We’re all familiar with the expression about missing the forest for the trees, and its wisdom about not being distracted by smaller details that undermine our appreciation of the “big picture.” No doubt, that’s often good advice. After all, who among us hasn’t gotten bogged down in the details of a situation or a relationship, to the point that we lose touch with the larger purposes which give meaning to those very details? On the other hand…
What about the wisdom that comes from attending to the “trees” even when the “forest” seems to be coming apart? The particular example I’m thinking about is a friend of mine – let’s call him Moe – who has spent most of his professional life working toward a very specific goal.
Moe reached out to me a couple of days ago; he wanted me to hear from him, not from anybody else in our circle of friends, that his longtime prestigious employer was taking him off that task, despite his years of hard work. Typically, he has a somewhat over-the-top personality, but he seemed remarkably calm about this turn of events.
If we allow ourselves to look more closely, we might discover that the “small stuff” can be quite big and fulfilling.
When Moe and I met for coffee, he was as calm in person as he’d been on the phone, despite the obvious (increasingly public) change in his career status. We talked about lots of things, including why and how he was so calm in the face of the change.
Ultimately, Moe said, he was choosing to focus on the many things that still had to get done, things that had always given him a sense of great meaning and purpose – even if he was not going to be the “big picture guy” any longer. He loved the “trees,” and was discovering the power of not being distracted by “the forest.”
I was blown away. How often do we invoke “the big picture,” or other grand principles, in ways which distract us from the beauty, power and potential of “the little picture,” i.e, the details at hand? It’s not that the big stuff is unimportant. But sometimes, if we allow ourselves to look more closely, and feel more deeply, we might discover that the “small stuff” can be just as big and quite fulfilling.
I can’t think of a single life journey, including my own, in which we don’t occasionally get “re-assigned,” or find ourselves unable to deal with the forest we thought we were responsible for. So I want to carry Moe’s wisdom with me – appreciating that, just as we should try not to miss the forest for the trees, we should also take care not to miss the trees for the forest.

Listed for many years in Newsweek as one of America’s “50 Most Influential Rabbis” and recognized as one of our nation’s leading “Preachers and Teachers,” by Beliefnet.com, Rabbi Brad Hirschfield serves as the President of Clal–The National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership, a training institute, think tank, and resource center nurturing religious and intellectual pluralism within the Jewish community, and the wider world, preparing people to meet the biggest challenges we face in our increasingly polarized world.
An ordained Orthodox rabbi who studied for his PhD and taught at The Jewish Theological Seminary, he has also taught the University of Pennsylvania, where he directs an ongoing seminar, and American Jewish University. Rabbi Brad regularly teaches and consults for the US Army and United States Department of Defense, religious organizations — Jewish and Christian — including United Seminary (Methodist), Yeshivat Chovevei Torah (Modern Orthodox) Luther Seminary (Lutheran), and The Jewish Theological Seminary (Conservative) — civic organizations including No Labels, Odyssey Impact, and The Aspen Institute, numerous Jewish Federations, and a variety of communal and family foundations.
Hirschfield is the author and editor of numerous books, including You Don’t Have To Be Wrong For Me To Be Right: Finding Faith Without Fanaticism, writes a column for Religion News Service, and appears regularly on TV and radio in outlets ranging from The Washington Post to Fox News Channel. He is also the founder of the Stand and See Fellowship, which brings hundreds of Christian religious leaders to Israel, preparing them to address the increasing polarization around Middle East issues — and really all currently polarizing issues at home and abroad — with six words, “It’s more complicated than we know.”