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This week's question is, how can I overcome the challenge of B'Tol Torah and B'Tol Z'man in general? Now, even though it seems like a very simple question, it's actually a very profound question. And I think it really goes back to a fundamental understanding of human nature. We all have a Nefesh HaBahamis and a Nefesh HaLokis. We have an animal soul, a human soul, and a godly soul. So the Nefesh HaLokis wants some things, while the Nefesh HaBahamis wants something else. The Nefesh HaLokis wants a godly life, where every single one of our actions, on a level of our thoughts, our speech, and our deeds, are all calibrated and in line with what God wants. the animal soul wants comfort why does the animal soul want comfort because the animal soul is interested in survival and when a person feels comfortable so they're not in a state of tension and tension indicates that something can go wrong and this is the battle for our humanity are we.
going to live like animals or are we going to lead a godly life especially when we're younger and especially in these generations and i don't just mean this generation but these generations we ask less of our children it used to be that a person by the time he was seven eight nine years old he was already working in their father's store they were tilling the land they were doing real work so there was a sense in life that there was something that they had to do and today we don't necessarily have that same attitude and what we've done is we've made the world so much more. convenient but by making the world more convenient we've actually played into the animal soul because, now we have so much less to do, and we've made the world so much more convenient we've made the world so much more convenient, But when we start to think about our lives, there's something deeply unsatisfying about the idea of pursuing comfort. We want to pursue something meaningful. There's something inside of us, and it's the godly soul that tells us life should have more meaning. And so now we come to the question of B'Tol Torah and B'Tol Z'man. How do we fill our days?
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What are we spending our time doing? What is the mission of our life? Well, think about it. If you were in an office and you were struggling with B'Tol Z'man in the office, you have a job to do. You're getting paid to do a job, but the job isn't getting done because you're spending your time hanging out on your computer and just looking at different websites, etc., etc. Well, what would your boss say? Your boss would come over to you and say, I've hired you to do a job. And you would say, yeah, but I just struggle with focusing. And your boss would say, well, if you struggle with focusing, then maybe this isn't the job for you. Because a boss would never allow you to get away with that. You are here, you are hired for a particular mission. And the same thing is true in life. We are hired for a particular mission. And that mission is to serve God. A part of that service of God is learning Torah. That should be at least a part of every single person's day. We have a mitzvah, one of the biggest mitzvahs in the Torah, to learn Torah every single day. So how do we overcome the challenge of B'Tol Z'man and B'Tol Torah? Well, the answer is, stay focused on the mission.
Listen to the godly voice inside of yourself that tells you, you have important things to do. You were created for a reason. This day is fleeting. You will never get these moments back. I do want to add one very important caveat to all of this. A part of our mission is the struggle. That's why Hakadosh Baruch Hu gave us both the Nefesh HaBahamis and the Nefesh HaLokis. So when we struggle and we fail, we should never give up we should never say okay it's over i guess this is who i am no the struggle is part of the reason that we're here the example i gave you before is not a. perfect example and the reason is because when a person is hired for a job that's all they're hired for fulfill the task but here it's the struggle not necessarily the completion that matters so as long as a person is fighting and from nephesh alokis versus nephesh abrahamis that's exactly what our kodesh bro who created us for because every time we do the right thing and we follow our godly voice we clarify exactly why we're here on this world and that brings nachas ruach to the rabbinishlam it creates for him a deer of a dwelling place in the world down below so to sum.
up how do we stay focused remember the mission for which you were created and at the same time be compassionate to yourself understand that the mission for which you were created involves struggle there's a tension to life, you, Your job is not always to win but as long as you stay in the fight you're proving to Hakadosh Baruch Hu that the reason that you're here is to fulfill the word of God Almighty.
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