July 24, 2010 | 13 Av 5770

Living Life Today… My brother James is an architectural preservationist photographer.  His job requires that he travel around the country to photograph old structures, buildings, monuments.  His assignments have varied from documenting railroad depots throughout the Southern and Mid-Western United States to photographing entire VA Hospital complexes throughout the country. His photographs are compiled, labeled and then archived within the Library of Congress. Needless to say, James has a very interesting Job. When he is not traversing the 50 states, he works at his government office in Washington D.C. where he is one of only 4 photographers on staff in his department. 

James’ boss, Jack, is an interesting fellow.  He has been part of this government agency since before James was born and my brother has learned a lot from him, not only about photography but also about life.  James once shared with me one of Jack’s rituals.  Every day, at lunch time, whether he has brought his lunch or needs to purchase it at a local coffee shop, regardless of the workload or pending deadlines, Jack stops everything that he is doing, leaves his office and finds a nice place to sit and eat lunch. For Jack, this ritual seems to not be about lunch but about the experience of stopping and living in the present for a short time. You might be asking yourself what is so special about that. However, think about it.  How many of us eat behind our desk at work, or in the car while driving to an appointment?  We are constantly on the go, running from this place to that place. When do we ever stop to appreciate and experience life? Our Torah has something to say about my Jack’s ritual.

In this week’s parsha, Ve-Ethannan, Moses tells the people Israel something that seems self-evident:

Each Monday, Thursday and Shabbat, when a person is called up to the Torah for the first honor, the Gabbai, the person designated to coordinate the honors and responsibilities associated with the Torah service, says a prepared statement inviting the first honoree up from their seat towards the readers’ table.  The Gabbai declares:

May God’s sovereignty be revealed to us soon. May God favor the remnant of His people Israel with grace and kindness, with compassion and love. And let us say Amen. Let us all declare the greatness of God and give honor to the Torah.
(Let the first to be honored come forward)
Praised is God who gave the Torah to Israel in holiness.
(Congregation and Gabbai together): You who remain steadfast to Adonai your God have been sustained to this day. (Siddur Sim Shalom, weekday prayer book; p. 66)

The concluding sentence said together with the gabbai is from this week’s parsha – Deuteronomy 4:4.  As Moses continues his oration to the people, rebuking and retelling the children of Israel’s four-decade journey through the wilderness, he makes what seems to be a historical fact. While chastising the people, and really their parents who were forced to wander through the wilderness for so many years because of their lack of faith in God, he throws them a compliment by way of this historical fact – the reason that you are alive today, Moses declares, is because you have remained steadfast to God.  Truthfully, the Hebrew is a bit ambiguous. Literally, the words translate as follows:

You / who cleave / on God / Your God / Life / All of you / Today.

Clearly, one can interpret these words in several ways.  Therefore, let’s not read it as declarative, instead, let us read it as an imperative:

Anybody who wants to cleave to God – You must live today!

For me, Moses is not simply talking to the Children of Israel as they eagerly wait on the east side of the Jordan River poised to enter into the Promised Land. Moses is talking to us. So take a cue from our greatest Prophet Moses, my brother James and his boss Jack: take a bit of time each day to live. Your life will thank you for it. 

Shabbat Shalom.