Judy Tenuta once quipped,“My mother always told me I wouldn't amount to anything because I procrastinate. I said, 'Just wait.” Procrastination is working tomorrow for better today. Let’s be honest, we all procrastinate one time or another. One of my favorite 4 Bitchin Babes’ songs is “Breakfast Dishes.1” The singer hates doing breakfast dishes then has to deal with all the consequences of neglecting to wash her breakfast dishes.
Amongst my many bad habits you can find procrastination. I always have to be on guard against this inclination to procrastinate because I have learned from experience how soon “not now” becomes “never.”2 I goggled procrastination quotes and the vast majority them focus on the negative aspects and results of procrastination like “Putting off easy things makes it hard. Putting off hard things makes it impossible.”3 Instead of focusing on the negative, today’s daf TB Pesakhim 68 accentuates the positive
The Mishnah on daf TB Pesakhim 65b enumerates four aspects of the korban Pesakh that override Shabbat prohibitions when erev Passover falls on Shabbat. “These are the matters related to the Paschal lamb that override Shabbat, when the eve of Passover occurs on Shabbat: Its slaughter, the sprinkling of its blood, the cleaning of its intestines and the burning of its fats on the altar, all of which are services that must be performed on Passover eve while it is still day.” (Sefaria.org translation) The burning of the fats on the altar comes to teach us how much God loves us when we run to do a mitzvah.
“The Gemara notes that it was taught in the Tosefta: Rabbi Shimon said: Come and see how dear is a mitzva performed in its proper time. For burning the fats and limbs and inner fats is valid all night and it would have been possible to wait until the conclusion of Shabbat and burn them at night, but nonetheless we do not wait with them until nightfall; rather, we burn them immediately, even on Shabbat.” (Sefaria.org translation)
To do things in their proper time and not procrastinate is a good action plan for all the different areas of our lives. We shall be able to accomplish so much more. We shall not only find favor in God’s eyes and all those around us, but we feel good about ourselves as well.
1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d71o_XEVthQ
2. Martin Luther
3. George H Lorimer
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