When Laurie and I visit our daughter Lizzy and her family in New York, one of the highlights is Rabbi Benjamin Goldschmidt’s sermon at Shabbat services. Rabbi Goldschmidt is an inspiration, not just for what he says, but also for who he is. In a recent sermon, the theme was to learn from mistakes, then let it go and stand tall. He used the story of Jacob’s fourth son, Judah (Yehuda, which happens to also be my father’s Hebrew name, so my ears perked up). I learned that Judah made mistakes, the most egregious being selling his little brother Joseph (Jacob’s favorite). Judah got knocked down three times, but each time he acknowledged his failings, got back up, and stood tall. He ultimately founded the Tribe of Judah, known for leadership and for being one of the strongest of the 12 tribes.
The path to success is never a straight, upward-sloping line. It’s more of a roller coaster. The key is to be resilient. Learn from failure and use it as fuel to grow. Rabbi Goldschmidt’s own career is a case in point. When he lost his position at Park East Synagogue, he and his supportive wife Avital picked up the pieces and started the Alt Neu (Yiddish for “Old New”) Congregation. In no time, this new synagogue took off and thrived, lifting Rabbi Goldschmidt to the heights of success.
My own career is another example. I was miserable in my first job as a lawyer. Two years in, I couldn’t bear it anymore and in my mid-20’s opened The Blum Firm. At first I was bitter, but my father-in-law (Abe Kriger) set me straight: “Don’t be mad. You’ll soon see the law firm did you a favor. Send them a thank you note.” Abe was right. I’m grateful my first law job experience wasn’t good, as “good is the enemy of great” (the theme of Jim Collins’ book, Good to Great). Had it been good, I would have stayed. That failure enabled me to achieve much greater career fulfillment by starting my own law firm.
Imagine if Steven Spielberg had thrown in the towel after twice being rejected by USC film school. What if Barbra Streisand gave up because they said her looks weren’t those of a star? Best-selling novelist David Baldacci speaks of his early days as a writer: “During that period, everything I sent out came back with a rejection letter. I knew the only way I’d have a shot at becoming a successful writer was if I kept writing” (Marc Meyers, “David Baldacci Pushed Through Tons of Rejections Before Writing ‘Absolute Power,’” Wall Street Journal, December 9, 2025).
This past weekend, I was reading a new Substack by the actress Jaimie Alexander, struggling over some “frustrating roadblocks” that are typical of a career path in the entertainment industry. Per Jaimie, “I think we can all agree that when you aim high and put real effort into achieving something big, life tends to present more no’s than yes’s. It’s about not giving up — about not letting life’s circumstances take you down. It’s about taking those losses and no’s and adding them to your great big bonfire of ambition…. Sometimes, when you lose, you win… :)”
Jaimie closes with a memorial tribute to Chuck Norris, who died a few days ago, quoting the renowned actor and martial artist: “I’ve always found that anything worth achieving will always have obstacles in the way and you’ve got to have that drive and determination to overcome those obstacles on route to whatever it is that you want to accomplish…. A lot of people give up just before they’re about to make it. You never know when that next obstacle is going to be the last one.”
Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards never allowed rejection to deter him: “To me, the lesson is simple: If you keep going long enough, if you keep playing, if you stay in the game, if you get up just one more time than you’ve been knocked down, people will ascribe to you a quality that is indistinguishable from wisdom.” (“The Wisdom of Keith Richards at 82,” Wall Street Journal, December 11, 2025.)
AI guru Sam Altman refuses to invest with someone who never made a mistake. Failures will happen, and Altman wants to know they have what it takes to recover — someone who has demonstrated proven resilience.
In the podcast series “Next, with Michael Sonnenfeldt,” the TIGER 21 founder interviews entrepreneurs who have overcome obstacles to achieve greatness. Not only do they reveal their early failures, they frequently say they wouldn’t hire a person who’d never failed. They prefer someone who has failed, learned from it, and turned those lessons into success.
The next time we get knocked down (and we will), let’s fight the blues. Stand back up tall. It’s rarely as bad as we think. I’ll close with inspiration from a dear departed friend, Ann Marie Hartsell, who brought comfort with her “one-hundred year theory.” She asked, “Will this matter in 100 years? 10 years? One year?” Not only will that moment’s disaster fade over the annals of time, it very well may be a gift that propels us to the pinnacle of success.
Marvin E. Blum
Rabbi Benjamin and Avital Goldschmidt with Marvin Blum’s granddaughter Stella at her Bat Mitzvah. The Rabbi is always a source of great inspiration.