by Rabbi Shlomo Goldberg

Al Pi Darko - According to His Way

"The book report isn't due for another week. I have loads of time to get started." "I'll clean up as soon as I finish this chapter." "I'll get up in five more minutes." "I know basically what's going on in the verses I needed to study. It's enough to pass the test and I'm not studying anymore." "Why does it have to be done now? As long as I get it done it shouldn't matter to you when I do it and right now I'm in the middle of a game, book, nap, puzzle, phone call, etc."

Sound familiar? The best example of professional procrastination that I ever heard came from a high school studnet who I observed while learning in his Yeshiva. Suffice it to say that unless there was some sort of mystical osmosis process between his open Talmud and his closed mind, there did not seem to be anything that resembled learning going on. Under the circumstances I felt that striking up a conversation may be of some benefit, so I asked him why he seemed to be somewhat less than enthralled by the current subject matter. "I'm just lazy," he replied. "Well, have you tried working on your laziness problem?" I naively asked. His answer was immediate and well rehearsed. "Of course not," he responded. "I'm too lazy to work on it!"

This week's parasha is entitled "Tzav," which Rashi interprets as connoting alacrity. In addition, the number of verses contained in the parasha total ninety-six, the numeric equivalent of "tzav" in gematria, and the mnemonic used to remember the number of verses is also "tzav." In non-leap years this parasha always falls on Shabbos HaGadol, during the final push of Pesach preparations. Therefore, I think we will have missed a large amount of what HaShem is very obviously trying to get across to us this week, if we do not consider the perils of procrastination and the remedy of alacrity.

As was mentioned above, Rashi states at he beginning of our parasha that the phrase "tzav" has no other meaning except zerizus-alacrity. "Tzav is, of course, the root of the word mitzvah which is always translated as a commandment. Based on Rashi's insight, however, it seems that the true purpose of a mitzvah is not to simply order someone to perform or refrain from some action. The goal of the command must be to urge the recipient of the command to accept the current mission and to encourage him to accomplish it with all due haste.

Further in the parasha, Moshe commands Aharon to prepare for the installation ceremony that would precede the dedication of the Tabernacle. He tells Aharon to take the bull and the two rams as offerings. The use of the definite article ("the") infers that the offerings had been previously mentioned. Indeed, Rashi explains that these offering had been commanded to Aharon back in parashas Titzaveh. (Note that the word "tetzaveh" is also a member of the "tzav" family). If Aharon had already been commanded concerning these offerings, what was the need at this juncture to remind him again?

Rashi's answer provides us with an additional understanding of the nature of alacrity. Although Aharon had already been commanded about the installation ceremony and its requisite offerings, Moshe saw fit on the first day of the ceremony, when the command needed to actually be fulfilled, to go back and encourage Aharon again.

Reb Yerucham Levovitz, ztz"l the great spiritual leader of the Mir Yeshiva in Poland, explains that although both commands of Moshe to Aharon were geared toward the same ultimate goal, their specific purposes were very different. "The encouragement which is given before an action is undertaken and that which is given at the actual time of the deed, are two distinct issues entirely." Reb Yerucham does not explain the difference himself, but he does refer us to the seventh chapter of the Mesilas Yesharim-The Path of the Just for further elucidation.

Having previously defined zerizus as alacrity in the pursuit and fulfillment of mitzvos, the RaMChaL, ztz"l, (Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto) explains that there are indeed two parts to zerizus. The first part takes place before the deed and the latter at the time of the action. The purpose of the former is to ensure that when the time or opportunity to perform a mitzvah arrives, or even when the thought to do a mitzvah comes to mind, one not waste any time getting started. "There is no danger like the danger of waiting a minute. For each new minute can bring with it some new reason that will stand in the way of a good deed."

Part one of zerizus involves giving ourselves and others the push to "just get started." Once the mitzvah has begun, the first battle against the yeitzer harah has been won. As our sages stated, "U'shemartem es hamatzos-ushemartem es hamitzvos"-if a mitzvah presents itself to you, do not allow it to become "chometz." The entire concept of the exodus from Egypt taking place b'chipazon-with great haste, is for us a lesson in what can be gained, and by inference lost, in one moment. Had we remained even one more second in Egypt, we and our children and our children's children would all still be slaves to Pharaoh. In a practical sense, this means that we as parents need to be sure that we try to eliminate all external hindrances that might prevent our children from getting started on their task. Our job is to provide them with the proper place, tools, and knowledge necessary to perform what they have been commanded by HaShem, their teachers or us to do. With the external obstacles removed, the book "Chosen Yehoshua" explains that success is more likely, or if not, we will be faced with the painful but beneficial realization that "we have met the enemy and he is us."

If getting started immediately is a key to ultimate success, then we can easily the see the inherent danger of deadlines. If a book report is due in three weeks, that means I do not have to worry about it for another twenty days. If the test is Friday that means I do not have to study until Thursday evening at seven o'clock. In his fascinating work, "Bringing out the Best in People," Professor Aubrey C. Daniels writes, "performance motivated by negative reinforcement (e.g. a bad grade) will tend to increase only at the last minute, and then only to the 'just enough to get by' level."

Assignments might better be phrased in terms of "you have to read twenty pages a night for the next seven days, and then write an outline for the next day, and a rough draft the next, etc. Each of these tasks should be a positively reinforced daily goal. If so, last minute cramming and panic, which are dangerous to children, their parents and all other living things, might become more or less a thing of the past.

The second part of zerizus (alacrity) is that which is given after the mitzvah has begun. Having failed in its desire to have one not begin the mitzvah, the yeitzer harah then re-entrenches and tries to convince one to quit in the middle or do a half-baked job. This aspect of zerizus is more difficult to achieve than the first, since it is often more pleasurable just to hand in the test paper or report than to grapple with one's inadequacies in completing it properly.

The RaMCHaL, ztz"l, seems to infer that the way to inspire zerizus in a person who is in the midst of the deed, is to paint for him two contrasting pictures. One of how miserable it will feel if he does not finish his work properly versus the second of how proud he will feel and others will be of him, if he does his best work. In this area it is crucial for students, parents and teachers to emphasize effort over grades--hence the focus on feelings. If the project was approached with true zerizus then the result needs to be seen as an A+ for the child, regardless of how he measures up to external standards.

The key to it all, writes the RaMCHaL, ztz"l, is developing a relationship that results in the child wanting to do HaShem's will and our own. "What is most preferred is service that derives from a desire of the heart and a longing of the soul." As Rabbi Noach Orlowek, shlita, often says, although it cannot matter to us whether our students like us or not, we need to be sure that they like us. Then they will want to fulfill our wishes and ultimately those of HaShem.

The key to this feeling lies in our role-modeling of appreciation. If our children see that we appreciate what we have been given, there is a chance they might appreciate what we are doing for them as well. This, writes Reb Simcha Zissel of Kelm, ztz"l, is the meaning our obligation on the Seder night to "show ourselves as if we now are leaving Egypt." Not with the same joy, for that would be an unrealistic expectation. But rather with the same subservience of soul born of recognition of the abundant blessing that HaShem has granted us in our lives. That everyone can feel.

Perhaps we should approach this Pesach with a true zerizus, both as we prepare and as we fulfill the mitzvos of the Yom Tov. Acting with zerizus itself will help create a desire to renew our commitment to performing mitzvos from a place of true longing and desire for a relationship with HaShem. If so, we will have gone a long way toward having Eliyahu HaNavi really walk through our doors this year!

Parsha-Parenting, Copyright (c) 2000 by Rabbi Shlomo Goldberg and Project Genesis, Inc. Rabbi Goldberg is the menahel (spiritual advisor) of Yeshivas Ohr Eliyahu, and a highly acclaimed and popular speaker in Los Angeles.