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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