Dr. Robert Brooks, in his highly practical and psychological book entitled Raising Resilient Children, sets out to lay the groundwork to raising a resilient child, a child who has the ability to recover readily. He understands resilience as: The ability of a child to deal more effectively with stress and pressure, to cope with everyday challenges, to balance back from disappointments, adversity, and trauma, to develop clear and realistic goals, to solve problems, to relate comfortably with others, and to treat oneself and others with respect.

Our tradition teaches us that the resilient soul knows that there is really only one important day on the practicing calendar. R. Nachman of Breslov, in his moral fable The Lost Princess, notes that the efforts of the hero to save the princess, on his first try, fell flat simply because he didn’t put up his best fight “on the last day.” The last day in any endeavor has the potential to recoup setbacks set into motion from the beginning. The last day can also spoil wonderfully great work of an entire year.

Rebbe Simcha Bunim of Peshicha (Parshas Toldos in Kol Simchah) says that this is the translation of the beginning of this weeks’ Torah portion – Ekev. "והיה עקב תשמעון" – these few words have caused some debate as to their translation. R. Simcha Bunim understands it to mean – the words we truly hear, the message that really becomes part of us is the one that is still standing in the end, on the last day. עקב is a heel. The heel being the last spot on our body if one is counting from top down. In a sense, the battles that we wage until the very last day result in the landmark victories that define our lives. Resilience means standing our ground and seeing a project through to completion.