The Alluring Cheesecake | Shloime Daskal

Hello, hello everyone. How are you doing? How’s the fight going? You’re winning, he’s winning? A minute this way, a minute this way, but hello, we’re not negotiating. We’re gonna fight and fight and fight, because that’s why we’re here. One of the days, I’m praying in shul in Radishitz and I had that thought. So... I was looking. Whether I saw it or didn't see it. What does a look do to a person? As I’m thinking to myself, I’m praying, and somebody brought in... Among the Chasidim, they bring in take-in in shul. I don’t know, it’s a custom, a custom by the Chasidim, they bring a L’chaim. Somebody brought in a cheesecake. I can’t tell you even what kind of cheesecake. It was like one, two, three layers of flavors. And I love cheesecake. He put it down on the table in front of me. I’m in the middle of praying. I’m telling you, Rabbosai, I didn’t hear the Baal Koreh, I didn’t hear the Baal Tefillah, I didn’t know I’m in shul. My eyes were on this cheesecake, and then I saw a person comes and takes a slice. I was like, end of the world. I gotta get there. It was like, I really didn’t feel I’m in shul, until I caught myself. What’s going on here? So it’s a cheesecake. No, because I saw with my eyes and it was so alluring to me that it took me away from the moment. I had to go away to a different table, close my Tallis, and reconnect again, because I just couldn’t. That’s a joke. But in real life, it’s also like that. A person sometimes sees something. Sometimes you watch something and it comes, advertisement. Let’s say somebody in a desert is thirsty and somebody brings him a cold Coke and it’s sweating from the outside. You’re not going to realize that a few minutes later, you’re going to go to the fridge and you’re going to take a drink. You’re not even thirsty. Why? Because your eyes gave you the message, Mm, I need to drink. Because you saw something that pulled you to drink. Same thing, people think, I saw something. It has an impact on you, if not now, in a half hour, in a day. That’s our battle. We have to watch not to get pulled for what we’re seeing. I was interviewed by someone, and while I was talking about my career, I told him that I’m not taking weddings without a partition. And I told him that there was a singer who called me up and told me, Since you have that rule of not singing without a partition, I’m getting a lot of jobs from you. I just want to thank you for your piety so I can have a livelihood. That’s the words that he told me. And when I was interviewed, I told him that. And then I thought to myself, Wow. It’s been 27 years I’m singing and the other guy is not in business anymore. And it’s amazing. Me losing jobs, by not going to those weddings, Hakadosh Baruch Hu helped me and I’m still in the business, still going strong. And I remember I promised Hashem when I started singing, You gave me my voice for free. I’m never going to hurt You with that voice, no matter what. Going to keep myself. I’m not going to go sing where there’s no partition, because I don’t want to hurt You with the gift You gave me. So whatever you do in life, remember Hashem gave it to you. Don’t hurt Him. Give Him pleasure. Say: Thank You, Hashem. I will always serve You in holiness and purity.