NUM185 It was taught: R. Levi said: "The heart and the eye are the two agents of sin, as it is written (Proverbs 23:26): "Give, my son, your heart to Me, and your eyes shall heed My ways." The Holy One Blessed be He is saying, in effect: "If you give Me your heart and your eyes, I know that you are Mine (Yerushalmi Berachoth 1:5)

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NUM186 This teaches us that the eyes follow the heart. But may it not be that the heart follows the eyes! Can you say so? Are there not blind men who perform all the abominations in the world! (Sifrei)

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NUM187 … all religions have developed their own technique for self-expression. Their leaders have felt that the religious sense, like any other, if left to itself, runs the danger of wasting away or returning to seed and of developing along irrational and anti-social lines, examples of which abound in history. They have, therefore, sought to direct into channels that are socially as well as personally useful. They have cast it into forms that are aesthetically satisfying and morally stimulating. Out of the experience of the group, nation or community, they have selected elements that may serve as behavior patterns and have set them up as signs and symbols of the sacred. These forms and ceremonies express the spiritual strivings and the moral ideals of the religious community. They serve as effective means in the religious education of the people in holding them together as a united body. Though often practiced blindly, they tend to evoke something of the spirit which called them forth. The Midrash calls attention to the sequence of the verbs in (this verse)--"Ye shall look upon it (the fringe), and remember all the commands of the Lord, and do them" – – and remarks that "seeing leads to remembering, and remembering to doing." Tanhuma, Old, Shelah, 15.

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NUM188 Judaism clearly separates between the desire to sin and the sin itself. In every realm of life, Judaism recognizes that Jews, as normal human beings, have desires to commit sins. The premise of the concept of the inner battle between a good inclination and the bad inclination is based on man's normal desire to sin, as alluded to in the Torah (Genesis 9: (sic 8:) 21). It is only because of the great natural desire that the Torah prohibits every Jewish man from being alone with a woman (the commandment of Yichud, as cited above). Similarly, because the Torah recognizes the normal desire among men to have homosexual activity, in certain societies Jewish law prohibits two men from being alone together (as discussed above). But although it is natural to have certain sexual feelings, the Torah says clearly that it is forbidden to act upon those desires [this verse]. Thus, while many sexual desires may be normal and not prohibited, acting upon those desires violates Jewish principles and Jewish law, whether they are between man and man or man and a (forbidden) woman. For example, while it may be normal for a heterosexual married man to desire a beautiful married woman who is not his wife, acting upon this desire violates the seventh of the Ten Commandments. Similarly, while the Torah may understand homosexual desires, acting upon it is forbidden. Therefore, the Midrash specifically says concerning all prohibitions in the Torah that a Jew's attitude should not be, "I have no desire for that which is forbidden (pork or even another man)," but a Jew should rather say, "What can I do, since God has commanded me not to act upon these desires (Midrash, Yalkut Shimoni, Vayikra 20). Every society, even secular society, demands that some sexual desires be held in check, and regulates man's acting upon his sexual desires. Judaism regulates illicit sexual activity as well and this prohibits man to act on his illicit homosexual desire.

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NUM189 It was taught: The section of tzitzith includes "the yoke of mitzvoth," as it is written: "and you shall see it, and you shall remember all the mitzvoth of the Lord" (Berachoth 12b)

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NUM193 Should the Jewish community spend millions of dollars of public monies to build Holocaust memorials? Should the death camps and other reminders of Nazi Germany be left standing when their memory causes so much pain to those who experienced the Holocaust firsthand? Both questions require an emphatic yes, from a Jewish point of view. The Talmud (Menachot 43b) says that based on the verse in the last paragraph of the Shema (this verse), only when one sees something will that cause the person to remember. This remembrance will then lead to action. Although this specific concept is mentioned in the Shema regarding the wearing of tzizit (the blue-colored fringe will remind one of the sky, the sky of God, and so forth), the educational use of a visual effect is well-known in secular society and is used in Jewish ritual as well. People remember best by seeing. Although this generation may not need a visual device to remember the Holocaust because it took place so recently, future generations will certainly need Holocaust memorials, museums, or the remnants of the actual sites to help them visualize and remember. In an age where active attempts are made by many groups to forget the Holocaust or even to claim that it did not happen, these visual memorials are necessary to tell the world what really happened.... The Talmud (Megillah 28a) records that when a synagogue was in disrepair, covered with grass, the people were not allowed to repair the damage, since they should suffer when they see a synagogue in ruins. In a different way, when the Jewish people see the remnants of the camps, they are reminded not only of what transpired in those camps, but of the "disrepair" of the Jewish community in Europe, which will never be rebuilt.

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NUM190 Is this accounting a constant obligation, or is it obligatory only at certain times and not others? I would say, in response to this question, that self-accounting is obligatory for a person--in accordance with his power of intellect and excellence of mind-- at all times, it every moment, and, if possible, with every breath that he takes, so he never be without awe, fear, and shame before God, may He be exalted, Who observes him continually. One may infer [this duty] from what God commanded the king: “And he shall have a copy of this Torah written for him on a scroll before the Kohanim and Levi’im. It shall remain with him, and he shall read from it all the days of his life” (Devarim 17:18-19). Furthermore, He said: “This book of the Torah shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night” (Yehoshua 1:8); “These words which I command you this day must be on your heart” (Devarim 6:6) ; “Bind them as a sign on your hand and let them be a frontlet in the center of your head. Write them on the doorposts of your houses and on your gates” (ibid. 6:8-9). And He emphasized the matter by [the commandment of] tzitzis, saying: “It shall be your tassel, that you may look upon it and remember all the commandments...” (Bemidbar 15:39); “Thus you will remember and do all My commandments” (ibid. 15:40). What further kinds of encouragement toward self-accounting-- which is part of the meaning of remembering the Creator--could there be that have not already been urged upon us by God? Accordingly, my brother, you should adopt the practice of holding yourself to an accounting before God, may He be exalted, at all times and at every moment. Do not underestimate any good act that you perform for His sake, even if it is only a few words or a glance; for the smallest [act] on your part looms large in His sight. The same applies to transgressions.

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NUM191 It was taught: "and you shall see it, and you shall remember all the mitzvoth of the Lord, and you shall do them:" This teaches us that seeing leads to remembering; and remembering, to doing (Menachoth 43b)

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NUM192 Know that remembrance leads to action, as it is written [this verse]: "And remember… and you shall do" (Menachos 43b). Therefore, strengthen yourself greatly in the trait of remembrance and take care to remember, with each mitzvah, for Whose sake you are performing it and Who your Taskmaster is.

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NUM194 [Experiments show] that what makes the difference to the way we behave is not simply what we believe, but rather the fact of being reminded of it. In one test, conducted by Brandon Randolph-Seng and Michael Nielsen, participants were exposed to words flashed for less than 100 milliseconds, that is, long enough to be detected by the brain but not long enough for conscious awareness. They were then given a test in which they had the opportunity to cheat. Those who had been shown words relating to God were significantly less likely to do so than people who had been shown neutral words. The same result was yielded by another test in which, beforehand, some of the participants were asked to recall the Ten Commandments while others were asked to remember the last ten books they had read. Merely being reminded of the Ten Commandments reduced the tendency to cheat. Another researcher, Deepak Malhotra, surveyed the willingness of Christians to give to online charitable appeals. The response was 300% greater if the appeal was made on a Sunday then on any other day of the week. Clearly the participants did not change their minds about religious belief or the importance of charitable giving between weekdays and Sundays. It was simply that on Sundays they were more likely to have thought about God. A similar test was carried out among Muslims in Morocco, where it was found that people were more likely to give generously to charity if they lived in a place where they could hear the call to prayer from a local minaret. [Ara] Norenzayan's [author of Big Gods: How Religion Transformed Cooperation and Conflict (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2013), 13-54)] conclusion is that "religion is more in the situation than in the person," or, to put it another way, what makes the difference to our behavior is less what we believe than the phenomenon of being reminded, even subconsciously, of what we believe. That is precisely the psychology behind the mitzvah of tzizit in Parashat Shelah [this verse]. The Talmud (Menahot 44a) tells the story of a man who, in a moment of moral weakness, decided to pay a visit to a certain courtesan. He was in the course of removing his clothes when he saw the tzitzit and immediately froze. The courtesan asked him what was the matter, and he told her about the tzitzit, saying that the four fringes had become accusing witnesses against him for the sin he was about to commit. The woman was so impressed by the power of this simple command that she converted to Judaism.

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