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In Pirkei Avot 2:21 there is a saying:
לא עליך המלאכה לגמור, ולא אתה בן חורין לבטל ממנה
You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to desist from it
It would sound like:
Non hai l'obbligo di terminare l'opera, ma allo stesso tempo non sei libero di evitarla
My question is if there a saying or a proverb with a similar meaning in Italian, such that it is recognizable by people with an Italian cultural background
The accepted translation into Italian is:
Non sta a te compiere l'opera, ma non sei libero di sottrartene.
...and other variations of this phrase, for example:
Non sta a te compiere l'opera ma non sei libero di sottrarti al tuo compito.
Non sta a te compiere l'opera, ma non puoi nemmeno sottrarti.
Non sta a te portare a termine l'opera ma nemmeno sei libero di desistere da quella.
In the Italian context, it almost always goes with a note that it's a passage from Talmud (detto del rabbino Tarfon) or a Hebrew proverb (detto ebraico). Although, Google finds at least one tweet, where it goes without any context, probably in the hope that it could be understood anyway (as a deep and wise thought, given the hashtag #pensierodelgiorno).
