What Does It Mean To 'Choose Life'?

Shabbat Reeh:
Deuteronomy 11:26-
16:17; Isaiah 54:11-55:5.

T

he Torah reading begins with
Moses, speaking in the name of
God and declaring, "Behold, I
set before you this day a blessing and a
curse, the blessing if you obey the com-
mandments ... the curse if you disobey."
The passage is difficult to accept. Our
simplest understanding is that if the peo-
ple keep the Torah, they will be reward-
ed. If they don't, they will be punished.
Good things — blessings — will happen
to good people, those who keep the
Torah. Bad things will happen to bad
people. But how could Moses or any
mortal make such a promise?
As we continue reading, we discover a
similar passage that provides us with a
fuller understanding of Moses' words.
We find that the blessing and curse are
intertwined with the choice between life
and death.. "I call heaven and earth to
witness against you this day, that I have
set before you life and death, the bless-
ings and the curse, therefore, choose
life." (Deuteronomy 30:19)
What does it mean to choose life? Is

Irwin Groner is rabbi emeritus of

Congregation Shaarey Zedek.

don't need an accountant to inform us
life then ours to choose? As a rabbi, I see
that the hours soon become days and
people who are struggling to live know-
weeks and months. The simple act of
ing that the outcome is uncertain or
turning off the TV and opening a
worse. What does it mean to choose life?
worthwhile book is an example of
What is the relationship between choos-
choosing life.
ing life and being blessed?
In Hebrew, the modern term for
I quote Sigmund Freud, who taught
going out and having a good
that in the human psyche is
time is levalot, which actually
not only the will to live, but
means to wear something out,
also the will to die. Every
to turn a usable garment into
human struggles with the task
an outworn rag. Its equivalent
of strengthening the will to live
is the American phrase "to kill
and overcoming the will to
time." We should recognize
die. We are all aware of that
the inherent destruction aris-
danger in certain lifestyles: the
ing from the failure to manage
danger of sexual promiscuity;
time, to discipline one's use of
the danger in the use of drugs
time.
that affect one's state of con-
RABBI IRWIN
We can identify a third way
sciousness; the danger in the
to choose life in the broadest
consumption of alcohol; and
GRONER
sense of the word. Not just life
the danger of smoking.
Special to the
as the avoidance of death, but
"Choose life" means reject all
Jewish News
life in its fullest meaning.
that which weakens or dimin-
This emerges in a revealing
ishes our health and strength.
verse in last week's portion "Man does
Why do people take these risks,
not live on bread alone, but by every-
entering a twilight world so treacherous
thing that proceeds from the mouth of
and fraught with peril? The answer is
God does man live."
they want to flee the present moment.
The commentaries distinguish
They seek to escape the burdens of
between existence and life. Bread gives
choice and decision. Life is often stressful
us existence, the ability to stand on our
and painful and they wish to drop out
feet, to work, to survive. But that which
and retire from life itself
emanates from God's mouth provides
A second way of choosing life is by
life's meaning and purpose and eternal
not wasting time. If we count the period
value.
spent in front of the television set, we

"When I light the Shabbat candles standing next to my daughter and grand-
daughters, I feel the love and warmth of Shabbat enter my soul, and I am reunit-
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— Adele W Staller, Southfiele4 retired

To submit a candlelighting message, call Miriam Amzalak of the Luhavitch Women's Organization at
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8/13

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56

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Victor Frankel, a psychiatrist who was
a survivor of the Holocaust, wrote of his
experience. He discovered in the camps
the most important drive within humans
is not pleasure or power, but meaning.
Those who clung to a higher meaning,
who were involved in working out a
mathematical or scientific problem or
who kept a journal or who were writing
a Sefer Torah or who were helping oth-
ers, often managed to survive, even the
death camp of Auschwitz. This search
for purpose beyond physical survival,
this quest for self-transcendence, this
yearning for the infinite is what comes
forth from God's mouth, as it were. This
is the true meaning of the life that we
alone can choose.
An individual can commit suicide in
one moment or in a lifetime of wasted
moments. The years a person is given are
not under our control, but we do have
the moments God has given us. If we
choose not to waste those precious
moments, then we have chosen life. ❑

Conversations

What does it mean to you to
choose life? In what ways is life
yours to choose? Remember that
choosing good is in your control,
but life and death?

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