DECEMBER 30 • 2021 | 43

boom, most businesses flourish. In the 
first months after a general election, the 
successful leader carries with him or her 
the charisma of victory. In the first year, 
most marriages are happy. It takes no 
special skill to succeed in good times.
But then the climate changes. 
Eventually it always does. That is when 
many businesses, and politicians, and 
marriages fail. There are times when 
even the greatest people stumble. At such 
moments, character is tested. The great 
human beings are not those who never 
fail. They are those who survive failure, 
who keep on going, who refuse to be 
defeated, who never give up or give in. 
They keep trying. They learn from every 
mistake. They treat failure as a learning 
experience. And from every refusal to 
be defeated, they become stronger, wiser 
and more determined. That is the story of 
Moses’ life in both parshah Shemot and 
parshah Vaera.

GREAT LEADERS
Jim Collins, one of the great writers on 
leadership, puts it well: “The signature 
of the truly great versus the merely 
successful is not the absence of difficulty, 
but the ability to come back from 
setbacks, even cataclysmic catastrophes, 
stronger than before … The path out of 
darkness begins with those exasperatingly 
persistent individuals who are 
constitutionally incapable of capitulation. 
It’s one thing to suffer a staggering defeat 
… and entirely another to give up on 
the values and aspirations that make the 
protracted struggle worthwhile. Failure is 
not so much a physical state as a state of 
mind; success is falling down and getting 
up one more time, without end.”
Rabbi Yitzhak Hutner once wrote a 
powerful letter to a disciple who had 
become discouraged by his repeated 
failure to master Talmudic learning: “
A 
failing many of us suffer is that when 
we focus on the high attainments of 
great people, we discuss how they are 
complete in this or that area, while 
omitting mention of the inner struggles 
that had previously raged within them. 
A listener would get the impression that 
these individuals sprang from the hand 

of their creator in a state of perfection 
… The result of this feeling is that when 
an ambitious young man of spirit and 
enthusiasm meets obstacles, falls and 
slumps, he imagines himself as unworthy 
of being ‘planted in the house of God’ 
(Ps. 92:13) … Know, however, my dear 
friend, that your soul is rooted not in 
the tranquility of the good inclination, 
but in the battle of the good inclination 
… The English expression, ‘Lose a battle 
and win the war,’ applies. Certainly 
you have stumbled and will stumble 
again, and in many battles you will fall 
lame. I promise you, though, that after 
those losing campaigns you will emerge 
from the war with laurels of victory on 
your head … The wisest of men said, 
‘
A righteous man falls seven times, 
but rises again.’ (Proverbs 24:16) Fools 
believe the intent of the verse is to teach 
us that the righteous man falls seven 
times and, despite this, he rises. But the 
knowledgeable are aware that the essence 
of the righteous man’s rising again is 
because of his seven falls.”
Rabbi Hutner’s point is that greatness 
cannot be achieved without failure. There 
are heights you cannot climb without first 
having fallen.
For many years, I kept on my desk 
a quote from Calvin Coolidge, sent by 
a friend who knew how easy it is to be 
discouraged. It said: “Nothing in this 

world can take the place of persistence. 
Talent will not: Nothing is more common 
than unsuccessful men with talent. 
Genius will not; unrewarded genius is 
almost a proverb. Education will not: 
The world is full of educated derelicts. 
Persistence and determination alone are 
omnipotent.”
I would only add, “And seyata 
diShmaya, the help of Heaven.” God never 
loses faith in us, even if we sometimes 
lose faith in ourselves.
The supreme role model is Moses, who, 
despite all the setbacks chronicled in last 
week’s parshah and this week’s, eventually 
became the man of whom it was said that 
he was “120 years old when he died, yet 
his eyes were undimmed and his energy 
unabated.” (Deut. 34:7)
Defeats, delays and disappointments 
hurt. They hurt even for Moses. So 
if there are times when we, too, feel 
discouraged and demoralized, it is 
important to remember that even the 
greatest people failed. What made them 
great is that they kept going. The road to 
success passes through many valleys of 
failure. There is no other way. 

The late Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks was chief 

rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of 

the Commonwealth, 1991-2013. His teachings are 

available at rabbisacks.org. This essay was written 

on Jan. 11, 2021.

DEFEATS, DELAYS AND DISAPPOINTMENTS 
HURT. THEY HURT EVEN FOR MOSES. SO 
IF THERE ARE TIMES WHEN WE, TOO, FEEL 
DISCOURAGED AND DEMORALIZED, IT IS 
IMPORTANT TO REMEMBER THAT EVEN THE 
GREATEST PEOPLE FAILED. WHAT MADE 
THEM GREAT IS THAT THEY KEPT GOING. THE 
ROAD TO SUCCESS PASSES THROUGH MANY 

VALLEYS OF FAILURE. THERE IS NO OTHER WAY.

— RABBI LORD JONATHAN SACKS