Anger at the Pritzut
Question
How do I quell or manage my feelings of anger when I accidently see a women not dressed appropriately. After immediately turning away, I am surged with anger at them for causing such a mikshol , not to mention the image I have to remove from my mind before the next tefilla. Looking for guidance
Answer
Shalom!
Thank you for your question.
First of all, I want to congratulate you on a couple of issue right from the start: 1. That you work on “guarding your eyes” from inappropriate thoughts and 2. That it bothers you! We need more people like you!
About thoughts during Tefillah, it is important to know that such thoughts come automatically and therefore the more you fight it, the more it will disturb your tefillah, so the way to overcome it is by ignoring it, not to fight it and just concentrate on the words you are saying and then you will see the thoughts will fade away.
In general, always think good thoughts. Thinks thoughts of
Torah. Think thoughts of all the mitzvot you accomplished and plan to accomplish
that day. Remember “Shiviti” that G-d is everywhere at all times.
I would also recommend to better focus on having pity on such ladies who don’t dress appropriately since they have no idea how terrible that is. So too, they have no idea as to their holiness as a bas Yisrael – a Jewish woman. If women knew how special they are in G-d’s eyes they would never dress like that. May they come to realize it!
May you have much success in your endeavors to purify your eyes and mind.