Day 33/50: Just One More Minute

 אִם־שָׁמ֤וֹעַ תִּשְׁמְעוּ֙ בְּקֹלִ֔י וּשְׁמַרְתֶּ֖ם אֶת־בְּרִיתִ֑י וִֽהְיִ֨יתֶם לִ֤י סְגֻלָּה֙ מִכָּל־הָ֣עַמִּ֔ים

If you obey Me and keep My covenant, you shall be to Me a treasure out of all peoples.

There’s a well-known story from when the Steipler was young and was drafted into the Russian army. It was Shabbos, and the soldier before him had placed the fur coat on a tree, which makes it normally ossur to remove. In spite of the life-threatening, below freezing temperatures which would have allowed him to take the coat to wear, the Steipler kept pushing off taking the coat for just one more minute, and then just one more minute, until his shift was finally over. He had managed to survive the entire night of bitter cold by just pushing it off, one more minute at a time!

This is a powerful strategy for dealing with the Yetzer Hara. Even if you’re feeling very weak and you’re sure that you’ll fall, try to push it off for “just five minutes”. Then try again for just another five minutes. The Steipler writes that for every second you hold back, you earn reward in shamayim that even malachim can’t fathom! 

Before you know it, the urge will have passed and you’ll be moving on to much more important things in life. And you’ll be left with the amazing feeling that you’ve truly made Hashem proud!