Think about how much effort was required for Moshe to go to every single tent. If Moshe was indeed correct that he wouldn't be able to enter the tents, and Hashem was going to tell Moshe Rabbeinu in a miraculous manner the amount of people in each tent anyway, why did He bother him to go to every single one? Why didn’t Hashem just tell him through prophecy the amount of people in each tent in the first place?

Not too long ago, there lived a wealthy and wise ruler who wanted a smart and determined man to marry his daughter. When she was of marriageable age, he decided to make a contest. He said, “whoever will ascend this 200 story tower, within an hour, will have my daughter’s hand in marriage”. Many people tried. At first, they ran with all their might. However, as the 45-minute mark arrived and they had only made it some 75 floors, they gave up and turned back. “It is impossible!”, they complained. However, there was one determined man who did not give up. “I know the king is wise and fair, and would never make an impossible test to be his contest”, he told himself. After 55 minutes, he had reached the 100th floor, but still had 100 floors to go. Unlike the others, he remained resolute and climbed, and climbed. The determination that he displayed, despite the fact that the task appeared impossible, paid off. Waiting for him on the 105th floor, with 60 seconds to go, was an elevator that zipped him to the top floor just in the nick of time. Consequently, he won the contest, became prince and lived the rest of his life with incredible wealth and royalty.

Hashem was teaching Moshe, and all of our nation, a life-lesson: give life your all. Sure, Hashem could have told Moshe through prophecy the results of the census beforehand. However, Hashem was teaching us that His will is for us to hustle and to work hard, EVEN when the challenge looks impossible (as indeed it was, with Moshe Rabbeinu). This is what builds real character, molds us into great people, and ultimately is the key to attaining success. If you want to succeed in life, you must be prepared to invest yourself fully, even when faced with tasks that appear “impossible” to accomplish.

Additionally, we can learn from here what the Torah’s definition of success is. Did Moshe, on his own, succeed in counting the young children? No. Rather, He only succeeded due to the miracle of Hashem calling out their exact numbers from Heaven. Yet, he is given FULL credit for counting, as the Torah states “Moshe counted them” (3:16), because he gave this impossible looking task his ALL. Have you ever worked hard on a spiritual goal, relationship, project, etc. and haven’t succeeded as well as you had hoped to? Don’t get down. If you tried your hardest, then in Hashem’s eyes you have succeeded. Sometimes we get so “success-oriented" that if we don’t see the results of our hard work, we get discouraged. Hashem is teaching us that our hard work IS our greatest success, and the most praiseworthy and successful of results. As the Mishnah in Avos states: The success of our work is not in our hands, for ultimately, all success is truly from Hashem. Our job is to put in our maximum effort.

No matter what obstacles we face, it is our responsibility to try, try, and try some more. In life, the only true failure is when somebody doesn’t try altogether. Indeed, this lesson is boldly embodied by Moshe Rabbeinu, who went to every single tent and did whatever he could to fulfill Hashem’s will, despite the fact that his success did not seem possible.

Living Inspired

Even when we don’t see the successful results of our actions, it is so important to remember that our hard work in itself is a tremendous success and incredibly valuable. Furthermore, not only is our hard work valuable, even our very INTENTIONS to do the right thing are incredibly valuable! Consider the following: in this week’s parshah, after the Jew’s obeyed Hashem’s instructions regarding in which positions to encamp, the pasuk states: “And the children of Israel did according to all that Hashem had commanded Moshe, thus did they do.” (Bamidbar, 1:54). Why does the verse tell us TWICE that the Jewish people did as Hashem told Moshe?

“If a person intended to perform a mitzvah, and was prevented from doing so, Hashem credits him as if he had fulfilled it” (Kiddushin 40A). The reason for this is that “Rachmana liba bo’i”—“the Compassionate One (G-d) wants our heart” (Zohar, Ki Seitzeh). Hashem does not desire robots who perform mitzvos by rote. He does not instruct us to perform mitzvos because He needs help getting a certain task accomplished. Rather, Hashem gives us mitzvos as a method to become closer to Him, and to devote our hearts and souls to our Creator. Therefore, it is not the results of our actions that make the biggest difference in our serving Hashem, but rather, the emotion, meaning, and effort invested within them. Therefore, someone who has all the right intentions and strives to do the right thing is worthy of reward, even if in the end he is prevented from achieving tangible success.

Consequently, the Alshich writes that we are doubly rewarded every time we do a mitzvah: once for the performance of the mitzvah, and once “just” for the intentions! This concept helps explain the difficulty with the passage cited above. Even though the Jews only did what Hashem commanded Moshe once, Hashem considered it as if they did it twice. The verse, then, reads as follows: “And the children of Israel did according to all that the Hashem had commanded Moses (in thought), thus did they do (in action).”

In today’s society which is so driven by results and successes that are tangible, like money, material possessions, etc., it is so critical to internalize the Torah definition of success: sincerely serving Hashem with our maximum effort! If we all do so, we can be sure that we are achieving the greatest form of success that life has to offer.