You Reached The Top Of The Mountain—Now Get Back To Work!

We love to obsess over the climb. We grind and push until we reach the summit of our personal mountains. But a verse in Parshas Yisro reveals a jarring truth about what happens in the next moment. After we accomplish the big win. After we have reached the peak of the mountain.

The Torah describes a specific scene where Moses sits down to judge the people's disputes. The text explicitly states this happened "on the next day." Rashi clarifies that this was the very next day after Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the second tablets. This was the day after the very first Yom Kippur. Moses had just achieved the highest level of intimacy with the Divine. He had secured forgiveness for the entire nation. You would expect him to take a break. You would expect him to bask in the glow of his spiritual perfection. Yet Moses didn’t pause for a moment. Instead, he went back to work immediately.

There is a powerful story about the Previous Lubavitcher Rebbe (known as the Rebbe Rayatz) and his father (the Rebbe Rashab). The story took place on the night following Yom Kippur. The Rebbe Rayatz asked his father what could possibly be required of them now that the holy day of Yom Kippur was over. They had just finished an entire day praying with the intensity of angels. What would be an appropriate next step after reaching such spiritual heights? His father, the Rebbe Rashab, answered his son: "Itzter darf men ersht teshuvah toun" (Now, one must first do Teshuvah – repent)! This instruction may seem illogical at first glance. They had just spent an entire day cleansing their souls of every blemish. Why, of all times, would the Rebbe Rashab be thinking of Teshuvah?

We misunderstand the definition of Teshuvah when we link it only to sin. Teshuvah means to return to your essential self. The version of you that existed yesterday is simply too small for today. You might have crushed your goals and reached a level of total perfection. Know this: that perfection is now your cage! The very name of our Parsha, Yisro, means addition because you are required to add to your service exactly when you think you are finished.

Comfort is the enemy of greatness. The feeling of satisfaction is a lie that tries to seduce you into mediocrity. You have a soul that is a piece of the Infinite. An infinite soul does not know from finish lines. Moses went from the clouds of glory to the grit of solving legal disputes because he knew that standing still is a spiritual death sentence. Like Moses, acknowledge that your biggest achievement is now just the floor for your next ascent. You have no time to celebrate. Because you are on a mission to climb infinitely higher… now get back to work!