"And the days of Soroh were . . . And Avrohom was old,
advanced
with days . . . "
"Vayihiyu . . . " The Alshich Hakodosh, brings the
words of Chazal in the Zohar, that the days of a
tzaddik's
life are filled with good deeds and these create a spiritual
existence
of eternal endurance. They become a separate entity. At the
time of
his death, these days come forward to testify for all the
merit with
which they were filled. This is why it is written: "And they
[the
days] were . . . " They created a state of being, an
existence,
be it the hundred years, the twenty years or the seven years.
All
of these, including her childhood, were one whole entity, for
the
sanctity of the majority had an impact upon the minority, on
the infancy
which it incorporated.
In this same vein is interpreted the concept of the Zohar
"coming
with the days." Avrohom Ovinu came adorned with all of his
days,
like a garment that envelops the body. None of his days were
found
wanting or missing.
R' Yehuda Hechossid writes something astonishing in Sefer
Chassidim,
165: "And why did Hashem love the Patriarchs? Because
every
single day and every single night found their hearts riveted
to matters
of the spirit. The full twenty-four hours of the day were one
whole
bloc, an uninterrupted order in which there was not a single
break
from heavenly thoughts, even in their dreams."
This is the broadest possible expression of full utilization
of one's
lifetime. Therefore: And Soroh's days were . . . And
similarly: Coming
with days. Their entire life, the entire time at their
disposal, was
fully used, replete and imbued with eternal existence.
In his work Mishnas R' Aharon (Volume I, p. 28), Maran
R' Aharon
Kotler zt'l developed this idea of living life fully.
He quotes
Maseches Chagigah, "If a person recites Krias
Shema
every single day of his life, but omits a single day, it is
as if
he never recited it at all!" How can we understand this? If
not
even a sin has the power to erase a mitzva, how then can the
mere
omission of a mitzva nullify all the mitzvos of a
lifetime?
HaRav Aharon says that just like the entire Creation is
divided into
sections, so is man, himself, composed of parts, during his
lifetime.
The life force or vitality of each moment is a separate
entity, and
the reality of each moment is disparate. The span of time
during which
he did not recite the Shema and was without the yoke of
Hashem's rule
is a reality in time which will remain with him, it will
exist forever
since it was brought into being. Therefore, this is not a
lack, a
gap, it is something -- not nothing. It is a real segment of
time
that existed without the yoke of Hashem. And this will remain
for
all time, like it or not.
When the Rambam enumerates the necessary things a person must
do if
he strives for the "crown of Torah," his precondition is:
"He must be alert throughout all of his nights and make sure
that
they are all filled with Torah and study, not excluding a
single one
spent in sleeping, drinking or eating and whiling away the
time."
Why is as much as a single exception, a single night, capable
of preventing
one from acquiring the crown of Torah?
R' Aharon explains: Because the crown of Torah is a crown of
honor,
true honor of which Chazal said in Pirkei Ovos: There
is no
honor save for that of Torah. This crown is composed of many
diamonds,
comprised of rows upon rows of days filled with the yoke of
Torah
study. And if a single gem setting is missing, is empty of
Torah and
wasted in sleeping, eating and the like, the lack will be
apparent,
and the honor will be flawed. The crown, or garment, will be
like
a donkey's cheap saddlecloth: patched and dirty. How
disgraceful it
would be if among the royal raiment of the king there would
peep a
patch of cheap hempen covering. Woe the shame. The royal
raiment would
lose its entire dignity and glory.
All this would be the result of his not having had a global,
comprehensive
appreciation of the whole in which every single part goes to
make
up the completeness, and where any single flaw mars the
perfection
of the whole. For each component is vital and goes to
complete the
purpose of the separate parts. "And if not now, when?" The
role of the now can only be realized here and now, not at any
other
time. If it is lost, it is forfeited and cannot be regained
or mended.
Whatever one does tomorrow cannot make up for what is lost
today.
It is an old standing debt that will remain thus forevermore.
Time
lost is forever lost.
*
There is a common expression that dismisses a day that did
not go
right as a "lost day." How true this is. The gemora
tells
us in Shabbos 129 that the day that the disciples were
lazy
in arriving at the beis midrash to study was labeled
"yoma
deshafmi." Rashi explains this as a day lost and wasted,
of
no use.
R' Aharon arrives at the expected conclusion: "This should
lead
a person to judge each hour for its own worth, as if his
entire spiritual
condition depends on it, as if his purpose in life hangs in
the balance
on the way he makes the best of this particular hour. Truly,
the segment
of time that succeeds it is never the same; it is a different
entity.
This is the meaning of the words, `For the moments do You
test him.'
The gemora derives from this that a person is judged
anew every
single day, and some say every hour, for the moments
themselves also
count singly. A person is gauged and measured at each
separate minute.
Days will tell . . .
