Parshas Acharei Mos relates the events surrounding the deaths of two of Aharon Hakohen’s sons, following which Hashem tells Moshe Rabbeinu that no one is to enter the Kodesh Hakadoshim, other than the Kohen Gadol on Yom Kippur.
The Divrei Yisrael derives a lesson from this based on the mishnah that tells us that a person should not say that when he has free time he will learn, because it’s quite possible that “free time” will never materialize and he will never get around to learning. He stresses that the concern is not only that he’ll never find the time — it’s more than that, because serving Hashem when we have free time and it’s easy isn’t anywhere nearly as meaningful as when it’s hard, amidst other responsibilities and a busy schedule.
It’s wonderful to have free time to learn and do mitzvos, but that’s not generally how Hashem set up this world. Part of being alive and serving Hashem is making time for what’s important, not waiting for the time to magically appear out of nowhere (and making excuses when it doesn’t happen). Making the time and creating the space is what makes our avodas Hashem meaningful, even if we think that if only we had more time, the learning or the mitzvah would be done “better.” After all, if Hashem had wanted limmud haTorah and mitzvos to be done by people with plenty of relaxed free time, He could have given the Torah to the malachim, who have plenty of time to fulfill His will.
There’s no question that it can be very hard to serve Hashem and make time for learning and davening and doing mitzvos. There’s also no question that this is the precise challenge that Hashem has given us — to make time for Him, demonstrating how important avodas Hashem is to us.
With this, the Divrei Yisrael explains the passuk that tells us that, “One should not come to the Mikdash at any time,” as hinting that one should not wait to serve Hashem when he has the time — rather, he should make the time to do so, even when it’s hard.
When it comes to chinuch habanim, this is especially important to remember. The years when we’re raising young children are usually also the years when we’re busy with finding jobs, buying a house, figuring out shalom bayis issues, and so forth, and we certainly don’t have “free and relaxed time” to devote to nothing other than chinuch. Again, if Hashem had wanted us to have this free and relaxed time to devote solely to our children, the Torah would have instructed us not to have children until we are financially established, with a firm shalom bayis and no external worries.
That’s not what it says, and so we understand that if Hashem had wanted chinuch habanim to be easy, He would have made it easy, and given us children at a time in life when we have no other worries and responsibilities. Instead, we have the task of raising our children to be ehrliche Yidden during years when we have so many other, important responsibilities.
