With spiritual pursuits, sometimes the only path to success is to just jump in

I

have a friend who’s a well-known askan and a very successful lawyer who charges clients over $1,000 an hour. I admire him for his talents and charisma, and I’m always ready to hear his meaningful perspective.

He recently made a surprising comment to me: “You know, I could never be the truly wealthy askan, it’s just not in my cards. I can never make real game-changer type of wealth.” Appreciating my bafflement, he continued, “I’m just too smart. In order to make massive profits, you need to jump at deals with huge upside and also significant risk. I’m just too deliberate and strategic. Only a person who doesn’t foresee all the potential consequences of his actions would take a leap of faith.”

This got me thinking. Isn’t it proper to be strategic and analytical? Isn’t it irresponsible to jump into big life decisions? Do we really only achieve success when we just “jump in,” throwing caution to the wind?

He Who Hesitates

When it comes to spiritual endeavors, Rav Tzaddok HaKohein (Tzidkas Hatzaddik 1) writes that when starting something new in avodas Hashem, a person has to jump in. If he thinks too much, he may never get there. He has to be willing to take the plunge.

This is true even though generally it’s crucial for one to think carefully and properly plan when making life decisions. Mesillas Yesharim writes that one should generally avoid doing things spontaneously, without adequate contemplation.

But with spiritual pursuits, sometimes the only path to success is to just jump in, because any slight hesitation opens the door for the yetzer hara to step in and ruin the plan.

Just Do It

I was waiting at the dentist recently, and the man sitting across from me caught my eye. His T-shirt had the famous Nike logo and the words “Just do it.” This marketing slogan helped define the Nike brand, and made it one of the most successful sports apparel companies.

Somehow, the words “Just do it” in Nike ads and products resonated with customers. It impelled them to start exercising after long procrastination; to quit jobs they’d been long unhappy with; to finally get therapy for longstanding issues. “Just do it” was a way of telling people to just take a leap of faith, jump in, and don’t overthink things.

“Just do it” is also an important tool in Yiddishkeit that can be vital for spiritual growth.

Reb Eli Stefansky leads a vastly popular Daf Yomi shiur of well over 10,000 people. When he was inspired to start this shiur, Daf Yomi was holding at Avodah Zarah daf ches, in middle of the masechta. But instead of waiting to start until the next masechta began, like most others would, he started the very next day, and the rest is history. The explosion of Torah learning from that shiur might never have emerged had he waited.

This is a lesson we can take away from Chanukah as well. As we say in al hanissim, Chanukah was a miracle of rabbim b’yad me’atim, gibborim b’yad chalashim — the many falling to the few, the strong to the weak. If the Maccabees had calculated their chances of success, it would never have happened. They launched a suicide mission — a small band trying to vanquish a much more powerful Syrian-Greek army. But with the attitude of “just do it,” they jumped right in, fought for the sake of Hashem and His Torah, and succeeded against all odds.

Embracing Life As Is

But what is the source for this idea? Where do we find that for mitzvah opportunities, one should “just do it,” without the usual deliberation?

The pasuk (Devarim 18:13) famously says, “Be tamim with Hashem your G-d.” Rashi says this means that a person should accept what happens to him without question, and not delve too much into the future.

Rav Gedaliah Shorr writes that Rashi is saying that the mitzvah to be tamim requires us to not be too strategic in how we serve Hashem. When a person picks up a Gemara to begin learning, a litany of thoughts cross his mind. How far into the masechta will I really get? My wife and children probably need my help. Am I better suited to learning lighter material? Last time I tried this, I lost patience after 20 minutes. Says the Torah, “Be tamim with Hashem your G-d” — meaning, don’t think about it too much. Just grab the opportunity, and it will work out.

And why is it that if you “just do it,” you are “tamim with Hashem”? It’s because when you grab life by the horns without over-strategizing, you are faithfully accepting Hashem’s personal life plan for you. You are embracing your life as is, as Hashem has presented to you. You are exercising temimus, faithfulness to Hashem’s design of your life situation.

The Gemara (Shabbos 88a) cites a striking conversation between the great Amora Rava and a heretic. The heretic says, “You Jews are an irresponsible people, who said ‘We will do’ before ‘We will hear’ [naaseh v’nishma]. You act without proper planning, accepting the Torah before hearing what it entails.”

Rava responded by quoting a pasuk in Mishlei (11:3), “The faithfulness of the upright will protect them,” Meaning, in Yiddishkeit our mantra is to take the plunge and trust that Hashem, Who loves us, will guide us to success. That is why we said naaseh before nishma.

The lesson: It is valuable to scrutinize, analyze, and carefully determine your course of action. But we believe that Hashem loves us and wants us to succeed; we therefore must sometimes “just do it,” without overthinking, and trust Hashem.

Someone once anonymously mailed 500 rubles to the Chofetz Chaim’s yeshivah in Radin. This was, then as now, an extremely unsafe way of sending a large amount of cash. The Chofetz Chaim, perturbed by this, investigated and discovered who the donor was. He contacted him and asked why he sent 500 rubles in cash through the mail.

The donor responded, “I was about to make a big business deal and I thought to myself, ‘If this deal goes through, I’ll give 500 rubles to the yeshivah in Radin.’ When the deal went through, it was already late in the evening. The banks were closed. I could not get a money order or a check. At first, I figured I would wait until the next morning.

“But then a little voice in my head said: ‘And if you give 50 rubles to the Chofetz Chaim’s yeshivah, would they not be happy?’ I started thinking, 50 rubles is a lot of money. Why do I need to give 500? I was weakening. I saw that if I waited until the next morning, it would not even be 50 rubles, it would be five. So, I took the cash and put it all in an envelope and sent it.”

When we strike while the iron is hot, trusting that Hashem will be by our side, we will discover capabilities beyond our imagination. We can accomplish things beyond our wildest dreams. Because when we take that first step, Hashem will take care of the rest. We are leaning not on our merit alone, but on Hashem’s infinite power. He will see to it that our dreams indeed become realities.

Rabbi Aryeh Kerzner is the rav of Agudas Yisrael of Montreal and a noted posek and popular speaker. Many of his shiurim and speeches are available online. He is the author of the sefer Halachah at Home, published by ArtScroll/Mesorah

(Originally featured in Mishpacha, Issue 1041)