“… And not explore after your heart and after your eyes after which you stray” (Bamidbar 15:39)
The Midrash relates (Yalkut Shimoni, Vayechi 161) a fascinating tale: Rabbi Mattia ben Charash was sitting in the Beit Hamidrash, engrossed in Torah study. His face shone like the sun, and his countenance was like that of a Heavenly angel. In his entire life, he never gazed at a woman. One day, the Satan passed by him, and was extremely agitated at his level of greatness.
He said, “Can there be a person who never sinned? Ribbono shel Olam! How do You view Rabbi Mattia ben Charash?”
“He is a perfect tzaddik.”
“Allow me to test him.”
“You will never succeed in causing him to sin. Still, I grant you permission to try.”
The Satan posed as a beautiful woman, whose beauty surpassed that of Na’ama, the sister of Tuval Kayin. She stood before Rabbi Mattia. When he saw this woman, he immediately turned his head. She moved to where he was looking. So once again he turned away. She moved to his right, he turned to his left; she stood to his left, he turned to the right. Finally, he said, “I am afraid my Yetzer Hara will overpower me and cause me to sin.”
What did this tzaddik do? He called his disciple and asked for nails and fire. He heated up the nails and drove them into his eyes. When the Satan saw this, he collapsed onto the ground.
Hashem commanded the Angel Refael to heal Rabbi Mattia ben Charash. He stood before him. Rabbi Mattia asked, “Who are you?”
“I am Refael, sent by Hashem to heal your eyes.”
“Leave me alone. What was, was.”
Refael returned to Hashem with Rabbi Mattia’s words.
Hashem sent Refael back with the following, “I guarantee that the Yetzer Hara will never overcome him.” With those words, he was healed.
The Rambam writes (Hilchot Teshuvah 4:4) that one who gazes at forbidden sights is unlikely to repent this sin, since most people take this offense lightly. People say, “Did I sin or even come close to this woman?” They do not realize that sinning with one’s eyes is a serious iniquity, which is the direct cause of immorality.
It is forbidden to gesture with one’s hands or feet, or to hint to any type of immorality. He may not joke with a strange woman or act toward her with light-headedness. He may not even smell her perfume or stare at her beauty. One who intentionally takes pleasure in a strange woman’s beauty will be severely punished. Even enjoying the sight of her small finger is comparable to gazing at her nakedness (Rambam, Hilchot Issurei Biah 25:2).
The one who truly loves Hashem does not see the faces of women (Reishit Chochmah in the name of the Rokeach, Sha’ar HaAhavah 1).
Rav Eliyahu Lopian (Lev Eliyahu II, 36) says: Eyes of flesh and blood do not have their own power of sight. They are merely windows through which sunlight enters. Do windows produce light? The power of vision is a spiritual force, located in a person’s brain. From there, nerves connect to the windows, which are man’s eyes.
Defilement enters through these windows. For that reason, Chazal forbid a person from looking into the face of a rasha. This is not merely a level of the devout, but a clear prohibition for everyone. One who transgresses will find his mind filled with foreign thoughts and improper ideas. He will wonder where these thoughts came from. What caused such urges to overtake him? He may be beset by thoughts of arrogance or the like, even though he usually has no connection to such things. What happened was that the rasha’s spirit of defilement clung to him simply by the fact that he looked at the rasha. The wicked man’s urges and feelings entered his system, through his eyes, and prepared a place for him in Gehinnom, rachmana litzlan.
