Resisting temptation from Rabbi Avigdor Miller Z"L

QUESTION:  Here's a big question, it needs three hours to answer this. How can one resist temptation in today's wicked world?
ANSWER: And the answer is, in one sentence, cut loose from the world. Does it make sense, here's a man who happened to take hold of a thorn bush, and the big thorn sank into his flesh, and he's shouting, "Look it's bleeding, it hurts". So people say to him, “Dumbbell, first thing is let go!”

Here's a man sitting in front of a television and saying to his wife, how can we get rid of this wicked world? Take a hammer and give one smash and you're finished with the wicked world. If you continue to bring the New York Times into your house, what do you expect?! If a man brings in dead rats into his house, into his dining room, and lets them ripen on the floor, will he complain about the odor?

So you cut loose from the wicked world. You have nothing to do with the wicked world, and you'll be amazed what an immediate remedy it's going to be. Now if you're talking about wicked world, a world of crime, that's a different story. But if you're talking about a world of Rishus, of bad character, of immorality and so on, so you heard in one sentence what to do. Cut loose!! And you'll be surprised; you'll be gratified at the results. Now how to cut loose, however, that's a big subject.

You know, the Sefer Tehilim is a Sefer of coming close to Hashem, it's full of ways of speaking to Hashem, Emunah, Bitachon, Ahavas Hashem. Everything is in Tehilim, by the way. Tehilim is a wonderful text book of coming close to Hashem. But the very first Kapitel, the first chapter of Tehilim, is an exception, it's a queer chapter. It starts out, "Happy is the Man who did not walk in the ways of the wicked". All of a sudden he's talking Mishlei, that's not Tehilim, he's giving advice. He's not talking about love of Hashem there; he's talking about cutting loose from the wicked.

The answer is this: What's the use of talking about coming close to Hashem, what's the use of talking noble ideals, when you're still in the company of the wicked, if you're mingling with them all the time? It's Tovel V'sherets B'yodo, how can you go and purify yourself when you're still holding a dead Sherets (creeping creature) in your hand? So the first thing is, in Tehilim it tells you first of all get rid of the company of the wicked, Cut loose from the Reshaim in every way; we are tied to them in thousands of ways. Cut loose! And then you're a candidate to learn the great lessons that Tehilim has in store for you.
 
This is transcribed from questions that were posed to Harav Miller by the audience at the Thursday night lectures.


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