November 18, 2025|כ"ז חשון ה' אלפים תשפ"ו Falling Up: Winning through Failure
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“What’s the Torah here?” What is the message?
A dear friend of mine often sees headlines or stories in the secular world and tries to seek deeper meaning behind them. In this case, he posted on his WhatsApp status a picture of a football player and the description of an unusual phenomenon. The Denver Broncos are tied for the best record in the NFL but also leading the league in punts. These data points seem contradictory because a team punts the ball when they fail to achieve a first down and concede being on offense to the other team. Punting reflects failure and no team has punted this year more than the Broncos. And yet, simultaneously, they are not only in first place in their division, they are tied for the best record in the game. My friend posted these stats with the question, what is the Torah, what is the deeper message?
While I don’t follow football, this anomaly fascinated me, so I thought about it, took a shot, and wrote back, “Success isn’t linear. Can’t do everything or score every play. Need to punt when necessary in order to focus and win.”
As much as we wish life were simple, straightforward and linear, it is invariably filled with ups and downs, successes and failures, highs and lows. Our instinct is to often fight this pattern, resist it, and resent it. In truth, we should embrace the ride and work to move in the right direction.
Rav Avraham Schorr explains that like an EKG, a straight, flat line means you are no longer alive. Only when the line goes up and down, rising and falling, is the heart truly beating. The same is true of life: The ups and the downs, the moments of inspiration and the moments of struggle, are all signs that a person is spiritually alive and moving. Hashem designed the world so that growth happens through cycles, tests, successes, failures, rebuilding. A perfectly smooth life with no challenges might feel easier, but it would represent no movement, no pulse, no life.
Shlomo HaMelech teaches, “Sheva yipol tzaddik v’kam,” a righteous person falls seven times and rises. At first glance, it sounds like the tzaddik succeeds despite failure: he rises even though he falls. But Chazal reveal a deeper truth. The tzaddik does not rise in spite of the falls, he rises because of them. Each fall becomes part of the very process that shapes him.
The Chiddushei HaRim explains that a person gains from a fall what he could never gain from uninterrupted success. Falling teaches humility, reveals inner strength, refines character, and creates sensitivity toward the struggles of others. Every stumble forces a person to confront their limitations and renew their relationship with Hashem. In that sense, the fall is not an interruption to spiritual growth but the mechanism through which growth is achieved.
The pasuk does not say, “A person falls seven times, and a tzaddik rises.” It says, “Sheva yipol tzaddik v’kam.” The one who has fallen is already referred to as a tzaddik. Why? Because he kept getting up. His identity is defined not by the fall but by his response to it. The seven setbacks are not seven failures; they are the seven rungs of the ladder that lift him higher than untested success ever could.
Speaking at a Dartmouth graduation, Tennis great Roger Federer put it so well. He noted that in the 1,526 singles matches he played in his career, he won almost 80% of them. Then he asked the assembled crowd, “What percentage of the points do you think I won in those matches?” He paused. “Only 54 percent.” In other words, even top-ranked tennis players, the greatest who ever played the game, win barely more than half of the points they play. Federer continued:
When you lose every second point, on average, you learn not to dwell on every shot. You teach yourself to think: OK, I double-faulted. It’s only a point. OK, I came to the net and I got passed again. It’s only a point. Even a great shot … an overhead backhand smash that ends up on ESPN’s Top Ten Plays: that, too, is just a point.
Here’s why I am telling you this. When you’re playing a point, it is the most important thing in the world. But when it’s behind you, it’s behind you. This mindset … frees you to fully commit to the next point … and the next one after that … with intensity, clarity and focus.
The truth is, whatever game you play in life … sometimes you’re going to lose. A point, a match, a season, a job … it’s a roller coaster, with many ups and downs. And it’s natural, when you’re down, to doubt yourself. To feel sorry for yourself. And by the way, your opponents have self-doubt, too. Don’t ever forget that. But negative energy is wasted energy.
You want to become a master at overcoming hard moments. That to me is the sign of a champion. The best in the world are not the best because they win every point … It’s because they know they’ll lose … again and again … and have learned how to deal with it. You accept it. Cry it out if you need to … then force a smile. You move on. Be relentless. Adapt and grow. Work harder. Work smarter.
There is probably no athlete in history more associated with winning than Michael Jordan. Nike recognized his greatness early and became the largest apparel companies in the country by tying itself to Jordan’s talent and success. While most Nike commercials that featured Jordan would showcase his highlights and championships, a 1997 commercial shrewdly did the exact opposite. The brief commercial shows Jordan exiting a dimly lit arena as he narrates: “I’ve missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. Twenty-six times, I’ve been trusted to take the game-winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”
In life, we often imagine spiritual growth as linear, smooth, steady, predictable. We think success means never punting, never losing a point. But the Torah teaches that a straight line is not the sign of life, it's the sign of death. Movement, fluctuation, rise and fall, these are the signs of a beating heart. Our missteps and disappointments are not evidence that we are failing. They are invitations from Hashem to ascend higher. When we rise after falling, we emerge not as who we were before, but as someone deeper, wiser, and closer to Him.
So the next time you fall—and you will fall—remember: The 9-2, first-place Denver Broncos have punted more than any team in the league. Roger Federer lost 46% of his points. Michael Jordan lost hundreds of games. The tzaddik falls seven times. And the EKG only shows life when the line moves up and down.
Your falls don't disqualify you from greatness. They are the very path to it. Don't fear the fluctuations. Embrace them. They mean you are alive, growing, and on a real journey. They mean your heart is still beating.