The politics of persistence

Rabbi Menahem HaMeiri (1316-1249) (trans. Aryeh Cohen)

It is not your duty to finish the work. That is to say that you should not say "how can I begin something which I will not be able to complete?" For you are not obligated to bring it to completion, and to act beyond your capabilities. So too, if you say "I am not prepared for this," you must, in any event attempt according to your abilities, for you are not free to completely desist from what you were created to do. In any event a good reward is being kept for you, whether large or small.

R. Samson Raphael Hirsch (1808-1888) (Exodus 30:13) (Torah trans. Robert Alter; Hirsch trans. Aryeh Cohen)

This shall each who undergoes the count give: half a shekel by the shekel of the sanctuary —twenty gerahs to the shekel—half a shekel, a donation to God.

One shekel equals twenty gerah, out of which a person is expected to donate ten. By itself, his donation shall be—inasmuch as it pertains to him—a full "each" [Heb. kol] [ten is a full number]. His donation is expected to be complete as far as he is able to do, and he must weigh it in the scale of his conscience. It makes no difference how small a percentage of the entire work that must be completed his donation represents; his obligation is not to hold back from any exertion, any ability and any resource, in order to do the "each" and to better the good of the community. Despite that "it is not upon you to complete the work," even so "you are not free to desist from the work."

Mishnat Eretz Yisrael (20th century) (trans. Aryeh Cohen)

This saying sounds simple, however, it touches upon the struggles of every religious person, and in fact that which every person who is devoted to a specific ideology struggles with. The intention is the problem of totalization. If a person believes in an idea, they must work to enact it, to spread it, etc. If one's belief is strong (and thus a Jew should feel), then one should be totally devoted to doing the work. The fate of the whole world is dependent on them. …

We learn from this that there is no empty space in the world of the believer. One must be devoted to the service of God (or another ideology) "with all your heart and all your soul," simply and straightforwardly.

Together with this there are many commandments which are not imposed upon upon the individual but rather on the community. The prohibition against slander is an obligation on each individual; so too the prohibited actions on Shabbat; however, building the Temple is imposed on the the community. So too establishing judges and courts, and capturing the Land of Israel, and settling the Land of Israel, education, establishing justice and other commandments. Moreover, specifically in the contemporary world, some individual obligation became communal (or governmental) obligations. So, for example, the obligation of charity is an individual obligation. However, in the contemporary state, the actions of the individual is only a small part of the activity on behalf the weaker and the sick. The major portion of the activities are upon the community and its institutions: establishing hospitals, setting up medical schools, supporting the elderly, establishing senior residences, etc.