July 15, 2025

Morning Discipline: How Jews Snatch Mitzvos at Dawn

Are you pressing snooze or snatching mitzvot? In Bilaam's poetic description of the Jewish people, he praises them as those who "rise like a lioness" and "leap up like a lion." This powerful metaphor reveals profound wisdom about how we approach each morning and, consequently, our entire lives. The Midrash explains that this lion-like rising refers specifically to Jews waking with enthusiasm to "lachtof es hamitzvos" – eagerly snatching mitzvot. This isn't sluggish awakening but springing fr...

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Season 8

Are you pressing snooze or snatching mitzvot? In Bilaam's poetic description of the Jewish people, he praises them as those who "rise like a lioness" and "leap up like a lion." This powerful metaphor reveals profound wisdom about how we approach each morning and, consequently, our entire lives.

The Midrash explains that this lion-like rising refers specifically to Jews waking with enthusiasm to "lachtof es hamitzvos" – eagerly snatching mitzvot. This isn't sluggish awakening but springing from bed with purpose to don tallis, recite Shema, and lay tefillin. The comparison to lions is particularly apt – these magnificent creatures typically awaken between 5:30-6:00 AM with a powerful roar announcing their readiness for action.

How many of us can honestly claim we wake with such vigor? When we press snooze, we're essentially saying, "Thank you for life, but I need five more minutes of death." This seemingly small decision cascades into countless others throughout our day. Successful people don't fight their alarm clock daily; they establish consistent routines that become automatic. Whether rising at 4 AM or 8 AM, creating a set schedule takes just three consecutive repetitions to begin building that "rich man's mindset."

While billionaires wake early to build wealth, we have an even greater purpose – serving God from our first conscious moments. That initial choice between discipline and sluggishness determines much about our day's trajectory. "Mitzvah goreret mitzvah" – one good deed leads to another, creating a positive spiral of purposeful living.

Ready to transform your mornings? Stop making excuses and start embracing Bilaam's vision of the Jewish people. Wake up like a lion, grab life by its horns, and discover how your first five minutes can revolutionize everything that follows.

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Questions or Comments? Please email me @ michaelbrooke97@gmail.com



00:00 - The Lion Metaphor of Jewish People

01:09 - Lachtof: Snatching Mitzvot at Dawn

02:11 - Morning Routine Reality Check

03:31 - Wake Up Like a Lion, Win Your Day

04:14 - Taking Responsibility for Your Morning

WEBVTT

00:00:01.161 --> 00:00:11.250
When your alarm goes off in the morning, do you press the snooze button and turn over for five more minutes of some Z's, or do you wake up, attack the day and grab mitzvot?

00:00:11.250 --> 00:00:13.946
Bilam HaRosha says in last week's Parsha.

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After he goes on this long soliloquy a very poetic and symphonic description of the godless of the Jewish people, he says.

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He says Lo, a people that rises like a lioness, leaps up like a lion.

00:00:31.394 --> 00:00:37.112
In what way do the Jewish people resemble of that of a lion and its mourning routines?

00:00:37.112 --> 00:00:40.606
So, dr Rashi, citing a Medrash Tanchuma, what does it mean?

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What does it mean?

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Hen am kalavi, yokum Kishahen, oimdim mishinosom shacharis, when the Jewish people awake from their nighttime snoozes, clearly we're talking about waking up in the morning and not from an afternoon nap.

00:00:53.338 --> 00:00:57.567
Hen misgabrim kalavi, they wake up like a lioness.

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V'cha'ari in, like a average lion.

00:01:01.229 --> 00:01:04.810
V'lacha tov as ha-mitzvos to snatch mitzvos.

00:01:04.810 --> 00:01:06.052
Lacha tov as ha mitzvos to snatch mitzvos.

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Lach tov as mitzvos is how Jewish people wake up.

00:01:09.287 --> 00:01:10.391
That's Bilaam's praise.

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Lil boish talis, in order to don the fringes of the talis.

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Likros as shema, to recite shema and accept the sovereignty of heaven, u'lhaniach tefillin, and to lay the tefillin upon the arm and upon the head.

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The law of the Midrash is, if I'm not mistaken, it means kidnap, it means to snatch, to grab mitzvos.

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Clearly, the feeling of the Midrash is that you should wake up like a lion and start, with an enthusiasm, attacking the world and becoming a successful, passionate Jew.

00:01:53.909 --> 00:02:06.811
Waking up, moda'am levonecha washing next to your bed see the Mishnebura then jumping out of bed, putting on your tzitzit, running to shol ma'atovu, ahalecha yakov and grabbing your talis and tefillin.

00:02:06.811 --> 00:02:11.128
Who can honestly say that they wake up in that sort of mindset?

00:02:11.128 --> 00:02:18.356
But yet that's what Bilaam praised the Jews as having that great morning routine Out of all the chronotypes.

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The lion who we're being compared to he actually wakes up if you look at science and data compared to.

00:02:24.409 --> 00:02:35.062
He actually wakes up if you look at science and data, around 5.30 am through 6 am, with a loud roar that signals that he is ready to hunt.

00:02:35.062 --> 00:02:38.689
Can we honestly say that we wake up, that we wake up ready to snatch mitzvot?

00:02:38.689 --> 00:02:41.495
Successful people, they wake up early in the morning.

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My mother I can still hear my mother rebuking me that you would press the snooze button and say God, no, thank you for life, I need five more minutes of death.

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How dare you?

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And because my mother said it with a loving tone.

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Of course it went straight to my heart.

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What can I say about my morning routine?

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Well, I can say that it could use improvement.

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And I ask you, could yours use improvement?

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Great Rabbi Brandt told me that the only way to improve on your morning schedule is to not have it be a fight every day, but to have it be a routine.

00:03:13.875 --> 00:03:16.228
Alarm goes off, boom, you're out of bed.

00:03:16.228 --> 00:03:31.473
Whether it's 4 am, 5 am or 6 am, 7 am, 8 am, if you make it a set schedule three times in a row, you already have that rich man's mindset that you wake up la chatof, as hamitzes.

00:03:31.473 --> 00:03:37.794
There are billionaires that wake up at 4 am and we're even more lucky, more blessed than all of those billionaires, to be going to work for God.

00:03:38.176 --> 00:03:43.325
And what are we supposed to say if we, god forbid, wake up at a sloth-like 9.30.

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It's up to us to grab life by the horns and to make no more excuses, but instead to wake up like a lion, like Bilaam describes the mourning of a Jew.

00:03:54.792 --> 00:04:02.120
Take responsibility for your life and God forbid, if you remain sluggish in that first decision of your life, of staying in bed for five more minutes.

00:04:02.120 --> 00:04:06.644
That only leads to more sluggish and petty decisions throughout the rest of the day.

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But when you wake up like a lion and you act like a lion at the very beginning of your day, with some discipline and with some strength, you have strength throughout the day.

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Mitzvah, gereris, mitzvah, and you start to really fulfill what Bilaam said about the Jewish people that they wake up, blow a people that rises like a lioness, get up ready to snatch mitzvahs.