Right at the dawn of our history, the opening passuk in sefer Shemos gives a two-word definitive description of the Jewish Nation's essence: איש וביתו , each man and his house. Chazal see this as testimony that the shevatim kept each to his own tent and none ever looked at even his brother's wife.
Their descendants, a nation two to three million strong, left Egypt 210 years later all stamped with those selfsame characteristics. They saw how the Egyptians were the world's leading society in permissiveness and immorality. Yes, Egypt, the most highly advanced civilization of the day who in science, architecture and astrology, would astound her twenty-first century counterparts. Yet they, the proud Jewish immigrants, were unimpressed.
The Egyptians' dissolute wallowing in unbridled lusts is detestable to the Jew. Their society is the very antithesis of the Jew's mandate to exercise self-control, curb his natural appetites, and subjugate himself to a Higher Will.
When the lewd Bilaam surveyed the Jewish encampment from his mountaintop viewpoint, a gasp escaped his lips. Every family tent had been so discreetly positioned as to afford its occupants their full privacy. Although they might be breaking camp and journeying onwards the very next morning, tznius was never compromised and no deviation ever countenanced.
So it came to be that the Jew-hating Bilaam, in spite of himself, bequeathed us the undying accolade, מה טובו אהליך יעקב - How goodly are your tents, Yaakov, (see Yalkut Shimoni on Bamidbar 24:5).
Who can possibly fathom what beautiful words Hashem is saying to His Heavenly Court today as He looks down and watches His ever-faithful People? In spite of the unspeakable, unprecedented, and unrelenting degeneracy all around them, they obstinately hold onto their dignity and purity, and still battle to keep their eyes pure. This nation, sanctity its bedrock, clings to its Maker; it laughs at the predictions that in a short time the ancient concept of purity will simply roll over and die.
In Parshas Mattos we read about the warriors sent by Moshe Rabbeinu to inflict vengeance on the Midianites, and the spoils that they took. The Targum Yerushalmi lauds their incorruptible integrity. These men refused to look at the princesses they captured - not lapsing for a single moment even while removing their jewelry. The Or HaChaim brings from Chazal that so great was their fear of compromising their shmiras einayim even while carrying out the direct command of Hashem, they conjured up a bright idea. They covered the women's faces before removing their jewelry. They knew very well that after sinning with a non-Jewish woman, a man can walk away easily enough - in This World. But in the Next World, her spirit will cling to him like glue and disgrace him in gehennom. The merit of their perfect conduct would serve them well on their final Day of Judgement.
The Shelah once promised his talmid that if he would guard his eyes and mouth, he would reach the loftiest of madregos, and come to fulfill completely the Will of the Creator.