- Trying to Do Too Much: תָּפַסְתָּ מְרֻבֶּה, לֹא תָּפַסְתָּ
- Doing Less: Selectivity and Leaning Back
- Ikar and Tafel: Getting Priorities Straight
- Know Yourself (Zusya) and Your Systems (Eliezer)
- The Joyful Ostrich
The Gemara asks: Even if we claim that the measure for impure foods is an egg-bulk, one could say it is referring to the giant egg-bulk of the bird called bar yokhani. The Gemara answers: If you grasped many (merubeh), you did not grasp anything; if you grasped few (mu'at), you grasped something. This means that in a case of doubt, take the smaller number, as it is included in the larger number. Therefore, the correct measure is the volume of a chicken egg. The Gemara questions this: If so, say it is referring to a very small bird’s egg. Consequently, no proof can be brought from the verse that the volume of a chicken egg is the measure for ritual impurity. Rabbi Abbahu himself said: The verse [Lev. 11:34] states: “Of all food which may be eaten.” This is referring to food that you can eat at one time. The Sages estimated: The esophagus cannot hold more than the volume of a chicken’s egg, and therefore this is the measure used for the ritual impurity of foods.
"How to Succeed in Business? Do Less" - Morten Hansen, WSJ, 2018-01-12
Top performers mastered selectivity. Whenever they could, they carefully selected which priorities, tasks, meetings, customers, ideas or steps to undertake and which to let go. They then applied intense, targeted effort on those few priorities in order to excel... They outperform because they have the courage to cut back and simplify when others pile on, to say “no” when others say “yes,” to pursue value when others just meet internal goals, and to change how they do their jobs when others stick with the status quo.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-to-succeed-in-business-do-less-1515770816
From The Lean Back Perspective (ed. Bianca Praetorius)
"Shining collectively: Welcome to the workplace of the future" • Nancy Birkhölzer, CEO IXDS
When I was asked to contribute to this book, and started thinking about the concept of “leaning back”, I realized that the organizations that I believe are successful today, which have more balanced leadership roles, flexible structures and gender parity, are the ones that are doing just that: leaning back. Instead of everyone leaning in and trying to climb the corporate ladder, even if it may not necessarily be what they want or what’s right for the organization, team members are staying true to their qualities. The ladder is obsolete... "Pursuing a leadership position shouldn’t equal more hours at work, because it’s not only about the time you invest, but the quality you create."
https://www.leanbackstories.com/
https://www.ixds.com/shining-collectively-welcome-to-the-workplace-of-the-future
(טז) וַיִּגְּשׁ֤וּ אֵלָיו֙ וַ֣יֹּאמְר֔וּ גִּדְרֹ֥ת צֹ֛אן נִבְנֶ֥ה לְמִקְנֵ֖נוּ פֹּ֑ה וְעָרִ֖ים לְטַפֵּֽנוּ׃
(16) Then they [the Reubenites and Gadites] stepped up to [Moses] and said, “We will build here sheepfolds for our flocks and towns for our children."
(כד) בְּנֽוּ־לָכֶ֤ם עָרִים֙ לְטַפְּכֶ֔ם וּגְדֵרֹ֖ת לְצֹנַאֲכֶ֑ם וְהַיֹּצֵ֥א מִפִּיכֶ֖ם תַּעֲשֽׂוּ׃
(24) [Moses:] "Build towns for your children and sheepfolds for your flocks, but do what you have promised.”
(א) נבנה למקננו פה. חסים היו על ממונם יותר מבניהם ובנותיהם שהקדימו מקניהם לטפם. אמר להם לא כן עשו העיקר עיקר והטפל טפל בנו לכם תחלה ערים לטפכם ואחר כך גדרות לצאנכם (תנחומא ז):
(1) נבנה למקננו פה WE WILL BUILD [SHEEP FOLDS] FOR OUR CATTLE HERE — They paid more regard to their property than to their sons and daughters, because they mentioned their cattle before their children. Moses said to them, “Not so! Make the ikar the ikar, and what is secondary (tafel), secondary. First build cities for your little ones and afterwards enclosures for your flocks” (cf. v. 24) (Midrash Tanchuma, Matot 7).
Tales of the Hasidim • Martin Buber
A rabbi named Zusya died and went to stand before the judgment seat of God. As he waited for God to appear, he grew nervous thinking about his life and how little he had done. He began to imagine that God was going to ask him, "Why weren't you Moses or why weren't you Solomon or why weren't you David?" But when God appeared, the rabbi was surprised. God simply asked, "Why weren't you Zusya?"
ת"ר כשחלה ר' אליעזר נכנסו תלמידיו לבקרו אמרו לו רבינו למדנו אורחות חיים ונזכה בהן לחיי העולם הבא אמר להם הזהרו בכבוד חבריכם ומנעו בניכם מן ההגיון והושיבום בין ברכי תלמידי חכמים וכשאתם מתפללים דעו לפני מי אתם עומדים ובשביל כך תזכו לחיי העולם הבא
The Sages taught: When Rabbi Eliezer fell ill, his students entered to visit him. They said to him: Teach us paths of life, guidelines by which to live, and we will thereby merit the life of the World-to-Come. He said to them: Be vigilant in the honor of your counterparts, and prevent your children from "logic" when studying verses that tend toward heresy, and place your children, while they are still young, between the knees of Torah scholars, and when you pray, know before Whom you stand. For doing that, you will merit the life of the World-to-Come.
פעם אחת נפלה ביצת בר יוכני וטבעה ששים כרכים ושברה שלש מאות ארזים ומי שדיא ליה והא כתיב (איוב לט, יג) כנף רננים נעלסה אמר רב אשי ההוא מוזרתא הואי:
Once the egg of a Bar Yokhani [giant ostrich] fell and its contents swamped sixteen cities and destroyed three hundred cedar trees. But does it actually throw the egg? Is it not written: "The wing of the ostrich beats joyously"?* — Rav Ashi said: That egg [which it smashed] was a rotten one.
*Job 39:13. The word נעלסה (ne'elasah: wave joyfully, like a peacock?) is explained acrostically (Men. 66b): נושא (it carries) עולה (it goes up) למעלא (above) נתחטא (it comes down). It carries its large egg, ascends aloft and then comes down to lay it gently in its nest on the ground without smashing it.