By Rav Aryeh Zev Ginzberg
Sitting in my car in rush-hour traffic, I turned on the radio to catch up on the news of the day, and heard an interview with two superstars on the teams that were about to go head-to-head in the NBA championship.
Any real interest I had in following professional sports ended decades ago, but one of the players’ responses to the reporter’s question caught my attention. He was asked, “Since you have lost in the past against this team, is winning everything?” He responded with the well-known sports mantra of “Winning isn’t everything—it’s the only thing.”
That caught my attention, as his attitude was totally at odds with the first Rashi in the parashah of that week (no surprise there). Rashi comments on the pasuk of “Im bechukosai teileichu” that one might think this refers to the fulfillment of the mitzvos, but actually it’s all in the ameilus, in the struggle and effort that one puts in to get there. It’s never about winning or completing—it’s about giving it all of your effort; that itself is the goal.
Upon finishing a mesechta, we say, “Anu ameilim u’mekablim s’char,” we get our reward just for the effort and toil that we put into our observance of mitzvos and limud haTorah.
While the rest of the world is focused on the battle between these two superstars and their teams, Klal Yisrael is also focused, but on the upcoming yom tov of Shavuos, Z’man Mattan Toraseinu.
The Ran describes Shavuos as a yom ha’din, a day of judgment. We are being judged from above as to our commitment and accomplishment in limud haTorah. From last Shavuos to the one approaching, how has our learning developed? Did we learn more, did we learn better, and did our appreciation of what Torah means to Klal Yisrael grow as well?
If the answer to those questions is no, then we should ask ourselves, “Why not?” And if the answer is yes, we should be asking, “Could we have done even more?”
I see people sitting together in the same shul, sometimes even at the same table, and one person has completed a full-year regimen of Daf Yomi, and another a seder of mishnayos, but yet a third didn’t even keep to his resolution of Shnayim Mikra that he made on Yom Kippur and stopped at Parashas Noach.
Why does this happen? Obviously it has a lot to do with personal levels of commitment. However, I have observed that often it’s because some people just strive too high. We become motivated and inspired and commit to a task that we can never possibly keep, and then when we fall behind, we become disillusioned and give up completely.
We need to take baby steps. Rav Avrohom Pam, zt’l, once explained why Yaakov Avinu’s dream upon leaving his father’s house to go to Lavan was fixated on a ladder; why not on a flight of stairs? He explained that no matter how athletic you are, you cannot run up or skip up a ladder as you can with stairs. You need to climb one rung at a time, climbing steadily until you reach the top. This is a metaphor for avodas Hashem. Climbing one step at a time is the only way to succeed. Do not look at the finish line; just take one baby step after another.
I know many people who committed to learn a mishnah or two a day (our shul’s organized daily mishnayos quota, currently being followed by close to 5,000 people, is five mishnayos), and they finished Shishah Sidrei Mishnah multiple times.
We observe people who dedicate campuses for yeshivas, or pop out fabulous sefarim in record time, and we look at our seemingly small accomplishments as totally insignificant. Chazal beg to differ.
Rav Aharon Kotler, zt’l, made an insightful comment on a famous Chazal. The first Beis HaMikdash was destroyed by the powerful King Nevuchadnetzar. To be able to destroy the house of Hashem built by the hands of Dovid HaMelech and Shlomo HaMelech, he must have had some very special z’chuyos. What possible z’chus could this evil, despotic warmonger have to his credit that would give him the ability to destroy the first Beis HaMikdash?
Chazal tell us that when the Navi came to speak to him, Nevuchadnetzar walked three small steps for kvod Shamayim; he was about to take a fourth step, but a malach stopped him in his tracks, so he shouldn’t have an even greater z’chus. Those three small steps are what afforded him the ability to destroy the Beis HaMikdash.
If this is the reward for such a wicked person’s mere steps in the right direction, imagine how far—as members of “mamleches kohanim v’goy kadosh”—our small steps can take us on our journey to achieve the lofty goals of bringing additional kedushah into our lives.
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I have a dear friend who, as a young newlywed many years ago, decided to pay attention to the gentle prodding of his young wife to try to make tefillah b’tzibbur a priority. He realized that with the pressures of a full-time job and the new responsibilities of taking care of a young household, a huge commitment would never last. So he compiled lists of the neighborhood’s minyanim schedules for Minchah and started with that one tefillah.
This friend just recently celebrated his tenth anniversary of not missing even one tefillah with a minyan. That is three tefillos a day, times 365 days a year, times ten years. Do the math. This was not easy. To arrange and deal with vacations, business trips, children’s births, serious bouts of the flu, etc., making sure that not one time in ten years would he miss a tefillah b’tzibbur was a monumental task.
How did he do this? If, back when he started, he had thought that he must do it for a whole year, his commitment would not have lasted even ten days, let alone ten years. He was able to do it because he just focused on one day at a time, one tefillah at a time—and kept at it for the last ten years. The z’chus for his wife, who was the source of the inspiration and encouragement, is unimaginable.
Someone shared with me that he was never aware that one is not supposed to eat before davening (unless there is a medical need). This had been part of his daily routine, particularly on Shabbos, for years. Then recently he joined in the Dirshu daily Mishnah Berurah shiur that is given online by Rabbi Yudi Jeger for ten minutes each morning, and he learned hilchos tefillah. One particular halachah is that one should not eat before davening. He decided that if that’s the halachah, he would change his longstanding habit.
It wasn’t a commitment for life—just one day at a time. But it has been several months already and he has a new appreciation of kavod ha’tefillah.
These are examples of Yidden just like the rest of us who took on commitments that will not make headlines around the world or even on YeshivaWorldNews. But if the steps of the evil Nevuchadnetzar gave him such power from above, it’s safe to assume that these wonderful Yidden are accruing z’chuyos for themselves and Klal Yisrael that we will never comprehend.
Let the superstar athletes live to win. But as Shavuos approaches and we are again called to task on this yom ha’din, let us, the children of Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov, be content to live our lives one day at a time, one step at a time, to bring more kvod Shamayim to the world.
Have a wonderful yom tov. v
This article was written l’zecher nishmas Sarah Chaya, z’l, bas Rav Aryeh Zev.