Our Gemara on amud beis tells us that though we discourage the convert in order to determine his or her motivations, and to make sure he or she is fully committed. However, once he agrees, we begin the process immediately.  The Gemara says this is because we do not delay a mitzvah.  Once could especially imagine that as an adult, if the process also involved circumcision, it is frightening. Therefore it is a good idea to follow through immediately once a resolution is made.

It is human nature to become excited or aroused about an idea. If a person capitalizes on the enthusiasm of the moment, he or she may bring life changing effects. If that moment passes, the energy may go away, and rationalizations or fears overtake the person and there is no follow through. Of course, sometimes a person becomes aroused and excited about a bad idea, and impulsively acts on it without enough judgment. Life experience tells a person how to discern. Nevertheless, there is truth and power to the notion of capitalizing on a moment of inspiration.

There is an apocryphal story about a bachur in the Volozhin Yeshiva who thought he knew Shas thoroughly and someone asked him a question that he was unable to answer, due to oversight of a simple line in Tosafos. This occurred at dinner time. He was so perturbed that he went then and there into the Beis Midrash and didn’t stop learning, so to speak, until he became a great Talmid Chacham. It is said that later on, the bachurim asked the Rosh Yeshiva, was it permitted for the boy to skip bentching? The answer was, “I don’t know if it was permitted, but I will say this. If he didn’t go into the Bais Midrash right then and there, he probably would not have become the Talmid Chacham that he is today.”

The Gemara in Sanhedrin (19b) tells us a similar kind of story regarding Palti Ben Layish and his strange marriage to Michal, the daughter of Shaul. In reality, Michal was legally wedded to David. By King Shaul’s decree, Palti was coerced to “marry” Michal and live together as husband and wife. The temptation to be sexually intimate with her was great. In order to prevent himself from losing his wits, he took a sword and plunged it into the bed between them. He declared, “Whoever engages in this matter shall be impaled by this sword!”

(It is meaningful to note that Palti is so modest, he does not even refer to sexuality in a direct manner, and instead refers to it as “this matter”.)

There is a famous shmooze from Rav Chaim Shmuelevitz (Chaye Sarah Ma’amar 6, 5733) where he discusses this.  He asks, from a logical standpoint, what good did the sword do?  If Palti felt tempted he simply could put the sword under the bed and conduct his business!  We see from here an important truth of human psychology.  When a person has a moment of arousal and commitment, if he sets a symbolic reminder of that moment, he is able to renew and refresh his connection to those feelings and be strengthened.  True, Palti could have just gotten rid of the sword, but it served as a stark reminder of the spiritual death he would endure if he succumbed to temptation, and so it helped him refresh his original powerful thoughts and sentiments.

Translations Courtesy of Sefaria, except when, sometimes, I disagree with the translation

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