DECEMBER 30 • 2021 | 41

SPIRIT

Overcoming Shortness Of Spirit
I

n the words of Thomas
Edison, “I haven’t failed; I
have found 10,000 ways it
will not work.
”
Failure is often a necessary
outcome toward success, not
something that should be
feared. Sometimes a leap of faith
and action is required, and that
is something that is beyond the
Israelites in this week’s parsha.
When Moshe presents God’s
message to the Israelites, they
do not listen to him because
they are being kotzer ruach, or
“short-spirited” due to their
reality of cruel, daily bondange.
Moshe and God are unproven
quantities to the Israelites, who
in their despair are incapable of
mustering the basic level of for-
titude required to have hope.
Their shortness of spirit also
infects Moshe even though

he has seen evidence of God’s
power with his own eyes. He
questions God regarding not
even having the buy-in of his
own people; why should
Pharaoh listen to him?
The people’s lives do not
meaningfully improve,
and it is telling that we
see evidence of members
of Pharaoh’s court show-
ing respect and fear of
God before the plague
of hail before we see
evidence of the Israelites
being able to accept
Moshe and God.
Self-defeating
behaviors are not new.
Whether it’s a student waiting
until the last minute to begin
a major project or a profes-
sional waiting until the day of
a presentation to prepare, our

choices have a tremendous and
meaningful influence on our
own experiences of reality.
In some cases, this is a delib-
erate behavior to avoid
disappointment when
someone feels that their
work will not be “good
enough;” they choose
to effectively sabotage
their own work rather
than face the potential
for disappointment from
their work not earning the
praise they feel entitled
to. The reasoning of “if I
haven’t really tried, then I
haven’t really failed” can
be compelling.
Failure is a learning experi-
ence in which we can grow in
ways that are meaningful and
necessary, if not necessarily the
way we want or had hoped. Not

trying does not guarantee fail-
ure, but rather stagnation and
paralysis.
Let us meet exhaustion
with compassionate care and
kindness, so that it doesn’t
reach the place our ancestors
were in of being kotzer ruach.
Let us always reach out with
compassion to meet people
where they are, accepting that
even if they’re not in a place to
fully partner with us, we will
continue to do the work that
needs to be done. Let us never
fear failure, but embrace the
learning and growth that come
from always putting in our best
work.

Rabbi Jeremy Yoskowitz is a Jewish

Studies instructor at Frankel Jewish

Academy as well as a chaplain and

ethics consultant for Beaumont Health.

TORAH PORTION

Rabbi
Jeremy
Yoskowitz

Parshat

Vayera:

Exodus 6:2-

9:35; Ezekiel

28:25-29:21.

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