Rav Avigdor Miller on Things to Think About

The Rambam says how to do it. If your mind is a vacuum, if your mind is empty, then wicked thoughts will come in. If your mind is full of good thoughts then they won’t have any place to come in.

How do you get good thoughts? There are so many things to think about. זכרו נפלאותיו אשר עשה – remember the miracles of old. Train yourself. Your mind is full of thoughts about the makkos in Mitzrayim. Dam, Tzefardaya; it’s not for Pesach night alone. Think about it in the middle of the year. Kinim. All the makkos. Think about it.

The Chofetz Chaim was once seen by a man in his room. The man did something wrong. He looked through the keyhole. It wasn’t right to do that. The Chofetz Chaim was sitting on his bed. He was sitting on his bed with a chumash. At night the Chofetz Chaim was with a chumash and he was reading the makkos. He said, “Ah! Gut oif em! Good on him! Good for him! Good for them!” He was so happy. He was reading the pessukim of Dam and he was talking about the pleasure of knowing that Dam came upon Pharaoh. And Tzefardaya. Good for him! Good for him! The Chofetz Chaim was sitting at night on his bed saying that.

So we see it’s a derech. It’s a derech that way. It wasn’t on Pesach. זכרו נפלאותיו אשר עשה – Remember the miracles. Your head is full of the miracles. Your head is full of Yetzias Mitzrayim and Krias Yam Suf. See that picture in my mind always.

Think of Matan Torah. The Rambam says גדלהו על כל גדולה. The picture of Matan Torah when you heard that voice of Hashem, heard only once in history, speaking. נפשי יצא בדברו – My soul went out of me when I heard that voice. Picture that moment; once in history.

There are so many things to think about. You can think about the mesivta in Pumbedisa and in Sura where thousands of people came twice a year from all over. Farmers who took vacation twice a year from farm work and they came twice a year in those places and they sat in the streets. They said אמר רב יהודה אמר רב, אמר רב יהודה אמר שמואל. All day long they sat in the streets talking in learning. It was so crowded that there was no place left in the houses. For one month thousands of people crowded into the mesivta towns and sat in the streets, on the sidewalks, talking in learning. All day long. All day long. For one month. It was a tremendous sight.

The Gemara says that the gentiles in those towns are going to be subject to retribution: “You saw the kavod haTorah, the glory of the Torah, and you didn’t become a ger?! You saw such glory of the Torah! Why didn’t you gentiles become geirim?!” It was a tremendous sight to see people crowding all the streets and learning Torah.

Or Pesach in Yerushalayim when they brought the korban Pesach. Two million people came to Yerushalayim for the korban Pesach. Two million people! At the time of the churban Beis Hamikdash even. And they were singing all night all over. All over, in every street, there were fires and they were broiling the korban Pesach in the evening. And the smell of the broiled mutton is a pleasant smell. Your mouth waters when you smell broiled mutton. And everybody is eating broiled mutton and enjoying it and singing the songs at night. Pesach night you say hallel. They sang with a niggun. It was such a strong sound that the roofs were quivering up and down. The roofs almost caved in. All the roofs almost caved in. They didn’t cave in however. The roofs were going up and down because the soundwaves caused the roofs to move. Yerushalayim was tremendous! A sight to see! Think about that. Just think about that. All these pictures should be in your mind.

When you have these things in your mind or you’re always thinking all the dinim of the Torah and all the sugyos of the gemara, your mind is full of good things then believe me there won’t be any space left for machshavos ra’os to come in.

Women could think into the Mesillas Yesharim. Women should learn Mesillas Yesharim. There are tremendous lessons there. There’s so much to learn. So much wisdom. If their minds are full of Mesillas Yesharim then they wouldn’t think about gossiping on the telephone anymore.

TAPE # E-218 (January 2000)