Parashat HaShavua (the weekly Torah portion): Yaakov Avinu went to Charan, and he saw some shepherds who pushed the stone from the well. They explained to him that it was very heavy and that together they could push it. Later, Rachel came. When Rachel came, Yaakov was very happy to see her. He went and pushed the stone alone, by himself. Rashi explains that Yaakov was very strong. He was a powerful man. What is the meaning of that? Does the Torah have to tell us that he was powerful? It doesn't mean anything materialistic power. Yaakov was a powerful man—who cares about that? But we have to understand: the Torah wants to teach us something very important. A few people together could push that stone because it was very, very heavy. How could one man do that? Because Yaakov wanted it. He was powerful, but why was he powerful? Because he wanted very much to help Rachel. He wanted to help, so he pushed it. It became easy, although it was very, very heavy. For him, when he wanted to, it was easy.
There is a story: Once, a little child was walking on stones, and suddenly the stones fell down on him. He almost died. When his mother saw that, she was screaming, and she ran. She succeeded in pushing the stones away from her son. When people came, they saw it. They saw that the stones were very, very heavy. How come they couldn't push those stones, but a woman could? She said, “You know what? I could not wait. My son's life was in danger. I thought about my son's life, so I tried with all my power. Hashem gave me power; I could do something even strong people cannot do.” It means it's not something about that woman's nature. Everyone has power, but it depends on how you want, how you wish to use that power. And she wanted it very much. For her, at that moment, it was the most important thing. So inside, she had power. And all the power she had inside went out. And she succeeded.
Chazal (the Sages) said something like that about spirituality, about our brain, our wisdom. Rabbi Akiva was 40 years old. He didn't start to study. He saw a stone, and the water went drop after drop for a long, long time, until it broke the stone. And he thought, “Even water broke the stone. I can study. I have power to study.” The meaning is that Rabbi Akiva understood that if, like the drop, again and again and again all the time, then in the end, if you are stubborn and you do it again and again, you will succeed. And he thought to himself, “I didn't learn Torah. I am 40 years old, but if I am stubborn and I am learning, I will be masmid (a diligent Torah student) day and night. I will study. I will work with all my power. In the end, I have it. I will be Talmid Chacham (a Torah scholar),” and it happened. It became number one. He became the greatest Tanna (a Mishnaic sage), the greatest Talmid Chacham, because he worked very, very hard.
So, when we are tired in the morning, we want to sleep, but we can wake up. Yes, we can. We can wake up. We can study. If we learn late at night and we are tired, yes, we want to go to sleep, but a little more Torah. We have power for that. Another 5 minutes, another 5 minutes to continue to study Torah. Yes, we can. And Be'ezrat Hashem (with God's help), we will do that. We will learn Torah. We will fulfill mitzvot (commandments). Amen (so be it).