No Place for Jesting
The following incident remains etched in my heart. It is a guidepost which shows just how far one must go in protecting his eyes from forbidden sights.
One Purim, Mother wanted to have some fun. She dressed up as a tourist from abroad. She walked into Father’s room and, changing her voice, asked for his blessing.
Father never looked at strange women. He asked Mother for her name and her mother’s name. In her new voice, Mother stated the names. Father allowed a slight smile to cross his lips. He mentioned that his wife’s name was exactly the same as this woman’s.
Mother merely kept quiet. She also asked for a berachah for her husband, Moshe. Father smiled once again, stating that he had that name. The same thing happened when she listed the names of her children.
Father’s eyes remained closed the entire time. In spite of the uncanny similarities, Father did not know it was his wife who stood before him. We children stood by the side, laughing at the sight. Father asked us what was so funny. Then Mother finally called out, “I am Mazal, your wife!”
When Father heard this, he became very shaken. He asked us in all seriousness who was the woman who stood before him. We calmed him down by saying it was Mother. In the spirit of Purim, we wanted to have some fun. But he did not find it funny in the least. “How could you test me like this?” he moaned. “What if, chas v’shalom, I would have lifted my eyes out of curiosity to see who this woman is, whose entire family has the same names as ours?!”
This was the extent to which Father went to protect the sanctity of his eyes.
