This is the law regarding animals, birds, all living creatures that move in water and all creatures that creep on the ground. To distinguish between the unclean and the clean, and between the animal that may be eaten and the animal that may not be eaten. (Vayikra 11:46-47)

Some people say that they do not need to be careful with what they eat. They feel the main concern is what comes “out” of our mouths, not what goes “in”. Judaism teaches us differently. Although we certainly need to be careful with what comes out, we also need to be careful with what goes in. The reason is simple – what comes out is what was put in there. Sorry to be so graphic, but I feel this is the best way to explain. When a person gets sick, everything that comes out is what was put in the mouth originally. New matter does not appear. Well, the same is with our words. If we put traif in our mouth, traif words will come out. If we put kosher food in our mouth, clean words will come out. That is the way Hashem made the human body.

This is not only true with food, but with everything in our lives — whatever we put into our body and mind is what will come out. The pictures and images that we see are what will be in our mind and will be what we talk about. The sounds we hear will enter our soul and will be what we constantly think about. Whatever we put into ourselves through our senses will affect how we act.

If a person constantly listens to MTV and hears the words of the modern-day songs, he will most likely have a negative attitude. I could be wrong with this because I have not listened to popular music nor watched MTV in many, many years. But the last time I remember following music there were songs like “I used to love her, but I had to kill her.” We had songs from Nirvana named, “I hate myself and I want to die”. Even the slow love songs which sound so beautiful were not always so beautiful. I remember listening to the lyrics and thinking, “is this really a love song?” The guy is talking about his girlfriend breaking up with him and is begging to have her back. Is this what people really want to dance to???

These lyrics affect a person! When a person listens to these lyrics, if he realizes what the singer is saying or not, this goes into his soul and this is what he constantly hums while he is walking.

The same is with everything. If a person loves baseball and is constantly checking to see how his team is doing, this will be the main thing he talks about. If a person reads certain books, this is what he will discuss with other people. If a person goes to the Bais Medrash and learns Torah and makes this his main interest, this will be what is constantly on his mind. If a person reads stories of our great Rabbis, he will make himself want to be more like them. If a person looks at pictures of the great Rabbis, this will be the image that is in his mind.

What goes in is what comes out!

Good Shabbos!
-yes
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