JULY 8 • 2021 | 29

people in the desert in
painstaking detail. Each leg,
each stopover of the 40-year
journey is mentioned by
name. Why is that? If any-
thing, there’s good reason not
to dwell on the drawn-out
journey, which only became
necessary because of the sin of
the spies.
But perhaps the verse does
so to underline that each step
of a journey is important, each
moment is significant, each
mitzvah is a milestone. We
should not look at life as one
unit. We should savor each of
its components.

MISSION INCOMPLETE
The arc of Moshe’s life embod-
ies this idea. He was appointed
with the mandate to lead the
Jewish people out of Egypt,
bring them to Mount Sinai to
receive the Torah, and then
to lead them into the Land
of Israel. Due to events in the
desert, Moshe’s mandate to
lead the people into Israel was
transferred to Joshua. And so,
in a certain fundamental sense,
his mission was incomplete.
The fairy tale ending would
have been Moshe triumphant-
ly leading the people into the
Land of Israel. But the Torah is
a book of truth. It’s a descrip-
tion of life as it is. And in real
life “We are born in the middle
of things, and we die in the
middle of things.
” There are no
neat beginnings and endings,
no neat resolutions.
God is the master of the
universe, and it is not in our
hands to complete our arcs
and wrap up our lives in a neat
little bow. All we can do is
focus on and appreciate each
moment; take each task and
each mitzvah one at a time;
ensure we win life’s small vic-
tories.

All we can do is live with
complete faith that Hashem
will give us the time we need
on this earth to do what we
need to do — what we were
born to do — even if it feels
messy and unsatisfactory, even
if it feels that things are incom-
plete.
The key is to live with
humility and appreciation —
the humility that comes with
understanding that we don’t
control everything, and the
appreciation that comes with
savoring each moment and
each small victory. And we
need to encourage that attitude
in our children. To encour-
age them in each milestone
accomplished, each mitzvah
performed, each moment of
grace and kindness, no matter
how seemingly small.
As Jews, we believe in a
Final Redemption — an era
of the Messiah, in which the
world is perfected, peace and
closeness to God reign on
Earth, and human history is
brought to a glorious close. We
all long for such a time.
And yet, there is only one
generation that will merit to
witness this closure. We hope
and pray that we are that gen-
eration — that the redemption
happens today — and yet we
carry on with our lives with
the peace of mind that every
good deed we do, every step
we take in the right direction,
every small difference we
make in improving the world
we live in is part of the unfold-
ing of human history and lead-
ing inexorably toward the time
we all long for.
It’s about the small steps on
the journey of life.

Rabbi Warren Goldstein is the chief

rabbi of South Africa. This essay was

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