Managing time and processes

The Parasha in our everyday life- Tazriya – Parashat HaHodesh - 5782

Rabbi Eliezer Shenvald - Rosh Yeshivat Hesder 'Meir Harel' Modi'in

One of the hallmarks of our lives is the pursuit of time management & efficiency. Improving the efficiency of our life management and process management. Humanity is complex, on the one hand rushing as if it has no time, and on the other hand technological means optimize life, raise the quality of life, and leave a lot of free time. As a result of which an extensive culture of leisure time has developed.

'... Thank you for your time!' It is a modern kind of gesture of gratitude that expresses the appreciation of modern humanity for time. Time is the significant resource of our lives. We live the time and live within the time. Set a schedule for ourselves, try to make the most of it. We hurry so we are not late. Utilize it for doing valuable things that will have some meaning.

From this also derives the moral aspect of the 'utilization of time', as a resource of life, lest it be wasted into nothingness.

Another hallmark of the era in which we live is the specialization in process management, as efficient and accurate as possible. Time is one of the basic metrics of any process as the processes take place within time. To have an impact, each stage takes an appropriate amount of time. In some processes it is necessary to be punctual, otherwise we might miss entirely.

In addition, there is a growing awareness of the importance of the right timing as there is a right 'timing' for everything וְדָבָ֖ר בְּעִתּ֣וֹ מַה־טּֽוֹב ׃

"And how good is a word rightly timed!" (Proverbs 15:23)

לַכֹּ֖ל זְמָ֑ן וְעֵ֥ת לְכׇל־חֵ֖פֶץ תַּ֥חַת הַשָּׁמָֽיִם׃ עֵ֥ת לָלֶ֖דֶת וְעֵ֣ת לָמ֑וּת עֵ֣ת לָטַ֔עַת וְעֵ֖ת לַעֲק֥וֹר נָטֽוּעַ...   

"A season is set for everything, a time for every experience under heaven: A time for being born and a time for dying, A time for planting and a time for uprooting the planted…etc" (Ecclesiastes 3:1-2)

 כי חייב אדם לעשות כל דבר בעתו "For a man ought to do all things in due time" (Ibn Ezra ibid.).

The practical physical approach to time sees it as a characterless resource, its content and character depends solely on what we utilize it for. The Torah, on the other hand, refers to time as a resource that has the potential of life:

"The days of our life were given to carry out, to implement something real" (Olat Reiyah Morning Supplications).

Every period has a different potential "As every period shines its own way" (Rabbi Kook in a letter to Rabbi Harlap), which allows it to be materialized in accordance with the potential inherent in it.

The Torah attributes holiness to certain times. Time has potential holiness within, and we are required to sanctify it and bring that potential into action. Kiddush at the beginning of Shabbat and Holidays expresses the holiness of time and brings out its holiness' potential.

This Shabbat we will read Parashat Tazriya and Parashat HaHodesh. In Parashat HaHodesh, the Torah commands the sanctification of the month:

הַחֹ֧דֶשׁ הַזֶּ֛ה לָכֶ֖ם רֹ֣אשׁ חֳדָשִׁ֑ים רִאשׁ֥וֹן הוּא֙ לָכֶ֔ם לְחׇדְשֵׁ֖י הַשָּׁנָֽה׃

"This month shall mark for you the beginning of the months; it shall be the first of the months of the year for you". (Shmot 12:2)

"...והראה לו באצבע את הלבנה ברקיע ואמר לו: 'כזה ראה וקדש'"

"Moshe was perplex regarding the Molad of (the exact moment when begins) the new moon — how much of it must be visible before it is proper to consecrate it as new moon: He therefore pointed it out to him in the sky with the finger and said to him, “Behold it like this, and consecrate it” (i. e., when you see the moon in a stage of renewal similar to this which you now behold you may proclaim that a new month has begun). (Rashi ibid)

From this we learned that the sanctification of the times is among the main things in the Torah: "is the first commandment given to Israel". (Rashi Bereshit 1:1)

It's important because it determines the sacred schedules of times.

The time and processes of time are a connecting point to the beginning of Parashat Metzora. It opens with the miraculous process of pregnancy and childbirth. The creation and formation of life which are under the time system. From the beginning, we find ourselves monitoring stages by the weeks. With the birth and the appearance of life, the process continues, and there is a dimension of sanctity - circumcision on the eighth day - with a binding timing:

אִשָּׁה֙ כִּ֣י תַזְרִ֔יעַ וְיָלְדָ֖ה זָכָ֑ר וְטָֽמְאָה֙ שִׁבְעַ֣ת יָמִ֔ים כִּימֵ֛י נִדַּ֥ת דְּוֺתָ֖הּ תִּטְמָֽא׃ וּבַיּ֖וֹם הַשְּׁמִינִ֑י יִמּ֖וֹל בְּשַׂ֥ר עׇרְלָתֽוֹ׃

"When a woman at childbirth bears a male, she shall be impure seven days; she shall be impure as at the time of her condition of menstrual separation. On the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised." (Vayikra 12:2-3)

Then the Torah indicates the continuation, the duration of the mother's purity, etc. "Man lives in time. Regarding the wording of the blessing "מקדש ישראל והזמנים"-"Who sanctifies Israel, and the seasons", there is a definition in the Gemara: יִשְׂרָאֵל דְּקַדְּשִׁינְהוּ לִזְמַנִּים "Who sanctifies Israel, who sanctify the seasons". Hashem sanctifies Israel, and from this, Israel draws strength to sanctify the times, to sanctify our reality in time. This fact is renewed in our Parasha:

הַחֹ֧דֶשׁ הַזֶּ֛ה לָכֶ֖ם רֹ֣אשׁ חֳדָשִׁ֑ים רִאשׁ֥וֹן הוּא֙ לָכֶ֔ם לְחָדְשֵׁ֖י הַשָּׁנָֽה׃

"This month shall mark for you the beginning of the months; it shall be the first of the months of the year for you".

Here the reality of the month is renewed. This is the structure of time management, from the beginning of the generations and until the end." (Sichot HaRav Tzvi Yehuda Kook, Bo 5727-1967)