Time & Perspective Quote by Louis Finkelstein

The line reads like a vow, but it’s a vow made in the practical grammar of obligation: “spare time,” “summers,” “every ounce of strength.” Finkelstein isn’t romanticizing devotion; he’s itemizing what will be surrendered. That specificity matters. It signals that the “project” isn’t a hobby or a pet idea but something with institutional weight, something that competes directly with the work a scholar-clergyman is expected to prioritize: research.

The most telling phrase is “which ordinarily would go to research.” He’s naming the default life-script of an intellectual religious leader and then quietly overriding it. Subtext: whatever this project is, it demands a different kind of authority than publication can provide. Research builds reputation; a “project” builds infrastructure, community, or public influence. The sentence is a pivot from producing knowledge to mobilizing it.

Contextually, Finkelstein’s career sat at the intersection of American Judaism, academia, and public life in the 20th century, when religious leadership increasingly meant institution-building and interfaith diplomacy, not just pulpit eloquence. The rhetoric mirrors that era’s managerial spirituality: a leader as organizer, fundraiser, and architect.

Even the humility of “I hope to” is strategic. It lowers the temperature, making an immense commitment sound measured, almost unavoidable. The cumulative clause structure keeps escalating, like someone talking himself into a necessary sacrifice in real time. It’s the language of duty trying to pass as choice, which is often how serious commitments actually feel.