Rav Henach Leibowitz, of blessed memory, once taught from this week’s parsha about the real meaning of “zerizus” (zealously fulfilling a commandment). When most people think of zerizus, they think about quickly and happily fulfilling a mission. This is certainly true, but there is another point that must be stressed when talking about zerizus.

In the middle of this week’s parsha, G-d tells Moshe to lead the Jews out of slavery so they can serve Him. For seven days, Moshe refused to go. On the seventh day, G-d gets angry at Moshe for stalling and punishes him. Rav Leibowitz asks on this: if Moshe was to be punished for stalling, why didn’t G-d immediately punish him when Moshe started to refuse to go on the first day? Why did G-d wait for the seventh day to punish Moshe?

Rav Leibowitz gives an amazing answer: the reason is because during the first six days Moshe was questioning G-d how exactly to fulfill his mission. He was given the command, but he did not fully understand it. On the seventh day, Moshe finally understood his job and it is now that he was punished for not acting with zerizus. Zerizus does not mean that a person just runs to fulfill a mission. It means that the person first needs to understand his mission and then he zealously runs to fulfill it. During the days when Moshe was questioning G-d about how to fulfill the mission, he was still acting with zerizus.

During our times, many people are rushing, but I wonder if they really know why they are rushing. People drive 95 mph on I-95 with a cell phone in one hand and their blackberry in the other because they need to accomplish so much. They are zealously taking care of everything they need to. But this is not zerizus! These people have no idea what they are doing! They are running around crazy but they do not think about what they are really trying to accomplish. If people slow down and think, they would understand that what they are doing and what their real mission in life is are two opposite things. Zerizus definitely means to act with haste, but what we can see from this week’s parsha is that before we act with haste, we need to understand what our goal is.

Good Shabbos!
-yes
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