Limitless

Rav Yitzchok Dovid Grossman once tried to find a suitable yeshiva for a troubled teenager. He found one, but the boy was kicked out. He found another. Same result. You get the picture…

At some point, he went to the Steipler Gaon and asked: How far does my responsibility go? How many times do I keep doing this? The Steipler answered: “There is no limit. If there is even the tiniest chance that you will save this boy’s life, you have to continue doing your best.” Rav Grossman kept going and, eventually, the boy found his way.

Now, obviously, we can all take a reminder not to give up on our kids. Not after the third meltdown. Not after the fifth terrible parent-teacher conference. There is no magical number of tries after which it “should” work.

But let’s think for a second. The Steipler’s answer is almost impossible. “There is no limit” is nice on paper. But in real life? Real life is exhausting. Real life is standing outside the principal’s office, wondering how you’re going to do this again. Real life is having nothing left in the tank with 100 miles to go.

So where did Rav Grossman get the energy to keep driving across Israel, believing in a kid that everyone else had written off?

I think the answer is this: We hear a story like this, and we think, that’s a gadol. That’s someone on a different level. I’m just a regular guy making lunches and trying not to lose my mind before bedtime.

But the truth is, every single day, we are building human beings. We are keeping someone going. We are setting a good example.  We are providing a safe home. We are raising someone who will want to build a home of their own.

When you appreciate what you’re doing, you find the energy to do it. If we wake up exhausted (by the way, two months of middle-of-the-night air raid sirens here in Israel have been no picnic), and still manage to bring our kids to school, or to go to work to provide for our families, or get to our chavrusas on time, that’s only proof to what we can truly accomplish. Let’s not sell ourselves short.