A handsome young man once came to me and said that he was asked to pose as a model. The first time I saw him, I was also struck by his good looks. At that time, I had put forth a prayer that his features should never be the cause of his downfall.<\/p>\n
I was saddened at the prospect that he would pursue this type of career. I exhorted him to at least lay tefillin and observe certain other mitzvot, which would protect his neshamah.<\/em><\/p>\n One day, I got a phone call from him. \u201cHonored Rav, I must have your advice,\u201d he began. \u201cMy father passed away, and his funeral is this afternoon. But I am scheduled to fly somewhere in order to sign a contract with a big company, to pose for them. This is an offer of a few million francs. But I don\u2019t know what to do. My father\u2019s funeral is exactly the same time as the flight.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cDo you know what the burial society will do today with your father?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n \u201cThey will bury him, obviously.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cDo you know what they bury? They bury a person\u2019s body. Do you resemble your father?\u201d<\/p>\n He responded in the affirmative.<\/p>\n \u201cIf so, think a little about your end. Your body, too, will be buried underground, as we are told, \u2018You are dust, and to dust shall you return\u2019 (Bereishit <\/em>3:19). Still, you insist on selling your body to a foreign firm. The Jewish nation does not subscribe to modeling. It is not fitting for a man or woman\u2019s body to be on public display. Moreover, how can you, in good conscience, take a flight to sell your body when you know that your father\u2019s body is being interred just then?\u201d<\/p>\n The young man was surprised at the turn in the conversation. I continued, \u201cI would like to express my condolences, and I sincerely hope you make the right choice.\u201d<\/p>\n A few days later, I met this young man in the Beit Hakeneset Buffault in Paris, when I delivered a sermon there. After my speech, this young man approached me. I noticed that he hadn\u2019t shaved, as is the custom among mourners. I asked what had happened in the end regarding his contract. He replied, \u201cI came in order to rip it to pieces before the Rav.\u201d Before I could utter a word, he took out the contract and tore it to shreds.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat made you change your mind and forego such a lucrative career?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n \u201cMy body is not for sale!\u201d he declared determinedly.<\/p>\n I was extremely happy to hear this. \u201cYou acted properly,\u201d I told him. \u201cOne cannot observe Hashem\u2019s mitzvot while doing whatever he feels like. There are times when a person must decide which road he is taking, for better or for worse. I am glad you chose the right road, the one that leads to life.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A handsome young man once came to me and said that he was asked to pose as a model. The first time I saw him, I was also struck by his good looks. At that time, I had put forth a prayer that his features should never be the cause of his downfall. I was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":26166,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1115],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-99452","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mans-purpose-in-this-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99452","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=99452"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99452\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26166"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=99452"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=99452"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=99452"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}