The vast majority of us live fragmented lives, in
which, to the extent that we are somewhat organized, we set aside times for the
various activities that define our existence. There’s a time for learning, a time for
family, a time for working and so forth.
And there are times, more than most of us would
like, that Hashem appears to be anything but a team player, in that at these times the Ratzon (Will) of Hashem is
manifested in direct contradiction to what we had planned for a given part of
our day.
As we said in EmunahSpeak: PLAN B:
So what are you
doing tomorrow anyway?
Be it learning, work, chesed, taking
care of the family or any combination thereof, if you are evenly moderately
organized you most probably have your day worked out in advance, as you do
every other day.
And then come the speed bumps: flat
tires, your child comes home sick from school, emergency trips to the doctor
and dentist for stitches and toothaches, a crisis at the office which keeps you
there till all hours, your chavrusa doesn’t show up, your car doesn’t start, it
snowed 23 inches, and a myriad of other unanticipated horrors guaranteed to
trash your plans.
These are our
plans, and they do not necessarily comport
with Hashem’s Ratzon, for as we also pointed out in EmunahSpeak: PLAN B:
It’s all about looking at life’s curve
balls as the real Plan A rather the ruination of what we thought was Plan A.
Plan A is always the best plan for a
person because everything Hashem does is for the best and moreover, Hashem
wants what is good for you more than you want what’s good for you. And
that’s reflected in the fact that we consistently come up with Plan B.
The thrust of EmunahSpeak: PLAN B
was about going with the flow of life’s happenings. It’s an equal opportunity test of both our
patience and our understanding of Hashem’s ways. None of the speed bumps described therein were volitional in the sense that we weren’t
ask if we would like our day trashed. And
nothing is being asked of us except to deal with the hand that we have just
been dealt.
Everything
heretofore concerns people who live fragmented lives. It’s about us. And it’s not about those who live lives of wholesomeness.
It’s
not about Moshe Twersky H’yd.
HaRav
Mayer Twersky, shlit”a, Rav Moshe’s brother, explains that fragmentation spills
over to the way one does mitzvohs.
If one is focused on doing a certain
mitzvah then anything that will get in the way of performing that mitzvah will
be considered an interference and a disruption. Another mitzvah becomes interference when one
lives a fragmented existence.
He tells us that Moshe Twersky H”yd (who was a walking
sefer Torah who did not waste one second from learning) was never focused on Talmud Torah per se. He was focused on doing the Ratzon
of Hashem.
Before
a person (in need, be it rational or
otherwise) called on the phone or knocked
on his door, the Ratzon Hashem was that he should be learning. Once these people came into his life, the
Ratzon Hashem was to deal with them and he would do so even if it took hours
and then go back to his learning as if there had been no interruption.
Rav Mayer points out that what sets
apart those who live a life of wholesomeness from the rest of us is that when a second mitzvah gets in the way
of an already planned mitzvah it’s not interference because it reflects the
Ratzon Hashem at that moment.
And
the Ratzon Hashem is the only thing that exists for one who lives a life of wholesomeness.
