01 Apr CULTIVATING WHOLESOME EYES

This year, instead of
doing the bedikas
chometz on the night
immediately before
Pesach, we will do our
search for chometz a day
early, on Thursday night,
since erev Pesach falls out
on Shabbos, on Saturday
night. In the performance of the bedikah, the
search, it is customary to use a candle to hunt
for each and every minute particle of chometz.
The minhag is further brought down, to burn
the candle together with the chometz that we
burn. (Incidentally, this year we will burn the
chometz a day early, on Friday morning, and
the final destruction of the leftover crumbs
from our early morning chometz meals on
Shabbos will be disposed of in the commode,
followed by the final bittul, or nullification,
which will also be done on Shabbos morning.)
It seems puzzling that we should burn the
candle also. After all, it contains no leaven
and merely helped us to fulfil the once-a-year
grand mitzvah of bedikah. The Vizhnitzer
Rebbe, zt”l, zy”a, gives a very clever and
fundamental explanation to this custom. [May
the present day Vizhnitzer Rebbe of Eretz
Yisroel have a speedy and complete refuah
sheleimah.] The Rebbe explains that we
burn the candle because the candle’s job was
to seek out that which is no good for Pesach,
namely the chometz. This is because chometz

further represents the yeitzer hara, the evil
inclination, as the Gemora informs us, it is
the se’or she’b’isa, the ‘sour dough’ within
the dough. This ‘sour dough’ symbolizes the
yeitzer hara for, just as it agitates the dough to
ferment, so too does the yeitzer hara agitate us
to sin. Concludes the Vizhnitzer Rebbe, any
instrument whose purpose is to seek out the
bad deserves to be burnt.
To elaborate on this idea, the Gemora teaches
us that one who has three traits can consider
himself a true talmid, a disciple, of Avraham
Avinu. One of these traits is ayin tova, a good
eye, which means the characteristic of seeing
the good in everyone. That was the remarkable
way of Avraham Avinu, who served a royal
meal at the age of one hundred in the midst
of post-surgical pain to three people who he
thought were idolatrous sand worshipers. This
is the antithesis of Bilaam, who had an ayin
ra’ah, and whose eyes were trained to notice
the faults and the flaws in people.
We all know the famous verse about lashon
hara, evil speech: “Mi ha’ish hechafeitz chaim?
– Who is the man who desires life?” After
skipping a stanza, it goes on to say, “N’tzor
lashon’cha mei’rah – Guard your tongue from
speaking evil.” But first, we receive an earlier
directive. “Mi ha’ish hechafeitz chaim oheiv
yamim, liros tov – Who is the man who wants
life and loves days, let him train himself to see
good.” Too many people have the sorry habit

that when they meet up with a person, they
mentally take a measure of the person’s faults.
And only then, when they socialize with them,
do they feel confident and not on edge. This
is a habit that needs to be eradicated. To the
contrary, we are taught, “Eizahu chacham?
Halomeid mikol adam – Who is wise? He that
can learn and better himself from every man.”
The question, “Who is rich?” is also answered,
“Hasamei’ach b’chelko – One who is happy
in his lot,” one who sees the cup as half-full
instead of half-empty, and dwells upon his
blessings instead of what he is lacking. So too,
when meeting up with a person, train yourself
to take note of, as the famous song proclaims,
“Mailas chavereinu v’lo chesroneinu – The
strengths of your friend instead of their flaws.”
This is why the posuk prefaces the trait of liros
tov, seeing the good, before n’tzor lashon’cha
mei’rah, to remind us to see the good in people
before the admonition to guard our tongues
from speaking evil. This is since, if we
train ourselves to see the positive, we won’t
be focused on the negative and we therefore
won’t have any lashon hara to gossip about.
This training will assist us greatly in our
marital harmony. If we focus more on the
positive attributes of our spouse, instead of
what they are lacking, we will reciprocate
more positively and live more happily. Thus,
we burn the candle that helps us out to ferret
the toxic chometz, to remind us that our eyes

should be used to look at people benevolently
and not critically.
In this merit, may Hashem gaze upon us with
an ayin tova, and bless us with long life, good
health, and everything wonderful.