Parshiyot Nitzavim-Vayelekh 5784

What does it mean to “choose life”?

…Hahayim v’ha-mavet natati lifanekha ha-berakha v’ha-k’lalah…uvaharta bahayim

 

“Life and death I have set in front of you, the blessing and the curse…choose life” (Deut. 30:19)

Moses, in the final days before his death, is doing his best to impart the halakha and the aggadah, the laws and the narratives, to the generation of Israelites about to enter the land. According to the website Statista.com, 200 of the 613 commandments contained in the Torah are found in the book of Deuteronomy. Moses has a lot of information to impart in his last speeches!

Much of what he has to say has to do with staying away from idol worship and not following the practices of the other nations that surround them, along with the ones who currently live in the land. Even though he knows his words are probably falling on deaf ears, he keeps trying. After all, Moses has shepherded this community through 40 years in the wilderness, speaking God’s words, giving the people instructions for proper behavior, and preparing them for the next stage in their journey.

When Moses sets the choice between blessing and curse, good and evil, life and death in front of the people, the choice is followed by an admonition that the only way to choose blessing, good and life is to follow the commandments and to behave properly. In the Torah, the consequences for straying from the path are dire: being uprooted from the land, having the land itself become impossible for sustaining life, and all kinds of diseases and plagues. That doesn’t feel like much of a choice to me.

Moses knows the people are going to get themselves into all kinds of situations once they’re in the land and, in Parashat Vayelekh, verse 31:29 states that very clearly:

For I know that, when I am dead, you will act wickedly and turn away from the path that I enjoined upon you, and that in time to come misfortune will befall you for having done evil in the sight of ‘ה, whom you vexed by your deeds.

As the graduate of a few Dale Carnegie courses, this is definitely not the way to “give someone a fine reputation to live up to.”[1]

However, it’s not a prediction on Moses’ part, he’s already dealt with more than one instance where the people turned away from Adonai and towards Baal, and where they’ve questioned God’s and Moses’ actions, bringing calamity upon themselves. Moses doesn’t know the future, but he knows the past, and hopes that perhaps the Israelites might learn from it.[2]

Who among us would consciously choose curses and evil over blessing and goodness? Probably no one, but it brings up the concept of the choices we make every day in our lives; between the positive and the negative, the better and worse, and yes, between life and death.

I recently had a conversation with someone who said, “I’m dying. It may be tomorrow, it may be two months, but I’m dying. My heart is only working at 16%.” There wasn’t much I could say, other than offer spiritual support. He’s spoken to a psychiatrist and feels he has made peace with the knowledge that he will die sooner rather than later, even if it’s not his choice.

No words were needed on my part, and I did my best to listen. What I did share is that until he does die, he can choose to live, and can choose (within reason) how he wants to live. None of us have guarantees in life, and while we can’t necessarily control events and circumstances, we can control how we react to them, and choose to react positively whenever possible.

Choosing life and blessing is something we do on a daily basis. God willing the consequences for the wrong choices aren’t as dire as those mentioned in the Torah, but they still have their impact. What does it mean to choose life and blessing?

One way is to do as Moses does in the beginning of Parashat Vayelekh (Deut. 31:2): “[Moses] said to them: I am now 120 years old, I can no longer go and come. Moreover, Adonai has said to me, ‘You shall not go across yonder Jordan.’” He chooses to lead the people until his last breath. Most of us will never be in Moses’ position, but eventually we all go the way of all life. The choices we make between now and then can mean the difference between living our lives with blessing, and not.

[1] https://www.dalecarnegie.com/en/about/culture

[2] Thank you to Rabbi Jef Segelman who shared this idea in a class.

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Rabbi Susan Elkodsi (AJR ’15) is the spiritual leader of the Malverne Jewish Center in NY and is immediate past president of the Long Island Board of Rabbis. Her writing has appeared on JewishSacredAging.com, and she has presented workshops for Limmud, NY, for AJR and in the community, and her book, Midrash HaZaK: Torah Wisdom by 70 Over 70 (but who’s counting), an anthology of divrei torah for older adults, will soon IY”H be published. Susan is passionate about helping Baby Boomers and older adults to find meaning and purpose in their lives within the context of Jewish tradition and teachings, and as part of a Jewish community. You can find her work on her website, www.babyboomerrabbi.com. In addition, she loves to knit, spin and weave, and she and her husband David recently added kittens Tiggr and Midnight to their family.