This is the law of the zav (Vayikra 15:32)

Imagine the scene. It is the bottom of the ninth, two outs. There’s no runners on the bases and you are losing 7-1. You are against a great pitcher. Are you going to try to get a hit? The answer, most likely, is yes. But why? You have a very little chance of winning. The reason is because even if you don’t think you have a chance to win, you still need to try. Your batting average depends on every at-bat, no matter if you win or lose the game.

Many people are aware of the great learning program called Daf HaYomi – which is learning both sides of one page of Gemara every day. Thousands of people do this and it is a very great thing. For those of us who do not feel we can do a full daf of Gemara a day, there are many other programs. One of them is Mishnayos Yomis, which is two Mishnayos a day. The new 6-year cycle just began two weeks ago (if you didn’t start yet, you can still catch up!). One of the mishnayos we recently learned was in Brachos chapter 3, mishna 6.

The mishna mentions if a person has two types of impurities, one more strict and another less strict, he should go to the Mikveh (ritual bath), even though this will only remove the less strict impurity and he will remain spiritually impure. I think the lesson we are to learn from this is we should do whatever we can to improve ourselves. Even if we aren’t going to be the best, it does not matter. If you can remove a small amount of impurity, do it.

The same is with growing in a positive way. Some people wonder why they should do mitzvos or learn. The person thinks, “I’ve done so many sins, what will it help?” Every little thing we do is huge!

Baseball player, Dee Gordon from the Miami Marlins clearly saw in the middle of last year that his team was not going to the playoffs. But he continued to try during every at-bat and eventually became the hitting champion last season. He only won the batting title by .003, which is a very small margin. Last year his salary was $2.5 million. During the off-season, he signed a 5 year, $50 million contract. (Now I am not saying it is a good thing that athletes make so much money. Important people, like our teachers, should be paid the millions of dollars for what they do… not some guy who can hit a ball… but this will be for a different time – I am merely trying to show how important it is to continue to try). Imagine if Dee Gordon gave up even only during a few at-bats. He would not have had the highest average last season. His contract this year probably would not have been as high.

Even when it looks like there’s no reason to try, you should try. Do whatever you can because in the end, it might be big.

Good Shabbos!
-y.e.s.
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