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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