The Work We Attempt
Defines Our Success

RABBI MORTON F. YOLKUT SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

"And god said to Moses: go up
into this mountain of Abraim,
and behold the land which I
have given to the children of
Israel. And when you have seen
it, you will be gathered to your
people, as Aaron your brother
was gathered."
(Numbers 27:12-14).

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THE DE TROI T J EWIS H NEWS

2800 West Eleven Mile, Berkley, MI (Between Greenfield and Coolidge) (810) 548-5656

28

Fine Jewelers

A

Est. 1919

304(1) 'Telegraph Rd. Suite 134, Bilui,lutru l':,truts • 642-5575

M

oses is commanded to
view the promised land,
which he may not enter,
and is given an intima-
tion of his approaching death.
This command of our sedrah is
repeated in Deuteronomy 32:48,
and its fulfillment is recorded in
the last chapter of the Torah.
At first blush, God's decree in
preventing Moses from entering
the land of promise appears
rather harsh and severe. If ever
there was a man who deserved to
reach the goal of his life that man
was Moses. He devoted his whole
life to the purpose of taking his
people out of the land of Egypt
and leading them to the land of
their fathers. More than once, he
felt overwhelmed by the weight
of this awesome responsibility.
The Jewish people, by their ubiq-
uitous complaints and despair
made his 40-year tenure much
harder than it should have been.
Throughout his endless trials,
one thought alone sustained him
and gave him strength to endure
— his ambition to see his people
safely in the holy land. But at the
end of his life, when his great goal
was at hand, it was denied him.
His foot would never tread on the
soil of the promised land; Joshua,
his student, would lead the Is-
raelites there.
The disappointment must
have been immense, but he did
not complain. One may even as-
sume he died happy and content,
although his greatest wish had
not been fulfilled because he must
have felt that the work he had
commenced would be brought to
fruition.
This final episode in the life of
Moses has much to teach us.
Moses did not complete the task
he set for himself. But his life was
certainly not a failure. His im-
mortal greatness rests upon what
he attempted, not upon what he
achieved. It is only the men who
aim low who accomplish all that
they desire from life. In the words
of the poet Browning: "Ah, but a
man's reach should exceed his
grasp, or what's a Heaven for?"
The unfinished work of one man
may be infinitely greater and
more beneficial to humanity than

the completed agenda of anoth-
er.
Reflection on the life and death
of Moses also helps us to under-
stand the meaning of the terms
success and failure from the Jew-
ish perspective. To have accom-
plished all that was undertaken
is not the criterion for success; if
it were, the most honored men in
our history would be considered
failures. Not only did Moses fail;
but David failed to carry out his
dream to build the Temple in
Jerusalem; Elijah failed to bring
reformation of Israel; Mai-
monides planned several works
which he did not live to write:
Herzl died long before the real-
ization of the Zionist dream; and
there are innumerable others.
Their names live on in the admi-
ration of our people but they all
failed in that they did not realize
their goal.
But that is not the Jewish way
of evaluating a career. The crite-
rion which our tradition propos-
es is rather: "It is not your duty

Shabbat Pinchas:
Numbers 25:10-30:1
I Kings 18:46-19:21.

to complete the task, but neither
are you free to desist from it."
(Avot 2:16). If, before undertak-
ing a worthy task, we stop to ask
ourselves whether we can fully
accomplish it, we shall never even
begin to attempt it. The proper
course to adopt is to start and do
our very best, to make as much
progress as we can, and leave the
end to take care of itself. All that
need concern us is the beginning,
we cannot be responsible for the
end.
From this perspective we can
appreciate the real success of
Moses' career. Yes, it was an un-
finished life, but it was anything
but a failure. He lived to see the
promised land from a distance
and his efforts had brought the
goal appreciably nearer. That is
all one should hope for and labor
for in life. Very few are allowed
to enter the land of their dreams;
most of us must be content with
a far-off glimpse. But if we end
our lives with our eyes turned to
the promised land as did Moses,
the sight which we observe will
be a full and satisfying reward for
our labor and dedication.
"Ah, but a man's reach should
exceed his grasp — or what's
Heaven for?'

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