Somewhere in the middle of this past year, 5,786, there was a school in the community that pretty much needed help and pretty much needed to be started. It was a mess and a half, and describing the whole thing is not for now. And pretty much came to my doorstep and said, “Rabbi, do you want to do this?”
At first, my thoughts were: Can I do it? Can I have the time? Do I have the energy? Can I raise the money? Then: How is it going to look? What are people going to say? What are people going to like, and what are other people going to like? Then I stopped. I said, “Listen, there’s only one question: Does it need to get done? And do you need to be the person who does it? If the answer is yes, then you have to do it. I don’t care what people, I don’t care about other schools, this school, that one, happy or not happy, competition. I don’t care about any of it. It’s not relevant. It’s not relevant: fundraising, time or no time, or how you’re going to do it. That’s not even the point. Does it need to get done? Yes. Do you need to be the person? Yes.”
And I got on my TV to give all the details. I looked in the mirror, in the middle of my room, and said, “What are you doing? You were in a school, you left the school, you’re so happy. What are you doing?” I said, “I’m doing what I think I need to do.” It’s as simple as that. That’s how life goes. The questions we have to ask ourselves are not: Am I doing well? Am I not doing well? Is it time yet for me to pat myself on the back or not pat myself on the back? Do I like my direction? Is my 7th grade morah (teacher) proud of how I’m doing? That’s not relevant. What’s relevant is: Are you ready for what’s next? Are you ready to step up? Are you ready for action? What does Hashem want from you next? That’s the only question. And that’s the focus of this week.
All of the regrets and all those things—of course, teshuvah (repentance) is important; we’ll get to that in a second. But that shouldn’t overwhelm you. Your main question should be: I’m not busy with my ego. I’m not busy with how I’m doing. I’m busy with what I need to be doing. And there’s a big difference. Those are slightly different questions. “How am I doing?” and “What do I need to be doing?” almost sound the same, but they’re very different. “How am I doing?” is a self-assessment, where I’m trying to rate myself to figure out how successful I am. That is an irrelevant question. “What do I need to be doing?” is asking myself and challenging myself: What’s next?