Today is an incredibly holy day. It is the 15th of Av which the Talmud in Taanis tells us is one of the two happiest days of the year. Today also starts the new Daf Yomi cycle at Brachos 2A. To add to even more cosmic karma, today’s daf is based upon the famous posuk found in this parsha, Vetchanan, the first paragraph of the shema: “these things I command you….. when you go to sleep and you when you arise.” This pasuk is the basis for the discussion in Brachos 2A of when you say the shema at night. Really, it is talking about order. Or as Rabbi Frand said at the the siyum, a plan. Ordering or planning your day.

The Shikker Dovid was very touched by Rabbi Frand’s message at the siyum on Wed about having a plan for Torah study. The truth is we should have a plan for our lives. We should plan our life carefully to have a balance of things, time with our children, time with our spouse, time to learn, time to exercise….. even make time for a little fun (hence “Shikker dovid”).

On the first page of the Talmud we see even heaven makes plans. The Talmud says that our watches -guarding in the Temple refer or mirror the watches in heaven. Even in heaven there are have an ordered watch system.

Let us bring the Heavenly lessons down to earth by ordering our lives, living life to the fullest, with a plan to do everything and enjoying the process as we do it.