleh 23), ‘Give Me your heart, and your eyes shall guard My paths.’ The Almighty said: If you give Me your heart and eyes, then I will know that you are Mine.” By working to avoid improper thoughts and sights, we show that we belong to the Almighty, that we are unwaveringly devoted to Him. Accordingly, on Shabbat, the day which expresses our unique relationship with Hashem, there is special importance to ensuring that we do not think improper thoughts or look upon improper sights.
The requirement to guard our eyes involves more than simply avoiding forbidden sights. The Hovot Ha’levavot (in Sha’ar Ha’perishut, chapter 5) writes that a person can avoid improper sights by making a point of looking at, analyzing and appreciating G-d’s wondrous creations. When, for example, we look at a fruit, and appreciate its color, texture, composition, taste and general design, we are overcome with awe and gratitude for Hashem’s infinite wisdom and infinite kindness, and these feelings help us avoid impropriety. The Hovot Ha’levavot cites several verses from Tehillim in which King David marvels at the wonders of the natural world, such as כי אראה שמיך מעשה אצבעותיך – “For I see Your heavens, the work of Your fingers,” and השמיים מספרים כבוד קל – “The heavens tell of G-d’s glory.” The second of these verses is included in the series of chapters of Tehillim which we add to the Shabbat morning Pesukeh De’zimrah service, and indeed, most of the chapters which we add speak about the wonders of the natural world. One reason, of course, is that we observe Shabbat to commemorate G-d’s having created the world in six days, and thus it is appropriate on this day to speak about and reflect upon the wondrous world He created. But in light of the Hovot Ha’levavot’s comments, there might also be another point of connection between these chapters and Shabbat. As Shabbat is the time to redouble our efforts to guard our eyes, we speak about the wonders of the natural world, because by looking upon these wonders we help avoid looking upon forbidden sights.
The Hovot Ha’levavot’s comments bring to mind an explanation given to another verse which is included in the chapters of Tehillim added on Shabbat: סור מרע ועשה טוב – “Turn away from evil and do goodness.” The Rabbis of Mussar explain this to mean that the way we avoid evil is by involving ourselves in good deeds. The more we focus our attention on טוב, on holy, worthwhile endeavors, the more protected we will be from רע, from evil and sin.
This point is emphasized by the Rambam, in the conclusion of his section of laws dealing with forbidden relations. He writes that the way we avoid temptation in this area is by focusing our minds on words of Torah:
יפנה עצמו ומחשבתו לדברי תורה, וירחיב דעתו בחכמה, שאין מחשבת עריות מתגברת אלא בלב פנוי מן החכמה.
One should direct himself and his thoughts to words of Torah, and expand his mind in wisdom, for the thought of forbidden relations grows only in a heart that is devoid of wisdom.
Rather than simply trying to avoid improper thoughts and sights, we are to actively engage our minds in Torah, and work to expand our knowledge and deepen our understanding of Torah. The human mind is created in such a way that it naturally needs to be filled with something. If we don’t ensure to fill it with Torah and a love for Hashem, then it will be filled by other matters. We must therefore make an effort to fill our minds with Torah and other positive, sacred thoughts, and this will protect us from inappropriate thoughts.
The Rambam concludes by citing the pasuk in Mishleh which compares Torah to a woman, and instructs, באהבתה תשגה תמיד – that we must be “lovesick,” so-to-speak, from our emotional connection to Torah. This has been explained to mean that a man has room in his heart to truly love only one woman. The Rambam here is teaching us that if we make the Torah our beloved “wife,” then we will not have any space in our minds for impropriety.
Shabbat is the time to increase our devotion to, and our love for, Torah study, which will have the effect of assisting us in our efforts to avoid improper thoughts and sights. The more we involve ourselves in meaningful and sacred pursuits, particularly the study of Torah, the better equipped we will be to stay away from things that are inappropriate.
Finally, the Reshit Hochmah teaches that the way one succeeds in avoiding inappropriate thoughts and sights is by becoming a more generally spiritual person. He writes:
בהיותו מסלק עיניו מהגשמיים, יחשוב ברוחניים...כי מדרך האדם מצד נשמתו להמשך אחר הרוחניים...וכשהוא חושב בגשמי הוא חוץ מטבעו.
When he removes his eyes from physicality, he will think of spirituality… For it is natural for a person by virtue of his soul to be drawn after spirituality…and when he thinks of physicality, he is outside his nature.
As we are endowed with a sacred soul, we are naturally drawn after spirituality, but our hearts and eyes lure us away from our essential nature when they are tempted by physicality. On Shabbat, we receive a נשמה יתירה – an extra soul – and so we are more strongly drawn after spirituality than we are on weekdays. And thus on Shabbat, we have the special ability to distance ourselves from inappropriate thoughts and sights, by focusing our minds and hearts on spiritual matters, on Torah and prayer, and this will infuse us with the sanctity and purity we need to withstand the difficult challenges that we so often confront over the course of daily life.