City on Fire | Rabbi Moshe Scheinerman

R’ Mordche Pegrimansky, who was a Gadol BaTorah in pre-World War II Europe, was in the Kovno ghetto when the Nazis ימח שמם were involved in the total extermination of the ghetto. And for a year, he went from bunker to bunker to try to save himself from the onslaught of the Nazis. There were only two bunkers left, and his Talmid, R’ Mordche Zuckerman, took him to one of the bunkers, whereupon R’ Mordche, when he walked into the bunker, he saw that the עניינים of Tznius had been greatly compromised in that bunker, and he told his Talmid, There's no way that I can stay here. But, Rebbe, the Nazis are all around. If they see us outside, they will kill us on the spot. It's dangerous, it's a סכנה to leave. Whereupon R’ Mordche Pegrimansky said, It's a greater danger to stay here, in such a situation. He left the bunker, and miraculously, he was able to find a way of exiting the ghetto and he was saved. He became quite ill. He had typhoid fever and other problems. And Rebbetzin Sternbuch from Switzerland heard about him, that he was saved, and she brought him to her house. After a few months, after she nursed him back to health, she asked him: Mordche, would you entertain the thought of getting married? He says: Yes. Whereupon she said: I have someone perfect for you. Let me hear, he said. Well, there's a girl who brings you breakfast every single day, for the last half a year that you're in my house. I believe she’ll be a perfect wife for you. Whereupon R’ Mordche said: Fine, but our rabbis tell us it's אסור to marry a woman, until you see her first. Could you possibly bring her in so I could say hello to her and see her, and then I can give you the okay. This young maiden is bringing him breakfast every single day for over half a year. He did not know how she looked, because he understood the Vayimaen, to keep away, to make sure that you control yourself from any עניינים which can compromise your spiritual integrity in those עניינים. The Medrash tells us that Avraham Avinu saw a בירה דולקת, a city on fire. Whereupon he asked the question: Is there a מנהיג לבירה זו? Is there someone who's running the show? As you would say. Where HaKadosh Baruch Hu answered him and said: Yes, I am the מנהיג of the בירה. R’ Schwab explains the dialog between Avraham Avinu and HaKadosh Baruch Hu. Avraham Avinu was treated to a microcosm, a symbolic preenactment of the entire future of Klal Yisroel. And he was shown the dot-com era. He was shown all the enticements, all the compromises of Tznius and all the filth that permeates social media and our entire society. And he asked: Is it possible that You can give a command in Your Torah: ולא תתורו אחרי עיניכם? Can it be possible? There's a בירה דולקת, we are inflamed with passions after being exposed to all that there is out there. Whereupon HaKadosh Baruch Hu told Avraham Avinu, My son, yes, indeed. If a person wants to practice the Vayimaen, and remain faithful to the dictates of the Torah, even in such a situation, such a society that we have, indeed it is possible for a person to be מנצח, to vanquish that enemy of the Yetzer Hara. The תכלית of Vayimaen is to understand that we have it in our power, no matter what the circumstance might be, to indeed be able to control ourselves and come out the better for it.