Life is full of surprises, and sometimes, frustrations. We try to help others, to lift them, to guide them. At times, we see progress; other times, it feels like we’re walking in circles. You give your heart, your time, your prayers, and the push back is exasperating.
You see this clearly when helping someone struggling with addiction. There are good days: they go to meetings, they stay clean, they seem to be turning the corner. And then, suddenly, a relapse. Maybe a dealer convinces them to “try it just once more.” Or it may be a well-meaning friend who says, “Come on, just have one drink.”
It’s heartbreaking. But it’s real.
In our own spiritual work, it can feel similar. As Jewish people helping other Jewish people connect, we sometimes wonder if we’re making any impact at all. You invest in someone, teach them, show them the beauty of Judaism and then they don’t engage. You may not hear from them for quite some time. It can feel like all your efforts were for nothing.
The Torah reminds us that nothing good is ever wasted.
Yitzchak (Isaac) digs wells. The first is filled in by the locals, the second is stolen from him and given to the Philistines. Yet he doesn’t give up. He keeps digging, again and again, until he finds water that no one takes away.
Yitzchak understood something profound: beneath the surface, the water is always there. You just have to keep digging.
Whether you’re helping someone break free from addiction, trying to awaken another Jew’s soul, or even building a business that seems stuck, the lesson is the same. Don’t give up. Don’t let setbacks convince you that the effort is pointless. The real growth, the real breakthrough, often happens right after the hardest struggle.
Keep digging. Keep believing.
If what you’re doing is good, it will bear fruit! Even if it doesn’t make sense yet.
Good Shabbos,
Rabbi Kushi Schusterman
P.S. May we all uncover the living waters; the deep G-dliness within ourselves and those around us.