יום ב Date: 17 Nisan, 5775 (4/6/15) – Kesuvos#63 {Eliezer}

KEY CONSISTENCY

[63a top] R’ Akiva overheard his wife wishing that he would stay away from his home and learn Torah another twelve years, so he turned right around and traveled back to his schooling.
R’ Chaim Shmuelovitz: Why didn’t R’ Akiva at least just say hi and check in on his family while he was already there?! The message is all about consistency. R’ Akiva understood that his wife knew the importance of uninterrupted growth. His building during 12 years of learning and then another 12 years after would never have been the same as 24 years straight. It would have been wonderful for him to have spent some time with his wife, but she wanted him to become the best R’ Akiva that he could possibly be [without “Hesech Hadaas” (interruptions)].
R’ Rosner: The opposite idea holds true as well. If we have ever been slacking and pushing off learning, getting back into the groove becomes increasingly difficult. The best idea is to break the pattern, even if we are only able to sneak in a couple of minutes of Torah. This way we do not have as big of a block of built up non-spiritually, but rather two smaller time frames which become more manageable.

D-E-ep Thoughts: We become the people that we build ourselves up to be. Every moment we must recognize that we have the power to become bigger and better. It is crucial to set fixed times for Torah; to know that we will always have that spark to light any darkness in our day. We must never miss our marks too often and keep hitting our targets hard with constant routine and regularity.