Everything Has Two Handles by Ronald Pies

Author:Ronald Pies
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Hamilton Books
Published: 2008-04-05T04:00:00+00:00

Don’t hope for Plato’s Utopia, but be content to make a very small step forward and reflect that the result even of this is not trifling.

—Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, Book IX (Farquharson, 67)

We often torment ourselves for having failed to achieve something which, examined in retrospect, was probably wildly unrealistic or grandiose. We seldom give ourselves credit for the small steps we take each day in pursuit of our goals and dreams. In the Judaic literature, there is a strong tradition of taking “partial credit” for one’s efforts, and avoiding utopian goals. In his Commentary on Pirkei Avot (2:21), the Marharal of Prague tells us, “Studying Torah is not like building a house, which has no value unless it is complete. It is comparable to sowing seeds; every seed sown is a completed task, regardless of whether one finishes the entire field” (Basser, 138–39). And an even more eloquent renunciation of utopian goals is provided by Chaim of Zans:

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