Guarding His Hands

Rav Kalman Farber studied under the Chofetz Chaim for ten years. He recalled that whenever the Chofetz Chaim wanted to drive off a fly or another pest, he held a corner of his tallis or his handkerchief and never used his bare hands, and he never touched his own face with them either.

For many years Rav Farber could not explain this, since the face is a part of the body that is normally uncovered. Later he read the memoirs of the Chofetz Chaim’s son, Rav Aryeh Leib, about the time the family fled with the yeshivah from Poland to Russia. When it was time to daven Minchah, they entered a shul. Rav Aryeh Leib washed his hands as the Shulchan Aruch requires, but his father began to daven immediately. Later he asked why, and his father told him that he kept his hands guarded at every moment.

Then Rav Farber understood. The Chofetz Chaim took care that his hands stayed pure at all times, so he touched nothing, and when he had to chase a fly he used a covering. Just as he watched over his tongue, he watched over his hands, his eyes and everything else.