The Holiness Of The Eyes

Rabbi Mordechai Greenberg - Rosh Yeshivat Kerem Bi-Yavneh from Shabbat Bi-Shabbato [translated by Moshe Goldberg]

Yehuda sends his friend from Adulam to find a woman, and the friend asks, "Where is the harlot at the lookout point (literally: 'eyes') of the road?" [Bereishit 38:21]. The word used for harlot is "kedaisha," related to the word for holiness. Chassidim see this language as a hint that the sanctity of a person depends on the eyes. The sages commented on the phrase, "He who shuts his eyes from seeing evil" [Yeshayahu 33:16], that this refers to a man who does not look at women while they wash laundry. It is written in the Shulchan Aruch, "A man must stay far away from women, and it is forbidden to make light with them, to be brash with them, or to look at their beauty" [Even Ha'ezer 21]. The Rambam writes, "One who looks at forbidden sexual sights may think that it is nothing, since he will say to himself, did I have sexual relations with them or get close to them? But he is not aware that looking with the eyes is a great sin, which leads to the full sin of sexual misconduct." [Hilchot Teshuva 4:4]. On the other hand, it is written that one who looks at sexual sights and refrains from partaking in the act will have the privilege of encountering the face of the Shechina (Vayikra Rabba 23).     Chanukah lamps are able to mend problems of the eyes. When the sages stated that we do not have permission to make use of them but only to look at them, they did not mean that we are only allowed to view the flames. Rather, the goal of lighting the lamps is to look at them, because they are an extension of the lamps in the Temple. It is written in the Midrash, "As long as the Temple continues to exist the custom will continue to exist, but the lamps will always burn facing the Menorah" [Bamidbar Rabba 15:8]. The Ramban explains, "This is a hint of the Chanukah lamps of the Chashmona'im, which are lit even after the destruction of the Temple, while we are in exile." The windows in the Temple were "transparent and sealed" [Melachim I 6:4]. That is, they were narrow on the inside and wide on the outside, so that the light would emanate out and light up the entire universe. And that is why we recite a blessing about seeing the lamps, since this act spreads the light and brings the sanctity inside us.   We are told in the book Netivot Shalom about a Chassidic rabbi who would look at the Chanukah flames for most of the time that they were lit, for several hours at a time. He would not take his eyes from the lamps even when he was giving a Torah sermon. In addition, according to the halacha a Chanukah menorah must be less than twenty Amot above the ground because if it is higher than this "the eye does not include it."   The Talmud teaches us that the Chanukah lamps should continue to shine their light "until the feet of the people of Termod have left the public area" [Shabbat 21b]. We are also told that a Gentile asked Hillel, "Why are the eyes of the people of Termod narrow?" And he answered, "It is because they live in the sand." [31a]. The Maharsha explains that the people followed their eyes, which means that they were drawn into illicit sexual encounters, like Shimshon who followed the direction of his gaze. In this way the people of Termod harmed the sanctity of their eyes, which became narrow. And this is the meaning of the words of Hillel, that they live in the sand. "Chol," sand, also means profane, and Hillel was teaching us that the people of Termod are not holy since they are drawn after the profane. Thus, the hidden explanation of the phrase, "until the feet of the people of Termod have left the public area" is as follows: maintain the light until these people change their behavior and no longer gaze on forbidden sights. The Chanukah lamps have the power to curtail their behavior and to mend the eyes ("regel" not in the sense of feet but rather "hergel," a normal practice), such that mankind will return to its proper holy state.   [A reader added...]  In connection with this, we may note the fascinating and superbly on target commentary by the linguistic expert Hillel Zeidel on the verse, "A lamp of G-d is the soul of man, it searches out all the innermost chambers of the stomach" [Mishlei 20:27]. The word "ner," a lamp, can be viewed as a verb, as a parallel expression to the verb in the second half of the verse. Just as G-d searches and finds what is not outwardly visible, in the innermost chambers of the stomach, so does He "plow" – dig and search – within the innermost part of man, his soul, and reach into "the soul of man." Thus, more than anything else the lamps of Chanukah symbolize the inner soul of the nation of Yisrael from which it draws its strength. Let us hope and pray that lighting the Chanukah lamps and looking at them will enlighten us and wake us up to serve G-d in the holiest possible way.