How Can I Rectify the Imperfection of the Eyes?

Hello,

The primary remedy for any sin, including the imperfection of the eyes, is through repentance, namely: a. Regret for the sin. b. Verbal confession (as explained below). c. A resolution for the future never to return to this sin again (Rambam, Laws of Repentance, Chapter 2, Law 2).

Verbal confession means that one must say, "Please, Hashem, I have sinned, I have erred, I have transgressed before You, and I have done this and that, and behold, I am remorseful and ashamed of my actions, and I will never return to this act" (Rambam, ibid, Chapter 1, Law 1).

Additionally, it should be noted what Rabbeinu Yonah wrote in Sha'arei Teshuvah (Gate 1, Section 15) that the sin of the eyes can be atoned through tears, as it is stated (Psalms 119:136), "My eyes shed streams of water because they did not keep Your Torah." It does not say "because I did not keep Your Torah," but rather "because they did not keep," as they were the cause of the sin; therefore, I shed streams of water.

Moreover, it is written in the book Rishit Chochmah (Gate of Holiness, Chapter 8) that the rectification of the eyes is achieved by looking with one’s eyes at the creation of the Creator, which it is a mitzvah to do, as King David said (Psalms 8:4-5), "When I look at Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars which You have ordained, what is man that you are mindful of him?" It is also important to look at the mitzvah of tzitzit, as it is written (Numbers 15:39), "And you shall see it, and remember..." Furthermore, if one sees a Torah scroll or a sage or an elder passing before him, he should stand up for them and honor them as their mitzvah requires, and he should not avert his eyes so as not to see them and stand, for it is stated regarding this commandment (Leviticus 19:32), "Before the grey head you shall rise... and you shall fear your God."

He also wrote there that from the rectification of the eyes, one can shed tears for a righteous person, as our sages said in Shabbat (page 106b) regarding the verse (Psalms 56:9), "You have counted my wanderings; put my tears in Your bottle, are they not in Your book?" Rabbi Shimon ben Pazi said in the name of Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi in the name of Bar Kappara, anyone who sheds tears for a righteous person, Hashem counts them and stores them in His treasury.

It is also stated there that the rectification of the eyes is achieved by looking at them while reading from the Torah, especially from the written Torah, and particularly when one goes up to read from the Torah in the synagogue. See there for more of his holy words.

Wishing you great success,

Hillel Meirs