A Trip to the Netherworld

On a visit to Miami, a man came to me, seemingly interested in telling me his story. But when he stood before me, for some reason, he remained silent and would not open his mouth.

I decided to open the conversation. “Are you sitting in a train right now, keeping quiet? Tell me what’s on your mind.” I had hardly finished talking, when the man’s face turned white as a sheet. He looked like he was about to faint. I understood that there was a correlation between what I had said and his personal story. I pressed further. “Is it that you weren’t careful enough to protect your eyes on a train trip?” At my question, the man began shaking violently. I stared at him in bafflement.

After calming down somewhat, he agreed to share his story. “On a train trip, a gentile woman sat across from me. To this day, I cannot rid my mind of her image. As if that is not enough, she wishes to maintain contact with me. My Yetzer Hara holds me in its sway to such a degree that I am prepared to leave my kosher Jewish wife, who is expecting a baby, together with my four children, in order to consort with this woman. I have no idea how I will extract myself from this mess, all on account of viewing forbidden sights.”

After hearing his scandalous story, I scolded him severely. “Fool! See how low you have sunk! You are ready to sell your soul and family to wallow in the muck!

“This has befallen you because you fail to set aside fixed times for Torah study. Hashem has told us that the Torah is the antidote to the Yetzer Hara. If we are involved in Torah study, we will be spared the schemes of the Yetzer Hara (Kiddushin 30b).

“Had you made set times for daily Torah study, even one hour a day, the Torah would surely have protected you from your Yetzer Hara and you would never have fallen so low. But you relied on your own senses to protect you from your Evil Inclination. Now you stand shaky like a tree with no roots to hold it firmly in place. Any light wind can come and knock you down.”

Then I shared a personal experience. “Tens of thousands of women have come to see me to date. Do I think about them, chas v’shalom? Certainly not! If I had even one inappropriate thought, I would resolve to never again receive female visitors.

“I have decided not to look at any strange woman. It is the Torah which protects me from sin. But one who does not study Torah lacks the benefits of its protective shield.”

I instructed him how to rise from his low level. Baruch Hashem, the next time we met, he related that his situation had vastly improved, and he walks on the road of righteousness.