At Seudah Shlishit today R' Simon shlit"a spoke about laziness in and how the lazy person makes excuses for not doing what he is supposed to be doing. (I believe that if there was a city called Laziness I'd easily be voted governor, so I will speak here with the authority of said governor.) He mentioned that the lazy person's excuses may very well be legitimate, but in life there are always excuses and if you focus on the reasons to not do something, nothing will ever get done.
This reminded me of a shiur that I had hear from R' Akiva Tatz shlit"a. He discusses the gemara that says Hillel's learning torah created the situation that no poor person has an excuse for not learning torah since Hillel was extremely poor himself and yet he became the learned person that he was despite being poor. If you look at that gemara an obvious question arises. Granted Hillel learned a tremendous amount despite his poverty, however the torah says that one has to provide his family with sustenance, and if the time required to provide for one's family precludes one from learning torah, he has a legitimate excuse. This gemara essentially changes the rulebook.
R' Tatz answers the question essentially the same way as R' Simon. The lazy person may have a legitimate excuse, but there are an endless amount of excuses. R' Tatz says that there is no change in the rules. If you want to use your excuses, go ahead. But Hillel had only one chance to become Hillel. He was the only person that could do it and he only had one lifetime to do it in. In order to become who he was meant to be, Hillel had to make sacrifices. So too, you are the only person that can attain your potential. And you only have one lifetime to do it in.
So no more excuses, get going.
This reminded me of a shiur that I had hear from R' Akiva Tatz shlit"a. He discusses the gemara that says Hillel's learning torah created the situation that no poor person has an excuse for not learning torah since Hillel was extremely poor himself and yet he became the learned person that he was despite being poor. If you look at that gemara an obvious question arises. Granted Hillel learned a tremendous amount despite his poverty, however the torah says that one has to provide his family with sustenance, and if the time required to provide for one's family precludes one from learning torah, he has a legitimate excuse. This gemara essentially changes the rulebook.
R' Tatz answers the question essentially the same way as R' Simon. The lazy person may have a legitimate excuse, but there are an endless amount of excuses. R' Tatz says that there is no change in the rules. If you want to use your excuses, go ahead. But Hillel had only one chance to become Hillel. He was the only person that could do it and he only had one lifetime to do it in. In order to become who he was meant to be, Hillel had to make sacrifices. So too, you are the only person that can attain your potential. And you only have one lifetime to do it in.
So no more excuses, get going.
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