You may walk into a shul and see someone sitting alone in a corner trying – no, slogging – to understand a piece of gemara. It looks like he is getting nowhere, but he perseveres. We will call this Stage 1. Then you watch a deep smile spread over his face and you know he has finally got it clear. The success is Stage 2.
Which stage best portrays the conscientious servant of Hashem? Stage 1, of course. It is the clearest indication of subservience to a Higher will.
“Winning isn’t everything; it’s the only thing.” The athlete’s days, weeks and months of sweaty practicing are actually no more than training for the real game. That’s where he hopes to finally prove himself. His past efforts, toil, and sweat alone are not valued as success.
Baruch Hashem, for Torah Jews the reverse is true. There’s no big date in the arena and no contest of one man’s performance against another’s. Whatever we may find ourselves up against, Hashem will be scrutinizing how hard we’re trying. And, at the end of the day, what counts is not, “Did you star?” but rather, “Did you strive?”
Watch out! That double-faced Satan never gives up. Just in case yesterday’s tricks haven’t wrought enough havoc, here comes today’s menu fooling us yet again. When it suits his purpose, he turns remarkably frum.
Choking with emotion, he convinces us that, sadly, we have blackened our soul beyond repair and by now things have just gone too far. He freely belittles any accomplishments to date and magnifies all mistakes. He demolishes his victim’s self-esteem like nothing else can, calling all those hard-won achievements a wobbly house of cards.
“Might as well pull off the rose-coloured glasses,” he coaxes, “and forget the grand madreigos we promised ourselves about guarding our eyes even in today’s glamorous and enticing environment. Shame, isn’t it?” Of course, a few dramatic sayings of Chazal will be thrown in for good measure.
Quick! Someone please come to the rescue of a neshama in grave danger! Tell him to ignore any negativity that dares to try and break his confidence during battle. Please sing this neshama a song about the eternal reward for every moment that we spend struggling with a raging yeitzer hora and his fiercely compelling drives. Point out what it means to chalk up even a single instance of having decisively averted our gaze from what seemed so alluring.
Phew! That was close!