Appreciating the Gift of Time

By Rabbi Moshe Krieger, Yeshivas Bircas HaTorah (www.bircas.org)

Parshas Chayei Sarah begins with the verse, “And the years of Sarah’s life were a hundred years and twenty years and seven years, the years of Sarah’s life.” Chazal explain that the passuk’s unusual repetition of “years” refers to Sarah’s purity and beauty.  Rashi comments that the passuk repeats the words “the years of Sarah’s life” to teach us that each of her years was equal in goodness.

If one were to reflect on Sarah’s life as recorded in the Chumash, one can’t help but notice that she went through many difficult times. Sarah was barren until the age of ninety. She displayed self-sacrifice by allowing the humiliation of her own maidservant becoming a co-wife to Avraham and conceiving a child before she did. She was kidnapped, once by Pharaoh and once by Avimelech. Midrash Tanchuma relates (Vayeira 23) that Sarah’s death was tragic. Upon hearing that Avraham had put Yitzchak on an altar in order to offer him as a sacrifice to Hashem, she died on the spot. How can it be true that all of Sarah’s years were equally good when she experienced so much misfortune?

Rav Shamshon Refael Hirsch explains that Rashi’s intent is not that Sarah’s years were enjoyable, but rather that she made the best of what Hashem gave her. No matter what the situation was, Sarah always tried to serve Hashem as best as she could at that moment. This is why all the years of her life were equally good.

In our lives, we often experience many periods with unique circumstances and tests. Despite the challenges and shortcomings that we have, we retain the ability to choose to make the best of things and do the most we are capable of at that time. The Zohar (121) states that each day is its own unique opportunity, even if to us the mitzvos we do seem repetitive. We should therefore focus all of our energies on the mitzvos at hand, instead of waiting for a time that seems more ideal. We have to seize the moment and live every minute of our lives to its fullest. This was how Sarah lived her life.

The Midrash (Bereishis Rabbah 58:3) recounts that Rabi Akiva was once giving a shiur and noticed that some of his talmidim were falling asleep. Attempting to regain their attention, Rabi Akiva began expounding on a different subject. “What merit did Esther have to rule over 127 provinces?” he asked. He then answered his own question, “It was only because she was the granddaughter of Sarah, who lived 127 years.”

The Chiddushei HaRim teaches that we can learn a profound lesson from Rabi Akiva’s choice of vort used to awaken his listeners: Rabi Akiva was alerting them to the incredible potential we have in each and every moment. From Sarah we see that we have the power to affect not only our own lives, but even the lives of future generations. For each year of Sarah’s life, she merited dominion over an entire region of the globe for her descendants! We can break this down further and imagine that for every day of Sarah’s life, she merited that her descendants gained possession over another street, block, or neighborhood. Slowly but surely, this added up to their having authority over the nation of Persia, a country so powerful that it ruled over the entire world. This was the perfect message for those who sleep through shiurim, and ultimately end up sleeping through life. Every moment is precious—we must not let it slip through our fingers! We need to wake up and seize the incredible opportunities Hashem has granted us.

Rav Ovadia Yosef was the leader of Sefaradic Jewry for almost half a century. He was also one of the most prominent examples of how great a person can become in our times. Several entire generations knew him as “Maran—our teacher,” and he was influential in matters of halachah, politics, and society in general. Rav Ovadia blazed his own path in halachah, writing numerous works that have become an essential part of Sefaradi rulings and serve to illuminate sugyos for talmidei chachamim in the entire Torah world. He was extremely gifted, and he made sure to employ his talents to the utmost, utilizing every moment. Even as a child, he was known for his tremendous diligence in learning—even as his family was singing “Shalom Aleichem,” he preferred to leave the singing to others and learned until Kiddush instead, not wasting a moment.

His family struggled to make ends meet, and it was very hard for Rav Ovadia to obtain new sefarim. Not to be deterred from growing in Torah, he made an arrangement with the owner of the local sefarim store, who allowed him to borrow one sefer each night. New sefer in hand, Rav Ovadia would stand by a streetlight and learn the entire sefer before dawn.

Later in life, he was known to set special learning sedarim for himself in certain situations, such as the time he spent riding in cabs. Even such fleeting moments eventually accumulated until he made a siyum on the entire Shas!

Rav Ovadia seized every opportunity to learn and enlighten others with the light of Torah. He gave shiurim throughout Eretz Yisrael and issued psakim to questioners from around the world. He made himself available to give berachos and advice to the masses.

May we be zocheh to fully utilize our time!

NEW! HOT OFF THE PRESS!
Rabbi Krieger’s “Gedolei Yisroel on the Parashah & Yamim Tovim” is now available from the Yeshiva office, Jewish bookstores worldwide and can be ordered online at https://www.feldheim.com/gedolei-yisroel-on-Parashah-yamim-tovim-2.