It may be possible to achieve your goals in life by fighting for or against a cause.

However, it is also important to consider - perhaps after performing a serious introspection - whether the fight is worthwhile.

Our productive life on Earth is limited. We cannot possibly accomplish all of the things that we would like during that time. We might do well to devote our limited productive energy to fight for issues that promise a greater chance of success.

We are not the ones to determine whether one who fights for an important issue has a greater or lesser reward in the World to Come than one who fights against an issue.

It is important to be realistic and to recognize our limitations. A calm cost-benefit analysis, followed by a serious discussion with a good, intelligent, clear-thinking person, may help you choose the right path.

When the author of this page was much younger, he fought for the release of Jews from the then-USSR. In another case, I fought against the construction of a massive sports stadium and against the closing of a major traffic artery, both near my home.

In hindsight, we see that the battles were worthwhile, and all of those ventures were successful. The Jewish world is better as a result.

It was necessary to consider several guidelines in these fights:

• They were all intended for the public good
• They were all Jewish issues
• The fights had no apparent negative aspects
• All of the fighters felt confident about the benefits of the causes

We thus had good reason to fight.

Do all fights benefit from a similar preliminary introspection?