28 | JULY 8 • 2021 

A

waiter remembers every detail 
of an order but forgets those 
details as soon as the plates hit the 
table. Inspired by this thought experiment, 
German psychologist Bluma Wulfovna 
Zeigarnik conducted a series of laboratory 
tests to demonstrate that peo-
ple have a better recollection 
of the puzzles they are pre-
vented from finishing than 
those they have completed. 
Evidently, our brains are 
wired to be preoccupied with 
the details of incomplete 
tasks. We have a deep-seated 
need to see things to the end. The human 
condition is to not be satisfied, to not let 
our minds rest, until we do what we set out 
do to.
The problem is, very often we don’t. Very 
often, for whatever reason, we simply aren’t 
able to reach the finish line.
One of our great sages of the 20th cen-
tury, Rav Eliyahu Dessler, writes, “We are 
born in the middle of things, and we die in 
the middle of things.
” 
Friends — life is messy. Full of loose 
ends, false starts, unfulfilled objectives. The 
question is, what should our attitude be to 
this unsatisfying state of affairs?
In this week’s Torah portion, Massei, God 
gives Moshe the mitzvah of designating the 
cities of refuge — safe spaces for those who 
have inadvertently taken a life to escape to, 

to seek refuge from avenging parties and for 
atonement. There were six cities of refuge 
to be established — three east of the Jordan 
River and three west of the Jordan River.
The eastern territory had already been 
conquered by this stage, and to get things 
started, Moshe was tasked with establishing 
these first three cities. He did this with great 
enthusiasm, knowing that he would never 
get to establish the three western cities 
because God had decreed that he would not 
cross the Jordan River and lead the Jewish 
people into the Land of Israel. That mission 
was left to his successor, Joshua.
Analyzing the verse, Rashi comments 
that the six cities were a single bloc, and 
that none of the cities would be operational 
until all six were established. This means 
that the three eastern cities that Moshe set 
up did not become operational until Joshua 
conquered the western side of the Jordan 
River and established the other three. 
In other words, not only did Moshe 
not have the chance to complete the task, 
he never got to see any of the fruits of his 
efforts realized. The Talmud (Makot 10a) 
says this was a mark of Moshe’s greatness 
— that his passion for fulfilling God’s will 
was such that he threw himself into the task 
of establishing these cities even though he 
knew he would never complete it.
 The obvious lesson here is that we need 
to savor each moment, each accomplish-
ment, each step along our life’s journey. On 

the one hand, it’s good to be goal-oriented 
and to keep an eye on the destination. On 
the other hand, we cannot be consumed 
with our goals to the point where we are 
unable to savor the small moments and 
the small victories. Because these small 
moments and small victories are an import-
ant part of our lives.

LIVE IN THE MOMENT
Every moment of life is precious. We 
learn this from pikuach nefesh — the 
principle that virtually all the Torah’s 
laws are suspended in order to save a life. 
Even if it’s to prolong that life for a few 
moments. Life is nothing but the sum of 
small moments. Each moment is sacred 
because life is sacred.
Torah learning provides a good illustra-
tion of the importance of small moments 
and small victories. The Mishna teaches 
that the mitzvah of learning Torah has no 
fixed limit. The Vilna Gaon has a novel 
reading of the Mishna. He says that this 
teaching applies at both ends of the spec-
trum — there is no upper limit on the 
amount of Torah one can learn, but there 
is also no minimum amount; each word of 
Torah we learn is a distinct mitzvah with 
eternal value.
Kindness is another example. We have a 
Torah mandate to make this world a kinder, 
gentler place. But the mitzvah of chesed is 
fulfilled through incremental actions and 
gestures — a kind word, a small gesture, a 
brief embrace. Tzedakah is another exam-
ple — a mitzvah performed one coin at a 
time. And prayer. It is made up of many 
individual words. Each of which has its own 
meaning and opportunity for devotion and 
connection to God.
We see this principle articulated most 
explicitly in the Mishnah in Pirkei Avot: “It 
is not on you to complete the work, but nor 
are you free to desist from it.
” (Pirkei Avot
2:16). 
Though the Mishnah is referring spe-
cifically to the mitzvah of Torah learning, 
which being God’s infinite wisdom, by defi-
nition, can never fully be comprehended 
or “completed,
” it applies no less to every 
mitzvah we perform and all the objectives 
we pursue over the course of our lives. “We 
are born in the middle of things, and we die 
in the middle of things.
”
This could also be the message at the 
beginning of our Torah portion, Massei, 
which chronicles the journey of the Jewish 

SPIRIT
A WORD OF TORAH

Rabbi 
Warren 
Goldstein

How do we deal with unfulfi
 lled goals?
The Best-Laid Plans ...

