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Vayimaen - Converting Fire Into Blessing | Rabbi Fischel Schachter

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Author: Vayimaen
Categories: History Religion Psychology
Tags: history, religion, psychology
Views: 2 · Last viewed: 2026-10-16 08:10 UTC

Short Summary

Main recommendation: Convert pent-up anger, frustration, or a burning desire into a constructive channel rather than letting it destroy you or others, and the energy can become a source of blessing. The speaker illustrates this with a camp cook who, pressured by a younger kitchen manager, served spaghetti for every meal as a protest, then announced on a chair that he was quitting and leaving, framed as a 'color war' joke, which the campers met with cheers of joy. The speaker links this to the concept of Shemiras Einayim (guarding one's eyes), citing R' Tzadok HaCohen.

Key Points

  • The cook, a beloved Holocaust survivor, was pushed toward quitting by a new kitchen manager who questioned his purchasing and food surplus, and a Rav told him he could not leave mid-season.
  • His protest was serving spaghetti for breakfast, lunch, and supper with no sauce variations, which escalated the campers' frustration until he publicly stood on a chair and voiced his grievances.
  • When he announced he was leaving and declared 'color war,' the campers were stunned for a moment, then erupted in cheers and carried him around.
  • The speaker reframes the episode as a life lesson: strong emotion does not have to be wasted, and it can be redirected toward positive ends.
  • The same principle is applied to Shemiras Einayim: a strong urge to look at something is treated as a real force that can be transformed into blessing rather than suppressed or indulged.

Details Worth Noting

  • Concrete instructions: The speaker gives no step-by-step method. The actionable takeaway is to take a strong emotion or desire, such as anger, frustration, or a yearning to look at something forbidden, and consciously convert it into a constructive or spiritual outcome rather than letting it go to waste or act destructively.
  • The cook had survived Bergen-Belsen and, according to the speaker, had weighed only 30 to 40 pounds after the war, which the speaker says explains his gratitude for being able to feed people.
  • The cook's final message was that the whole world was a "color war" joke and that he decided to stay, though his van was already packed.
  • The speaker frames the conversion of desire through R' Tzadok HaCohen's Sefer Tzidkas HaTzaddik, which describes desire as a tangible energy that, when converted, opens a source of blessing that lasts in this world and the next.
  • The anecdote is told as a personal story from camp when the speaker was 15, and the principle is presented as his own reflection tied to a teaching from R' Tzadok HaCohen, not a formal halachic ruling.

Bottom Line

Strong feelings, even intense urges, are not wasted when redirected; the same energy that could cause harm can be channeled into something that builds goodness.