Behold, seven years are coming during which there will be great abundance in the entire land of Egypt. Seven years of famine will rise after them, and all the abundance will be forgotten…Gather in all the food during these good years that are coming…The food will be reserved for the seven years of famine…

Young people look down the long road of life ahead of them and think it is endless. What value does a day, a week, a month or even a year have? There is so much time available. What difference does it make if some of it is wasted? There is no sense of urgency to utilize every opportunity because whatever is not done today can be done tomorrow!

They overlook the fact that the ‘seven years of plenty’, the allotted time given to a person on this world, passes by very quickly. Then the endless ‘years of hunger’ begin. In the world to come, all a person has is the Torah and mitzvahs that he ‘reserved’ on this world.

How bitter will a person feel when he realizes how he let spiritual diamonds slip through his fingers. What value did an hour spent learning, answering Amen or the chance to do an act of kindness have to him?

The opportunities were so ‘plentiful’ that he thought nothing of letting them go to waste. He will be filled with regret, but it will be too late. ~ R’ Yehoshua Saidi