Let me give you, in my opinion, an essential “life-hack” — something that is going to save you a lot of time. It goes like this:

There are two kinds of lost objects: the kind that will eventually turn up, and the kind that is irretrievably lost. Whenever you lose something, don’t try to find it. That’s just a waste of time. Do the following. Think to yourself, “Do I absolutely need this thing right now? Is there a work-around? Do I absolutely need to wear my pink tie with the little green elephants on it? I know I was really looking forward to wearing it today, but maybe I could just get by, if I really need to, with the yellow one with pink poodles.”

Much, if not most, of the time we can substitute what we want with what we need. Looking for non-essentials is a complete waste of life. Because they will either turn up, one-way-or-another, or they are gone forever.

Life is about distinguishing the essence from the nonsense.

When Moshe failed to appear from Mount Sinai, the Children of Israel made a fatal mistake. They thought they could find a work-around. They thought they could replace their “lost object” — Moshe — with a golden calf.

Nothing could replace Moshe. “There never has risen again in Israel a prophet like Moshe…” (Devarim 24:10)

When it came to Moshe Rabbeinu —– there was no “spare tie.”