The way the lazy mind works is that it finds all kind of excuses not to do what’s supposed to be done. The prime example is minyan in the morning. It’s too cold; it’s too hot; the air conditioner is probably not working; someone is probably sitting in my seat in shul anyway, etc. This test is especially strong this time of year which is Elul-zman, the month of Elul which is a month before Rosh Hashanah. For Sephardic background Jews, it’s especially tough because we have to get up extra early for slichot. When I saw this joke, I realized we’re really not that far from making an excuse as ludicrous as this one.
On the morning of Rosh Hashanah, Rivka [Rebecca] went into the bedroom to wake her son and tell him it was time to get ready to go to the synagogue [Shul], to which he replied in a dull voice, “I’m not going.”
“Why not?” Rivka demanded. “I’ll give you two good reasons, Mother.” he said. “One, they don’t like me, and two, I don’t like them.” Rivka replied in an exasperated voice, “I’ll give you two good reasons why you must go to the synagogue. One, you’re 54 years old, and two, you’re the Rabbi.”
What tends to happen is we believe what we want to believe. “The gorilla in the bathroom is preventing me to wash up and brush my teeth.” We have to dig deep and ask ourselves what’s our true motive. Maybe then, we can come to the realization of the truth and finally get up from our comfortable bed and pillow to start our day.
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