Subject: In Memory of Baruch Yitzchak ben Yirmiyahu (Barry Pessin)
From: Heath Berkin <heath.berkin@gmail.com>
Date: 8/18/2017, 4:36 AM
To: Heath Berkin <heath.berkin@gmail.com>
BCC: menachem@alonsystems.com
The Mishna in Avos (5:20) continues with the third trait; running like a deer, to fulfill the Torah.
This trait focuses on a person's need to jump upon the opportunity to perform a good deed when it comes their way. This could be in fulfillment of our daily obligations or situations that may just arise throughout life. If someone needs help, advice, emotional or financial support, run to be there for them. Many times we are infused with the inspiration to do a certain good deed or help someone but we push it off and the next day or week, we say to ourselves "well, maybe they really don't need help", "someone else will take care of it", or 'it wasn't really a good deed to begin with". Obviously a person needs to make sure the course of action is indeed necessary and will be helpful but we should be quick to at least commence doing it.
This principle of grabbing the spark of inspiration and acting on it immediately is widely cited in the works of Mussar but is sometimes harder to do than it seems. A simple example is a person who decided they want to start putting on tefilin every day. This is a mitzva which is tremendous and has much reward, in fact many commentators explain that this comprises a number of mitzvot not just one (or two). This man might say OK starting from tomorrow I will fulfill this mitzvah daily. Then the person gets up late the next day, they are late to work, the have a huge amount of work and by the time they return home at night it is too late for them to put on tefillin. The person is already broken and says he can't do it and already the next day he doesn't even attempt to. If he would have put on tefillin the day he originally thought about it (assuming it was during the day at a time he could perform the mitzvah) then he would have seen that yes, he can fulfill the mitzvah. If he would miss the next day (now the second day, not the first) instead of giving up altogether he would have possibly just brushed it off and said it happens, but day three he will be back on track.
Even when it comes to our physical well being we have the same problem. We say we will start our diet after the weekend, or we will start exercising in a day or two. We need to start right away!