Lesson 031 · posted Thu Sep 10 2026
Chasing Success?
What Judaism says about ambition: five ideas, each with its source.
5 things Judaism can teach us about ambition. Ambition is fine. Aim it somewhere. The one who had it all left you a note: it's vapor. Build what isn't.
- 1
The richest king called it vapor.
הבל הבלים“Vanity of vanities, all is vapor.”Ecclesiastes 1:2
Ecclesiastes 1:2. Written by Solomon, who had everything: the gold, the palace, the wisdom. His verdict on all of it is one word, and it is not a compliment.
- 2
Never satisfied is the design.
לא ישבע“Whoever loves money is never satisfied with money.”Ecclesiastes 5:9
Ecclesiastes 5:9. The finish line moves because it was built to move. That is not a flaw in you. It is the nature of the thing you are chasing.
- 3
Don't say “my own hand.”
כחי ועצם ידי“Beware lest you say: my power and the might of my hand made me this wealth.”Deuteronomy 8:17
Deuteronomy 8:17. The warning is not against wealth. It is against the sentence you will be tempted to say about it.
- 4
This world is the lobby.
פרוזדור“This world is like a corridor before the world to come. Prepare yourself in the corridor.”Pirkei Avot 4:16
Pirkei Avot 4:16. You are furnishing the hallway. Prepare in it, by all means. Just do not mistake it for the room.
- 5
Know where you're going.
דע מאין באת“Know where you came from, where you are going, and before Whom you will give account.”Pirkei Avot 3:1
Pirkei Avot 3:1. Three questions, and ambition only answers the middle one. The Mishnah asks you to hold all three.
Ambition is fine. Aim it somewhere.
The one who had it all left you a note: it's vapor. Build what isn't.
Save this for the next promotion, and send it to someone who never stops climbing.
Sources
- Ecclesiastes 1:2 on Sefaria
- Ecclesiastes 5:9 on Sefaria
- Deuteronomy 8:17 on Sefaria
- Pirkei Avot 4:16 on Sefaria
- Pirkei Avot 3:1 on Sefaria
Art on the slides: Mihály Munkácsy, The Music Room (1878) · Paul Gauguin, Still Life with Teapot and Fruit (1896) · Orsola Maddalena Caccia, Fruit and Flowers (ca. 1630) · Paolo Veronese (Paolo Caliari), Boy with a Greyhound (possibly 1570s) · Adolph Menzel, The Artist's Sitting Room in Ritterstrasse (1851) · Peder Balke, The North Cape by Moonlight (1848) · Alexei Kondratievich Savrasov, Night Scene on the Volga (1871). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, open access.