The Spiritual Power of the Senses: Why the Eyes Hold the Highest Pleasure

In our world, there are three types of pleasure: The pleasure of taste is in the mouth, the pleasure of a pleasant fragrance, is in the nose, and the pleasure of a beautiful sight, is through the eyes.

My grandfather, Rabbi Yosef Chaim (the Ben Ish Chai), wrote that while all three pleasures exist in the physical world, the primary form of pleasure experienced by people in this lower world is eating and drinking—that is, pleasure through the mouth, which is positioned physically lower than the nose and eyes.

When a person departs from this world, the pleasure of taste is nullified, and the soul begins to experience the pleasure of scent in the Garden of Eden below (Gan Eden HaTachton). There, the soul is clothed in a subtle, spiritual garment that does not require food or drink for sustenance. Instead, it lives and exists through the enjoyment of the heavenly fragrances found in the lower Gan Eden.

This is why, during the twelve months following a person’s passing, it is customary to increase the blessing over spices (birkat besamim), to elevate and benefit the soul through the type of pleasure it now receives.

There is a further elevation after that when the soul ascends to the higher Garden of Eden (Gan Eden HaElyon), where it no longer receives sustenance from smell, but rather from sight—by gazing upon the radiance of the Divine Presence (Ziv HaShechinah). Regarding this, the Sages taught: “In the World to Come, there is no eating or drinking, but the righteous sit with crowns on their heads and delight in the radiance of the Divine Presence.” This is a pleasure of the eyes.

G-d created these three sensory organs—mouth, nose, and eyes—stacked one above the other, in precise alignment with the ascending levels of spiritual pleasure: taste, scent, and vision.

A person must therefore be especially careful in this world to guard the eyes more than any other organ. Any sin committed with the body leaves a spiritual blemish on the corresponding limb of the soul, and because the ultimate spiritual pleasure of the soul comes through the eyes, a person must sanctify and purify their vision while in this world, more than any other sense, so they may be worthy of delighting in G-d and basking in the Divine Presence for all eternity.

A powerful story is told in the Midrash about Rabbi Matya ben Charash, a Sage of great righteousness. The Satan grew envious of his holiness and came before G-d, saying: “Is it possible that this man has never sinned?” He was granted permission to test him.

Satan appeared to Rabbi Matya in the form of an unbelievably beautiful woman. When Rabbi Matya realized he was facing a serious test, he told his student to bring him fire and two nails. He heated them and blinded himself with them, piercing his own eyes.

The Satan was shocked and fell back. G-d immediately called upon the angel Raphael to heal him, but Rabbi Matya refused the healing until G-d Himself promised that the evil inclination would never again have power over him.

A blind person is considered "as if dead" and is exempt from many commandments. Why then did Rabbi Matya choose to blind himself, especially when Jewish law does not require a person to take such extreme measures?

Rabbi Matya, who lived during the era of the holy Tannaim, understood the tremendous holiness of the eyes. He knew that in the upper Garden of Eden, the soul experiences its highest pleasure through vision by beholding G-d’s presence. He also understood that he had a spiritual correction to make from a previous incarnation, the soul of Paltiel ben Laish. This was the reason for him being tested in the area of sight, and he chose to meet the challenge head-on and triumph over it.

The greatest pleasures of the soul in the World to Come are not physical, but elevated, spiritual joys, and the highest of them is the pleasure of vision, reserved for those who safeguard their eyes in this world.