This Parasha, Torah portion, begins with the word ואתחנן “and I beseeched”. Moshe, the greatest prophet and leader of the Jewish nation was not given permission to enter the promised land of Israel. Unable to enter the land together with the Israelite nation whom he had led out from slavery in Egypt, Moshe, begged G-d to at least let him see the land, even if he would not get to stay there. G-d refused his request. Chazal, the Sages of blessed memory in Midrash Rabbah (Devarim 11, 10) say that Moshe prayed 515 prayers. The word ואתחנן has a gematria, a numerical value, of the 515 (6+1+400+8+50+50).

The question is why did Moshe need to ask G-d so many times? Wouldn’t one or two times have been enough? The answer is something that we can all learn from for our school journey. Do not give up! If you are facing a challenge, whether that is a specific class or skill, whether you are starting in the MYP, or the DP or all of us who are going up a grade and the work becomes harder, don’t give up. It’s easy to say, “I tried it a few times and I did not succeed so I can’t do it”. But if we look at Moshe we see that he tried to ask G-d five hundred and fifteen times to enter the land. When was the last time any of us tried something even a hundred times. Don’t give up. Keep trying. Ask for help. Try a different approach. Talk to a teacher. Keep at it and you will succeed!

The Talmud in Tractate Megillah shares the following piece of wisdom in the name of Rabbi Yitzchak: if a person says: יגעתי ולא מצאתי - אל תאמין I have toiled but did not succeed- do not believe him. Likewise if he says לא יגעתי ומצאתי - אל תאמין I have not toiled but have succeeded do not believe him. Only when he says יגעתי ומצאתי - תאמין I have toiled and succeeded then you should believe him (Megilah 6b). If a person puts in the effort they must succeed. Sometimes there are people who can get by in the short term without putting in effort but they rarely master their subject. Now what does effort mean? True effort is hard. It means putting in the extra hours of practice. It means prioritizing your long term goals over short term relaxation. There is a widely spread figure that says that it takes 10,000 hours to become an expert.

This is the lesson that we can learn from Moshe and the 515 times of ואתחנן. If you've tried 2-3 times and you are not getting it, keep at it. It might take more practice to succeed. But if you truly want something and you are willing to put in the effort that mastering something requires you will succeed. We are not saying to blindly repeat something many times. Work smarter not harder. Albert Einstein famously said that the definition of insanity is trying the same thing and expecting different results. Rather than trying something again the same way as before, try switching it. Try a new approach to learning. Try a new study technique. Try a different study partner. Add something new to your repetition. But the lesson is still the same, if you want to succeed and are willing to go after success then you will certainly be believed when you become successful beyond your expectations.

Shabbat Shalom

Mr. Pinny Kreizel, Jewish Studies Teacher