Again, and again I find myself explaining to people that they are not less or more Jewish than any other Jew. Regardless to how they dress, how many times a day they pray or how “frum” they consider themselves.

In Parashat Va’Etchanan, we find a warning that sounds almost out of place in a religious framework: “You shall not add to the word which I command you, nor shall you diminish from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God.” (Deuteronomy 4:2)

We usually understand why we shouldn’t subtract from our responsibilities. If you skip steps, things might fall apart. But why does the Torah ban us from adding? Wouldn’t doing more be better?

This principle speaks directly to one of the biggest traps in our daily lives: the cycle of burnout caused by over-ambition.

Think about how we approach self-improvement.

We decide we want to get healthy, so we sign up for an extreme diet and a two-hour daily workout routine.

We decide we want to be more spiritual, so we commit to waking up at 5:00 AM every single day of the week to recite blessings and prayers and study Torah and Talmud.

For three days, we feel like superstars. But by day five, life hits. A bad night of sleep, a stressful day at work, a sick child, and the whole rigid structure collapses. We feel like we cant keep up, throw our hands up, and abandon the habit entirely.

The Sages in the Talmud (Sanhedrin 29a) saw this human flaw coming centuries ago when they coined a famous fraise: “Kol ha-mosif gover’a”,

“Whoever adds, subtracts.”

In that Talmudic discussion, the Sages point back to Eve in the Garden of Eden. When the snake asked her about the tree, she added a boundary that God never gave, claiming they weren’t even allowed to touch the fruit. The snake pushed her against the tree, showed her she didn’t die, and used that extra rule to dismantle the whole boundary. By adding an unsustainable extra layer, she ended up losing the entire commandment.

When we over-complicate our daily lives with extreme expectations, we build fragile systems. Sustainable growth isn’t about short bursts of perfection, rather it is about the quiet discipline of showing up consistently.

The Rambam (Maimonides) in his commentary on Pirkei Avot (1:16) explains that God prefers a person who gives a small amount of charity every single day over someone who gives a massive sum once and never gives again. Why? Because daily repetition shapes character. One-time intensity just creates an ego trip.

The warning of “do not add” is an instruction to be consistent rather than heroic. A ten-minute daily walk you actually keep is infinitely better than a sweaty gym regimen you quit in a week. A quiet five minutes of honest prayer every morning grounds your soul far better than an unsustainable marathon session once a month.

Don’t let the temptation of doing “everything” stop you from doing something.

Respect your limits, build habits that fit your actual life, and trust that steady, moderate steps will always carry you further than a sprint you can’t maintain.