Seven Times He Falls, and Rises

As King Solomon wrote: “A righteous person may fall seven times and rise again, but the wicked stumble into evil.” Opening “A righteous person may fall seven times and rise again.” Stop here for a moment. What is this verse teaching us? The usual meaning is simple. A righteous person might fall, even seven times, and still he will get up. Even though he falls, in the end he will overcome. It is a kind of encouragement for the soul on a hard day. But look again. If the message is only that the righteous person gets up, why does the verse stress the falling so much? Why not just say, “A righteous person rises”? Why does he have to fall, and seven times at that? Not Despite, But Because Maybe the meaning is the opposite of what we thought. It is not that the righteous person rises *despite* falling seven times. He rises *because* he fell seven times. The “falls seven times” is not an obstacle on the way to “rises.” It is the way itself. Our Sages planted a deep idea in us: “A descent is for the sake of a higher ascent.” When you work through it the right way, every descent prepares you for the rise that comes after it. This is not a second-best outcome. It is not only a matter of patience. It is the plan from the start. Inside the fall lie the push, the information and the strength. A true “rises” can grow only from the fall. A Parable: Rockets That Explode One space company spends years getting ready. It checks every bolt and calculates every angle. It launches a rocket only when everything is perfect, or so it seems. Another company launches again and again. Yes, the rockets explode. Yes, it looks like failure. But every explosion is a store of data. Where did the joint break? Where did the pressure climb too high? The explosion shows exactly what needs fixing. After ten explosions, the rocket that reaches orbit finally arrives. Who moves forward faster? Who is wiser? The “failure” is not a failure. It is data. Every fall points to exactly the place that needs strengthening. The Lesson: The In-Between Person and His Battle Young married man, you know the feeling. You said the morning prayer seriously. You had real focus. You felt alive. By the afternoon prayer you had already slipped. You fell in your speech. You fell in your thoughts. You fell in the very place where you swore to yourself you would never fall again. You want to turn on yourself: “What about all my resolutions? What about all my fresh starts?” But notice what Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi writes in the Tanya, the classic book of Hasidic thought. He speaks about the “in-between” person, someone who is neither perfectly righteous nor wicked. The evil inclination, the inner voice that pulls us toward wrong, will surely come to such a person. That is the nature of the daily battle. Your fall does not prove that you failed. It proves that you are in the battle. Someone who is not in the battle is not a fighter at all. There is more. The fall teaches you where your soft spot is. It shows you exactly where you need more strength, where you need to guard yourself more, and where your spirit is weaker. Without the fall, you would not have known. Because of the fall, now you know. This is not a reason for heavy sadness. This is information. What Is a Righteous Person? Go back to the verse: “A righteous person may fall seven times and rise again.” A righteous person is not someone who never falls. A righteous person is someone who has mastered the art of rising. He has learned to turn every fall into a lever. He is not perfect because he never makes mistakes. He is perfect because he never wastes a fall. Every one of your seven falls is a piece of data sent from Heaven. That includes every explosion, every descent and every moment you went down. It was sent so that you can rise more focused and stronger. “A descent is for the sake of a higher ascent.” This is not just a comfort. It is reality. The fall is not the obstacle. It is the way.