A Time to Think

“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.