Pharaoh’s plan is employed by the yetzer hara on a daily basis

“Moshe spoke this to Bnei Yisrael, but they did not listen to Moshe because of shortness of breath and hard work.” (Shemos 6:9)

W

e’d expect that the harder a person’s working and suffering, the more he’d be anxious to hear about his imminent release. But the Seforno comments  that Bnei Yisrael were simply unable to focus on what Moshe was saying because they were too busy working so hard. The Mesillas Yesharim explains that when a person is so busy, he can lose the ability to focus even on facts that are important and relevant to what he’s doing.

Pharaoh understood human psychology. Therefore, the core of his strategy was to keep the Jews so busy, they’d have no time to contemplate rebelling against him. And as we see in the pasuk above, Pharaoh’s plan worked (Rabbi Dov Shapiro).

I Am A Very Busy Lady. I don’t know how my great-grandmothers managed when they were washing laundry in the neighborhood river. (Although, come to think of it, I doubt my yekkishe omas ever did that.)

But washing machines, dryers, and microwaves notwithstanding, I still don’t have a moment to even think about how busy I am.

My day starts at 5:30 a.m. (Yes, I am one of those. No need to feel guilty, but a tasteful nod of admiration wouldn’t go amiss.) Then davening, swimming, breakfast, and school buses, and I’m already running behind schedule before I’ve even made that day’s schedule.

Days are zipping. Nights are ticking. I’m scrambling to keep up, but life’s treadmill keeps picking up the pace.

And it’s not like I’m doing all those “extras” that every life coach warns against. Wait. I actually do buy all my kids matching socks. It’s called the Basic Boys Black, and it’s supposed to make pairing socks that much quicker. But, believe me, no two black socks are exactly alike.

The Mesillas Yesharim explains that Pharaoh’s plan is employed by the yetzer hara on a daily basis. The yetzer hara doesn’t simply create challenging temptations that we need to overcome. He also has a long-term strategic plan to prevent us from breaking free of his influence, and growing and becoming better people. His plan is to keep us so busy that we sometimes feel it’s an accomplishment to just survive and get through each day.

Then one random Monday I had an appointment at a new dentist I was consulting for a second opinion. No one bothered telling me this particular guy’s appointments are backlogged two hours.

Plus, in my rush to come on time, I forgot my phone at home! I was drowning in that discombobulating feeling of disconnection. What if NASA needed to reach me from Mars, because one of my boys ended up on the wrong shuttle?

A man once asked Rav Yisrael Salanter, “I’m a very busy man, but I have 15 minutes each day that I can set aside to learn Torah. Should I learn Gemara or mussar?”

Rav Yisrael answered, “You should learn mussar, because then you’ll realize that you actually have a lot more than 15 minutes in the day to learn.”

Making a living, raising our children, social responsibilities, and community projects turn our lives into nonstop marathons of necessary, worthwhile activities.

Who has time at the end of a long day to sit and think for a few minutes how he performed on a spiritual scale? Yet the Mesillas Yesharim reminds us it’s essential to set aside a few minutes a day for introspection and self-analysis.

There I was, stuck at this dentist, and unlike most doctors in this country, he didn’t have a single Tehillim or Chumash on his bookshelf. (Shouldn’t that be reason enough for me to hightail it out of there?)  Can you imagine? I had nothing to do.

I couldn’t imagine. My brain simply couldn’t compute the sensation of nothing pressing at that current moment. I said a few pirkei Tehillim I knew by heart, made mental menus, and even a virtual shopping list.

But then my mind started to drift. Honestly, I don’t know where to. But I was lost in a world I rarely visited, of meandering thoughts and ideas.

I was jolted when my name was finally called.

Yet the feeling of respite persisted the rest of the day. It was a heady sensation, and one I wouldn’t mind experiencing again.

Maybe I should visit the dentist more often.

(Originally featured in Family First, Issue 876)