EXOD191 (Continued from [[LEV209]] Leviticus 18:5 laws BOROJMV 257-8). R. Tarfon's formula "It is not your duty to finish the task, but neither are you free to desist from it" (Avot 2:16) has been cited so often in recent years that it has become something of a cliché. It was a soothing balm for the chronic Jewish overachievers who could not complete all that they had overextended themselves into attempting--and if that remains your complaint, we commend Tarfon to you. But familiarity and a change of social ethos have turned a sensible limitation into an excuse for being almost as satisfied with starting something as with carrying it through to its conclusion. Perhaps for the foremost tasks of humanity, contentment with making a beginning contains sparks of moral grandeur. But for the myriad of small duties that make up responsible living, we prefer what we learn from the scoring rules of America's favorite spectator sport, major-league baseball. The pitcher who successfully concludes the game receives credit for the win, not the one who goes to the showers after a few innings. The Bible describes a similar situation. Moses, knowing Joseph's wishes to be buried in Canaan, exhumes the patriarch's bones in Egypt and schleps them through the desert for forty years [this verse]. But since Moses doesn't enter the land, it Is Joshua, Moses's successor, who buries Joseph's remains, which is why this is mentioned in the book that bears Joshua's name (Josh. 24:32). This observation leads the rabbis to comment: "Not the one who begins the task, but the one who completes it receives credit for it" (Gen. R. 85.4).