Good eye!

Rav Sholom DovBer

When Rav Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn (sixth Rebbe of Chabad-Lubavitch) was a very young boy, he once approached his venerated father Rav Sholom DovBer (the Rebbe RaShaB) with the following query:

"HaShem created us with one mouth, and one nose. Why then, did He create us with two eyes?"

The Rebbe RaShaB responded to his son: "Tell me, do you know the Alef-Beis?"

"Yes, father," came the reply.

"And what is the difference between the letters Shin and the Sin?"

Little Yosef Yitzchak considered this for a moment. "The Shin has a dot on the right side, and the Sin has its dot on the left."

Rav Yosef Yitzchak

"Indeed," said his father. "HaShem gave us two eyes; with the right eye we view things with favor, love, and respect. With the left eye, we perceive things with indifference, with disdain. If you see a fellow Jew, or a sefer, you must always view them with your right eye. A candy or a toy? You can look at it with your left."

Many years later, Reb Yosef Yitzchak reported that he never looked at a fellow Jew the same way after hearing this life lesson.