Have you ever done something good, put yourself out there, and walked away sure that you accomplished absolutely nothing? You made the call, showed up, said the thing, and got silence back. No thank you, no visible change, nothing. And you thought: well, that was a waste.
This week’s parsha, Vaeschanan, opens with Moshe setting aside cities of refuge. If someone accidentally killed a person, they could flee there and be safe. The Torah is very particular about the roads to these cities: they had to be kept in perfect repair, wide and clear, and at every single crossroads there had to be a sign reading “Refuge, Refuge,” pointing the way.
Picture the world before Waze. You’re on foot, in unfamiliar terrain, and your life depends on getting to the right place quickly. A signpost at the crossroads is everything.
There are two kinds of signs. The stone marker, or regular street sign; it stands in one spot, and it only helps the person who happens to stop and read it. And then there’s a living sign; a human being who stands at the crossroads and actively calls out to travelers, “This way. Go right. That’s where safety is.” (Like the people waving signs “50% off”.)
Our job is to be the second kind.
Not to sit in our own quiet, refined spiritual corner reading our own signposts, but to go out to where other people are standing at their crossroads, unsure which way to turn, and show them the way. To be a living sign that moves, not a rock that waits.
Now here’s the part that speaks to that feeling of “I accomplished nothing.”
The Rebbe, in a talk, describes rabbinical students who would travel from town to town to meet with local Jews. Some of them would come home convinced they had wasted their time. They spent hours on the road, knocked on doors, and as far as they could tell, nothing happened.
Similar to the law of searching for chametz before Passover. You turn the whole house upside down looking for it. Even if you find no chametz at all, the blessing you made was still a real blessing. You did exactly what was asked of you. The mitzvah was fulfilled completely, whether or not you have a crumb to show for it.
Results are not the measuring stick. The showing up and putting in effort is.
The Rebbe Rashab gave an ironclad promise: “There is a real assurance that effort to spread Torah and mitzvos is never expended in vain.” Never. Not once. You may have accomplished something enormous and simply not be aware of it. The effect ripples out in ways you’ll never trace.
Here is a great example about those rabbinical students: A person is sitting at home and glances out the window. He sees a young man with a beard hurrying by. And suddenly he remembers: his own father had a beard like that. He remembers his father telling him, “Every morning when you wake up, say Modeh Ani. Before you go to sleep, say Shema Yisrael.” And right there, at the window, he says the words again and something in him wakes up.
The young man walking by never knew. He’d probably have told you the walk accomplished nothing.
This is not just a nice thought; it changes how we live. Because the moment you believe your impact depends on seeing the results, you stop trying when results don’t show up. You get discouraged and conclude you’re not making a difference and you sit back down.
However, if you actually internalize that the doing is the accomplishment, you become unstoppable. You make the call without needing the call back. You extend the invitation without needing the yes. You do the good deed and trust that the ripples are real even in the silence.
Do one good thing where you’re fairly sure you won’t see a result. Invite the person who probably won’t come. Reach out to the old friend who might not reply. Put up the mezuzah, say the extra prayer, share the word of Torah, without waiting to find out if it “worked.”
You are a living signpost standing at somebody’s crossroads. You may never know that they turned the right way because of you.
Do it anyway. It’s never wasted.
Good Shabbos,
Rabbi Kushi Schusterman