Rabbi's Musings

Since I will be on sabbatical in July, this is my opportunity to write about the upcoming Olympics in Paris.

Citius, altius, fortius is a Latin phrase meaning swifter, higher, stronger. It is the motto of the Olympic games and would go a long way in representing what should be our personal missions. We find that Olympic history is rich with moving heroes that show us that it is important not only how we run the race but that we finish it as well. A shining example of this kind of fortitude was revealed at the 1968 Mexico Olympics. A Tanzanian marathon runner named Akhwari was the last man to finish the marathon race. He arrived in the stadium staggering and limping and finished his race long after the winner did. This prompted after-race questions as to why he continued when he had no chance of winning. He simply replied, My country did not send me to Mexico City to start the race. They sent me to finish the race.
 
We can learn from this that how we end is as key as how we begin. And make no mistake. Excellence takes time! The same is true of our faith and personal development as human beings. It takes a lifetime to create a life that is a work of art, but why else are we here? Being a good person is hard, hard work. Character is forged by every good decision, by every denial of the temptation to do the wrong thing. Life, my friends, is a marathon.
 
Living the good life — a life of values — is also a group activity. In his best-selling book, Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell, the author of The Tipping Point and Blink and staff writer for The New Yorker, says that people who are fabulously successful have almost always put in more than 10,000 hours of practice time in activities related to their success. What if we applied this rule to the practice of living faithfully as religious people? "When we talk about successful people," says Gladwell, "we want to know what they're like –– what kind of personalities they have, or how intelligent they are, or what kind of lifestyles they have, or what special talents they may have been born with. And we assume that it is those personal qualities that explain how that individual reached the top.” Translation: winning is a personality trait more than a stat.
 
I believe our Jewish faith should direct us to live well, for the long haul and in company with others. We are not alone. Much is expected of us. And many blessings will be ours to bestow as long as we remember this key fact: we were not put on this earth to start the race. We were put here to finish it.