Balancing Act

Rabbi Silver, whom I’d been in contact with over the last few years, had asked me to come to his yeshivah to be mechazek his talmidim before the Succos break. These weren’t bochurim who would dash out of the beis medrash come bein hazmanim, throw off their hats, and run for the beaches or end up in Cyprus or Eilat. But they also weren’t going to make sure they got four hours of learning in every day of Chol Hamoed.

I’m a medical professional, but I still wanted to share with them the very real power of learning and importance of having a set time – even just 20 minutes – for some type of seder, especially when on vacation mode. As I was thinking about it, I myself started feeling a little guilty – was I really learning as diligently as I could, even during this busy season?

I also wanted to talk about the importance of tefillah, especially in these days of rachamim and closeness. I knew I could do better in that area also, even though I’m pretty careful about minyan and generally daven vasikin. But am I really utilizing my direct line to Hashem?

I knew these boys and their limits. They didn’t strike me as the type that would push themselves to learn 18 hours a day and survive on three hours of sleep during bein hazemanim, but I also knew that sticking to a basic schedule would make them feel good about themselves and even propel them forward in their ruchniyus, so that they shouldn’t roll out of the upcoming yeshivah break feeling like they’d sunk. But just in case any of them became over-inspired and went to the other extreme, I also decided to talk about burnout, as we can all use reminders about staying balanced.