Rav Elyah Lopian

One of the greatest Ba’alei Mussar was Rabbi Eliyahu Lopian, who taught Torah for over seventy years in Europe and Eretz Yisrael.

One of his students was invited to a wedding where the laws of modesty would not be observed. He asked Rabbi Lopian if he could go to the wedding. When asked what he would do about the lack of tzniut, the student told him that the sight of immodest women does not affect him.

Without another word, Rabbi Lopian reached for a book of Tehillim and started praying. “Rabbi, what are you doing?” asked the student. His teacher responded, “I am 86 years old and blind in one eye, and I am still affected by human nature. You are young and in the prime of life. If you are not affected by immodest sights, then perhaps you’re sick. I am saying Tehillim for your recovery!”