Chidushei HaRim: Build the Foundations Before Polish

Don’t polish your shoes before you have feet to walk in them.

Attribution printed on the image: Rabbi Yitzchak Meir Alter (The Chidushei HaRim)

A reflection on the teaching

It is tempting to improve the appearance of a project before checking whether it can stand. The shoe image makes that temptation memorable. In personal growth, polishing might mean choosing an impressive schedule while leaving the basic habit unpracticed. In avodas Hashem, it can mean attending to outward details while neglecting honesty or how we treat people. The saying invites us to put things in a workable order. What foundation does my next step depend on? Strengthening that foundation may be less visible, but it makes later effort more useful.

Source note: The attribution above is transcribed from the image. The exact source and English wording have not been independently verified.