{"id":52321,"date":"2019-12-19T23:35:09","date_gmt":"2019-12-20T05:35:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/?p=52321"},"modified":"2019-12-19T23:35:09","modified_gmt":"2019-12-20T05:35:09","slug":"off-the-pulpit-end-goals-and-goals-without-end","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/off-the-pulpit-end-goals-and-goals-without-end\/","title":{"rendered":"Off the Pulpit: End goals and goals without end"},"content":{"rendered":"

By RABBI DAVID WOLPE<\/p>\n

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There are two different kinds of life goals. One is achievable and has an ending. If your wish is to buy a certain house or to get a certain job, once it is accomplished your goal is complete. Many people, especially in mid-life, suffer a crisis less because they haven\u2019t achieved their goals and more because they have, and the pursuit proved more satisfying than the attainment.<\/p>\n

The second sort of goals has no end. Becoming a good person, building a relationship with a child rather than just having one, learning Torah \u2013 these are goals that do not have a clear finish line. You can spend your entire life seeking to be more educated and never be \u2018done.\u2019<\/p>\n

Perhaps \u2018toldot\u2019 is intended to signal not Jacob\u2019s achieved goal \u2013 the birth of children \u2013 but his continuing quest \u2013 shaping them into a people, Israel. Do not only seek goals you can achieve; seek goals that you are ever achieving and live without limits.<\/p>\n

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