MARCH 3 • 2022 | 37
become the first member of
the covenantal family to build
a house, yet he does not call
the place “house” (as in Bet-
El or Bet-lechem). He calls it
“cattle-sheds.” It is as if Jacob,
consciously or unconsciously,
already knew that to live the
life of the covenant means to
be ready to move on, to travel,
to journey, to grow.
One might have thought
that all this applied only to
the time before the Israelites
crossed the Jordan and
entered the Promised Land.
Yet the Torah tells us other-
wise: “The land shall not be
sold in perpetuity because the
land is Mine: you are strang-
ers and temporary residents
as far as I am concerned”
(Lev. 25:23).
If we live as if the land is
permanently ours, our stay
there will be temporary. If
we live as if it is only tempo-
rarily so, we will live there
permanently. In this world
of time and change, growth
and decay, only God and
His word are permanent.
One of the most poignant
lines in the book of Psalms
— a verse cherished by the
French-Jewish philosopher
Emmanuel Levinas — says,
“I am a stranger on earth.
Do not hide your commands
from me” (Ps. 119:19). To
be a Jew is to stay light on
your feet, ready to begin the
next stage of the journey,
literally or metaphorically.
An Englishman’s home is his
castle, they used to say. But
a Jew’s home is a tent, a tab-
ernacle, a sukkah. We know
that life on Earth is a tempo-
rary dwelling. That is why we
value each moment and its
newness.
Recently, a distinguished
British Jew, (Lord) George
Weidenfeld, died at the age
of 96. He was a successful
publisher, a friend and confi-
dant of European leaders, an
inveterate fighter for peace
and a passionate Zionist.
In 1949-50, he was political
adviser and Chief of Cabinet
to Chaim Weizmann, first
president of Israel. One of his
last acts was to help rescue
20,000 Christian refugees
fleeing from ISIS in Syria.
He was alert and active, even
hyperactive, to the very end of
a long and distinguished life.
In an interview with The
Times on his 92nd birthday he
was asked the following ques-
tion: “Most people in their
90s slow down. You seem to
be speeding up. Why is that?”
He replied, “When you get
to 92, you begin to see the
door about to close. I have so
much to do before the door
closes that the older I get, the
harder I have to work.” That
is a good formula for staying
young.
Like our bodies, our souls
were not made for sitting still.
We were made for moving,
walking, traveling, learning,
searching, striving, growing,
knowing that it is not for us
to complete the work but
neither may we stand aside
from it. In Judaism, as the
book of Exodus reminds us
in its closing words, even
an encampment is called a
journey. In matters spiritual,
not just physical, sitting is the
new smoking.
The late Rabbi Lord Jonathan
Sacks served as the chief rabbi of
the United Hebrew Congregations of
the Commonwealth, 1991-2013. His
teachings have been made avail-
able to all at rabbisacks.org. This
essay was written in 2016.
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