I had a dream. God was sitting in front of the Big Book, gazing into my life, figuring who was to be inscribed for a good year, etc., chewing on the end of a pencil. I heard a voice, a specially created voice, unlike other voices yet the words clear. God asked me one question: “what are you going to do?”

“About what?” I said.

“About everything,” God said, “anything.”

“What can I do?” I said.

In my dream I was stretched out on a couch in front of the television. I switched on the tube, remote control so I don’t have to move (America is so great). Thank God it was time for All In, I was expecting that guy with glasses but it was Rabbi Tarphon (first century), in robes and sandals. He was standing behind Chris somebody’s desk and he explained to me from out of the tube: you do not have to do everything, but you do have to do something. His more precise words were “it is not your duty to complete the work, but neither are you free to desist from it.”

I rolled over on the couch, popped another fat free fig newton into my mouth, changed the channel to something safe (cartoons) and thought, “what can I do, one guy?”

— Rabbi James Stone Goodman, Basketball: Celebrating the Perfect Game, The Epichorus, Temenos, 2025