Editing Shmirat HaZman (Guarding Time) (section)

== In the Sources ==
The demand to guard time is based on the verse: "Days were formed and one of them is His<ref>Tehillim: 139:16</ref>", which means that every Jew has an exact number of days given to him to live, according to the mission placed upon his soul to accomplish in this world<ref>The Tzedek's commentary on the verse (Yahel Or)</ref>. If he loses even a single moment – he diminishes the overall task placed upon him, since a moment that is lost does not return.

In Pirkei Avot, Chazal instruct us not to postpone things for another time: "Do not say 'When I am free I will study' – perhaps you will never be free," and "If not now, when?!"

The great early sages expressed this concept in the saying: "A person worries about losing his money, but does not worry about losing his days. His money does not help and his days do not return"<ref>Sefer HaChaim by the Maharal's brother</ref>.

This guidance is not merely good conduct, but is also ruled as halacha that when a person has utilized all his time for learning, and during the day had only one moment of idleness – this is considered a severe transgression of bitul Torah, and Chazal applied to him the verse "For he has despised the word of Hashem... that soul shall be cut off".