"There is a Talmudic line this calls to mind: it is not yours to complete the task, but neither may you desist from it".
For every worrier feels that worrying somehow helps, that if we desist from it we will be punished for our complacency.
4 The Jewish text Pirkei Avot attributes to Rabbi Tarfon (2 21) the saying "It is not incumbent upon you to complete the work, but neither are you at liberty to desist from it". That is pretty much as close to a motto as I've got.
The definition implies a general presumption against terrorism, not its sweeping moral condemnation in each and every instance, whatever the circumstances and whatever the consequences of desisting from it.
The ancient rabbis wrote in Pirkei Avot, "You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to desist from it". While honoring Martin Luther King Jr., let's keep our dreams alive.
In a very old book known as the Wisdom of the Fathers, or Pirkei Avot, Rabbi Tarfon is reported to have said, "You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither may you desist from it". (2 21).
Rabbi Tarfon, living in a period of crisis following the Roman destruction of the Second Temple, had this advice to give to his co-religionists in a time of great uncertainty, "It is not your responsibility to finish the work [of perfecting the world], but you are not free to desist from it either".
Last week, Fox sent a letter to the investment bank handling the Dodgers' sale demanding that it "cease and desist" from claiming it could solicit bids for the team's TV rights regardless of the current Fox contract.
The main reason why we have desisted from case-mix adjustment, however, is that it is not compatible with the descriptive deterministic nature of our study design.
Israel, maintaining its "ceasefire", desisted from large-scale military action.
In a telling passage Diane reveals how she desisted from avenging herself on a director.
