38 | OCTOBER 3 • 2019

A

d me’
ah v’
esrim!” (“May
you live until 120.
”) We
often hear and use this
phrase when we are wishing
someone a long life. At the very
beginning of Vayelekh, Moses
tells the nation that he is now
120 years old and soon to die.
Because Moses dies at the
ripe old age of 120,
that age is seen as the
Jewish ideal length
of life. Yet one of the
questions we can
reflect on, especially
as we are a few days
before Yom Kippur,
is what we should be
doing with our length
of years.
There are two
sources from our tra-
dition that stand out
on this subject. In the
Talmud, the sage Rava
teaches that at the end
of life, each one of us is brought
before the heavenly tribunal
and asked to account for our
actions in this world.
The very first question each
of us is asked is, “Did you
conduct your business affairs
faithfully?” It is fascinating that
the first question asked is not
about faith but about inter-
personal actions. How did we
treat other people in the often
cutthroat world of business? For
the Talmud, it is not enough to
have the pious actions of Torah
study or prayer if we treat oth-
ers poorly.
The other source is a classic
tale retold by Martin Buber
of Rabbi Zusya of Hanipol,
among the early generations
of Chasidim. Once Reb Zusya
came to his followers with tears
in his eyes. They asked him:

“Reb Zusya, what’
s the mat-
ter?” He shared a vision he
had in a dream: “I learned the
question that the angels will
one day ask me about my life.”
Reb Zusya’
s followers were
puzzled. “Reb Zusya, you are
pious, scholarly and humble.
You have helped so many.
What question about your
life could be so terrifying
that you would be fright-
ened to answer it?” Reb
Zusya replied: “I learned
that the angels will not
ask me, ‘
Why weren’
t you
like Moses, leading your
people out of slavery?’

or, ‘
Why weren’
t you
like Joshua, leading your
people into the promised
land?’
” At this point, Reb
Zusya sighed: “They will
say to me, ‘
Zusya, why
weren’
t you Zusya?’
” Reb
Zusya understood we
each need to be the very best
we can be.
Together these two sources
allow us to reflect on the ques-
tion: What do we do with our
lives? We learn from Moses’
life
in this week’
s Torah portion that
the ideal length of a Jewish life
is 120 years. Yet how we choose
to fill the years we are given is
more important than the ulti-
mate length of life we achieve.
In this new year, we should
all live ad me’
ah v’
esrim, to
120 years; may those years be
filled with goodness toward
others and striving to be the
best each of us can be. G’
mar
chatimah tovah! May we all
be inscribed for good in this
new year.

Rabbi Robert Gamer is the rabbi
at Congregation Beth Shalom in
Oak Park.

Parshat

Vayelekh:

Detuteronomy

31:1-30;

Hosea 14:2-10;

Micah 7:18-20;

Joel 2:15-

27. (Shabbat

Shuvah)

Rabbi Robert
Gamer

Spirit
torah portion

What Do We Do
With Our Years?

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