פרשת חיי שרה
This week’s Parsha contains an interesting verse which the commentaries take note of. The verse says, “And Avraham was old, coming along in days”. Chazal explain that the phrase, “coming along in days” refers to the special trait found in great Torah scholars of taking advantage of every moment, not waisting even one second of the precious gift called life. In other words, his “days” were spent utilizing each and every moment to grow closer to Hashem, and to improve his relationship with Hashem. Similarly regarding Sarah, the verse at the beginning of the Parsha, “And the life of Sarah was 100 years and 20 years and 7 years”. Rashi comments on this strange verse, quoting the Midrash, that it is coming to teach us how valuable every moment is to a righteous person, and how Sarah utilized every moment of life in her personal growth in order to come closer to Hashem. It is clear from the way Chazal speak about both Avraham and Sarah how important this lesson is to each and every one of us, to consider how precious the gift of life is, and how anathema the idea of waisting time should be to every Jew. It is said about the Chofetz Chaim that at the end of the year, before each Rosh Hashana, he would sit down and make an accounting of how he spent each moment of the year. One year they found him very distraught and they asked him, “Rebbi, what’s wrong”? He responded, “There were fifteen minutes this year that I can’t account for, and I do not know what I’m going to answer for myself when I get to Heaven about those fifteen minutes”.
The Gemorah in Avoda Zarah, (17) relates that there was a man named Elazar Ben Durdaya who transgressed exceedingly, but at the end of his life, repented so sincerely, that his soul left his body after having wept copiously, at which point a voice came out from the Heavens inviting him into his great portion in the world to come that he had earned. When Rebbi Yehuda Hanasi heard this story, he became very despondent and remarked that for most of us, it takes a lifetime to reach our portion in the world to come, but there are those who can acquire all of it in a matter of minutes. I believe we need to explain Rebbi’s strange comment. Rebbi Yehuda Hanasi was single-handedly responsible for compiling the Mishnayos for all future generations. Every Mishna learned is in his merit. Furthermore, Rebbi was a wealthy man who resisted the temptation to enjoy his wealth and held up his little finger at the end of his life exclaiming that he didn’t derive any unnecessary pleasure from this world, even for his littlest finger. This being said, what exactly was Rebbi jealous of? Hadn’t he earned enough of his own portion in the world to come. I believe that based on what we have explained, the answer to this question is obvious. When Rebbi saw that R’ Elazar ben Durdaya was able to acquire his entire portion in the world to come in just a few short moments, he thought to himself, “What if I could have used my time like R’ Elazar did. What if I spent all the days of my life, living them the way R’ Elazar did in those few minutes? Now that I see what a human being is capable of, I’m scared that although I have many accomplishments, I haven’t done anything near my potential!” It was for this reason that Rebbi was nervous when he heard the story of R’ Elazar. It is said that the Vilna Gaon was once seen weeping uncontrollably on Yom Kippur. His curious students asked him, “Rebbi, what on earth could have you done to warrant such heartfelt repentance”? He responded that there was one time this year that he could have been learning with greater intensity, but instead, he was “taking it easy”, and only learning Bekius for a few minutes. Such was the level of appreciation for life, and time appropriation our great leaders reached, and that we should all aspire for.
The Gemorah in Pesachim (49b) states that it is forbidden to take a long trip alone with a non-learned Jew, because if he doesn’t care about his own life, he certainly won’t care about yours, and therefore traveling with him is dangerous. Rashi explains that the way the Gemorah knew he didn’t care about his own life is because he is unlearned. Had he cared about his own life, he would have taken the time out to educate himself in Torah, and prepare himself for the next world, but since he didn’t, it is evident that he doesn’t care about himself. From this frightening Gemorah it is clear that life equals opportunity for spiritual growth, and one who fosters a cavalier attitude toward life, is throwing away the most precious opportunity imaginable in the garbage.
I feel it is important to point out that the Beis Midrash isn’t the only place we need to be cautious with how we spend our time, but in the “real” world as well. R’ Chaim from Brisk, would deliberately send his son the GRI”Z out of the Beis Midrash on strange, and partially useless missions in order to give him the opportunity to study Torah “on the go”. His son would complain, “Abba, I just want to learn”! His father would respond, “Who’s stopping you”, indicating to him that he was just as responsible to cover ground in learning while he was taking care of things, as he was while he was sitting in the Beis Midrash. His father, who possessed an uncanny ability to predict the trend of the times, realized that a Jew doesn’t always have the “luxury” of learning in a quiet Beis Midrash, and was therefore attempting to train him to be proficient in learning while involved with other activities as well.
I would like to conclude with a eulogy about Rebbetzin Kanievsky, who passed away last month, and although she was a woman and therefore exempt from Torah study, epitomized what it means to take advantage of every moment of life. Her day would begin at 2:00 AM at which point she would get out of bed to make her husband his evening cup of tea which would fuel his learning for the rest of the night, which only she had mastered exactly the way he liked it, and nobody else seemed to get it quite right. Her daughters would ask her why she couldn’t just buy him a thermos. This query puzzled her and she remarked, “Do you want to take away the most glorious moments of my day when I get to serve my husband personally something that he loves?” Then, she would recite Tehillim with heartfelt fervor, and usually complete the entire book each day. After that, she would have to be ready at the crack of dawn to take care of the five homeless people who seemed to live in her house, and didn’t seem to be in any hurry to leave a place where they knew they could receive personal attention and service. No matter how busy she was, when her grandchildren walked in the door, she stopped what she was doing and gave them her undivided attention. As occupied as she was, she didn’t let her Chessed endeavours get in the way of her grandmotherly duties, and none of her grandchildren ever complained that she was too busy for them, because she knew that kindness began at home. After that, she would have a steady stream of visitors throughout the day seeking her advice, wanting to see her husband, asking for a blessing, looking for herbal remedies, needing physical help or recipes, seeking a story about her father, R’ Elyashiv, or her grandfather, R’ Aryeh Levine, whom she was trained by as a young girl to go around to the prisoners in Jerusalem distributing food and kind words, and most importantly, wanting to feel a taste of the unique combination of wisdom and warmth which she was able to offer each and every one of her guests. It is said that she never refused anybody, and she would often have no less than 300 visitors a day. When she passed away, no less then thirty organizations delivered heartfelt eulogies, each one claiming to have been aided personally by her, and bemoaning their fate at having to try to go on without her. Late at night, after a day of literally taking care of Klal Yisrael, she would go to sleep until 2AM, at which point her day started all over again. My wife asked me how it could have been that she had the strength necessary to accomplish these incredible feats. The only explanation I could come up with is that she was a woman who knew what life was given for, and didn’t want to waste even one moment of it!
May we all merit to fully utilize every precious moment of our lives!