Eyes that Create Plague

Why Guarding Our Eyes Is Not Fanaticism—It’s Sanity

Hashem's war of vengeance against the Midianites—twelve thousand hand-picked warriors—all tzaddikim—one thousand from each of the twelve tribes. How do we know that they were all tzaddikim? Based on the fact that Moshe Rabbeinu praised them and that each of them returned in peace, the Midrash states (Shir ha-Shirim Rabbah 4:5): הֱוֵי אוֹמֵר שֶׁהָיוּ צַדִּיקִים בְּיוֹתֵר (You must say that they were exceptional tzaddikim).

So although Moshe had become angry at them for not executing the women—the women who had seduced B'nei Yisrael into committing licentiousness at Shittim—the captains of the army testified to Moshe, saying (Bemidbar 31:49): עֲבָדֶיךָ נָשְׂאוּ אֶת־רֹאשׁ אַנְשֵׁי הַמִּלְחָמָה אֲשֶׁר בְּיָדֵנוּ וְלֹא־נִפְקַד מִמֶּנּוּ אִישׁ (Your servants took a headcount of the soldiers who were under our charge and not one man from us is lacking [or 'missing']). What did they mean by saying that no one was lacking or missing? Lacking what? Rav Nachman taught in the name of Rabbah bar Avuha (Shabbat 64a) that not even one of the twelve thousand soldiers was diminished by sin as a result of the war. If so, their next words are perplexing (Bemidbar 31:50): וַנַּקְרֵב אֶת־קׇרְבַּן יְיָ אִישׁ אֲשֶׁר מָצָא כְלִי־זָהָב אֶצְעָדָה וְצָמִיד טַבַּעַת עָגִיל וְכוּמָז לְכַפֵּר עַל־נַפְשֹׁתֵינוּ לִפְנֵי יְיָ (So we have brought an offering to Hashem, each man—from what he found—[brought] an article of gold, an anklet, a bracelet, a ring, an earring, a kumaz—to provide atonement for our souls before Hashem).

The Gemara states that Moshe asked incredulously: אִם כֵּן כַּפָּרָה לָמָּה (If so, why [do you need] an atonement?). Their answer reveals an important truth: אִם מִידֵי עֲבֵירָה יָצָאנוּ מִידֵי הִרְהוּר לֹא יָצָאנוּ (If we escaped from sinning [in deed], [does that mean that] we [necessarily] escaped from thoughts [of sin]?). And lest we think that they entertained lewd thoughts, the Midrash explains: אפשר שלא הזיע יצר הרע קמעה על אותה הזיעה של יצר הרע אנו אומרים להביא קרבן (Can it be that the Yetzer ha-Ra did not cause us a little sweat; it is on account of that sweat of the Yetzer ha-Ra that we bring an offering). So we're dealing here with the difference in a hairsbreadth.

Sometimes we read the parashah without pausing to consider what’s really there. Every item the men brought as an offering was women’s jewelry—and not just innocuous adornments. Rashi explains, on Shemot 35:22, that the kumaz was an ornament worn over a woman's private parts, for כוּמָז is roshei teivot for כַּאן מְקוֹם זִמָּה—'here is the place of licentiousness'. To put it bluntly, the Midianite women were warriors of weaponized sexuality. Every part of their bodies was decorated to maximize seductive power. The twelve thousand tzaddikim knew exactly what they were walking into—a brothel, literally. This was spiritual warfare in its rawest form, purity against tumah—and yet those great warriors did not succumb.

Knowing exactly what they were walking into, how did they protect themselves? Shir ha-Shirim Rabbah explains: שֶׁבְּשָׁעָה שֶׁהָיוּ נִכְנָסִין זוּגוֹת זוּגוֹת אֵצֶל הָאִשָּׁה הָיָה אֶחָד מֵהֶן מְפַחֵם פָּנֶיהָ וְאֶחָד מֵהֶם מְפָרֵק נְזָמֶיהָ (At the time when they would enter, two by two, to the woman—one of them would blacken her face with soot and the other one would remove her rings). We need to unpack this a bit because it is truly extraordinary. First of all, they went into each tent in pairs. This itself should have been sufficient to have protected themselves against any sinful deed. Not only that, but keep in mind that each of them knew that the other one was a great tzaddik. Talk about positive peer pressure.

Let us try to picture what happened next. One of them carried a bucket of soot, and as soon as he reached the entrance to the tent, he opened his eyes just enough to locate the women and hurl the soot over them, obscuring their beauty—and that was all he did. He didn’t remove their jewelry—why not? Because even that brief glance had already tainted his sight. So it fell to the other, who hadn’t seen anything at all, to approach closer and strip away the ornaments. And still, with all these precautions, they knew they hadn’t emerged entirely unscathed, free from improper thoughts.

These weren’t ordinary men. These were tzaddikim—holy men who had seen Moshe Rabbeinu face to face, who lived every day under the shadow of the Shechinah. They would never dream of being alone with a woman. They guarded their eyes with fierce dedication. And when they had no choice but to approach a Midianite woman, they blackened her from head to toe with soot—to dull her beauty and protect their thoughts. And even then, they didn’t trust themselves. Even then, they didn’t claim purity of mind. So what about us? We’re not on their level. We’ve never seen Moshe or the Shechinah hovering above our homes. And if we’re honest, we might not always take the laws of yichud, shemirat negiah, or shemirat einayim as seriously as we should. We glance at women—strangers, girls—not even thinking twice. And yet we still believe we’re safe? That we’re immune? If they were afraid of their thoughts—those giants of kedushah—why aren’t we? Is it because we are not as familiar with these halachot as we are with the chumrot of wrapping our kitchens in tinfoil during Pesach? Maybe.

If you've read this far and are willing to keep an open mind, the real questions are, Why are these things such a big deal? Why did the twelve thousand men go to such extremes? Were they just religious fanatics? Or did they understand something that we have forgotten?

Regarding the cause of the flood, Rashi writes on Bereshit 6:13: כָּל מָקוֹם שֶׁאַתָּה מוֹצֵא זְנוּת וַעֲ"זָ אַנְדְּרוֹלוֹמוּסְיָא בָּאָה לְעוֹלָם וְהוֹרֶגֶת טוֹבִים וְרָעִים (Every place where you find licentiousness and idolatry, androlomusia come to the world and kill the good and the evil). Although Rashi does not explain what androlomusia are or how they come into existence, we know from his words that they are a devastating and widespread destructive force associated with licentiousness and idolatry. The Midrash that Rashi quotes doesn't clarify matters much either (Bereshit Rabbah 26:5): אָמַר רַבִּי שִׂמְלָאי בְּכָל מָקוֹם שֶׁאַתָּה מוֹצֵא זְנוּת אַנְדְּרוֹלוֹמוּסְיָא בָּאָה לָעוֹלָם וְהוֹרֶגֶת טוֹבִים וְרָעִים (R' Simlai said, In every place that you find licentiousness androlomusia come to the world and they kill the good and the evil). Other midrashic sources exist, but most of them conceal as much as they reveal.

The mystery of the androlomusia is finally revealed in the Megalleh Amukot, an incredible and fascinating work written by R' Nathan Nata Shapira in 1637. In the gloss to Ofan 191 to Parashat Va'Etchanan, we read a rather lengthy and detailed explanation of androlomusia. In short, they are demonic powers created as offspring of the unholy union between the Samech-Mem and his consort, Lilit. When a man looks at a woman whom he is forbidden to look at, he causes yichud between these male and female forces of the Sitra Achra. The androlomusia that are created through this act of unholy yichud are the most destructive spiritual forces in the world, and when they are unleashed, they indiscriminately kill. It is written there: כי כשמזדווגין יחד בסוד ברי"ת אז אנדרלמוסי"א בא לעולם שהוא דכר ונוקבא יחד סמאל לילית אנד"ר דכר למוסי"א נוקבא (For when they pair up together in the secret of brit [gematria = 612], then androlomusia come to the world, which is male and female together, Sam'el and Lilit, andar is male, l'musia is female). In other words, it is a borrowed word: andro comes from ἀνδρός [andros], the Greek word for man, and l'musia comes from λοῖμος [loimos], the Greek word for plague or pestilence. The 'man' is, of course, the Samech-Mem, and the destructive plague-being is the female demon, Lilit.

But let's not get sidetracked by etymology. The point is that Hashem called Avraham Avinu, and made a holy brit with him to counteract the unholy brit of the forces of evil. As it is further developed here: סוד ברי"ת שהוא סוד סמא"ל לילי"ת דכר ונוקבא כשמזדווגין יחד עולים כמנין ברי"ת כי סמא"ל עולה קל"א שהוא רוכב על ק"ל מחנות (The secret of brit, that it is the secret of Sam-el and Lili-t [gematria = 480, for she [as 1] rides on 480 camps = 481], male and female, when they pair up with each other, they add up to 612, which is the gematria of brit, for the gematria of Sam-el is 131, for he [as 1] rides over 130 camps). The male force of the Samech-Mem corresponds to 130, which corresponds to the 130 years that Adam ha-Rishon refrained from having intimate relations with his wife. Instead of producing holy seed, through the spilling of seed not in its proper place, he sired רוּחִין וְשֵׁידִין וְלִילִין—spirits, demons and female-demons (Eruvin 18b). These 130 years also correspond to Ya'akov's ladder [סֻלָּם, sulam] which also has the gematria of 130, teaching that Ya'akov's job was to repair the sin of the 130 years of Adam ha-Rishon's life. Further, this connects with why the Torah was given at Har Sinai [סיני], which also has the gematria of 130. The main purpose of Hashem giving the Torah to Yisrael was to enable us to guard the holy brit, prevent the unholy forces of evil from uniting, break the power of the androlomusia in the world, and ultimately, bring about total rectification of the catastrophic consequences of Adam's actions.

So although we have covered a lot of ground in just a few words, one crucial component is still missing. What is the primary vehicle that determines whether androlomusia are created or not? The answer is: the eyes—for עַיִן [ayin, eye] also has the gematria of 130. When we look, unholy yichud takes place and androlomusia are created—and devastating destruction will eventually come our way, chas, chas, chas v'shalom. But if we guard our eyes—as the tzaddikim who fought the Midianite war did—then androlomusia will not be produced and we will contribute to the tikkun of the sin of Adam ha-Rishon. This is why Rava said (Sotah 8a): גְּמִירִי דְּאֵין יֵצֶר הָרָע שׁוֹלֵט אֶלָּא בְּמַה שֶּׁעֵינָיו רוֹאוֹת (It is brought down as a tradition that the Yetzer ha-Ra controls only what a person's eyes see).

When we get to the heart of the matter, it’s not really that complicated at all. The choice is up to each of us. Either we help repair that which we damaged, or we contribute to the emergence of another Shoah, chas v'shalom. Guarding one's eyes is not fanaticism—it's sanity.