Core Values

Day 10: How do I remember that my days on earth are limited?

וְשֶׁאַתָּה רִמָּה וְתוֹלֵעָה בְּחַיֶּיךָ, וְאַף כִּי בְּמוֹתָךְ

And that while alive you are only like a maggot and a worm as after death.

Rabbi Levitas of Yavneh said: “be exceeding humble in spirit, for the end of man is the worm.” (Pirket Avot 4:4)

When a person is young he thinks he is immortal and invulnerable. As he matures and he get closer to death he realizes that life is uncertain and short and he becomes humble.

The Talmud says: “One should always incite his good inclination against his evil inclination, i.e., that one must constantly struggle so that his evil inclination does not lead him to transgression.” (Berachot 5a)

But if he does not succeed in subduing it, he should study Torah. If he still cannot subdue his evil inclination, he should recite Shema, which contains the acceptance of the yoke of God, and the concept of reward and punishment. If he is still unsuccessful, he should remind himself of the day of death.

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Daily Sources

Pirkei Avot 4:4
Berachot 5a
Kohelet 3:19-20
Beraishit 12:1
Beraishit 18:19

Daily Reading

What We Leave Behind: Tolstoy and the Mortality of Man by Rabbi Jonathan Sacks

The most profound fear most of us have is of death. As La Rochefoucauld said, “Neither the sun nor death can be looked on with a steady eye.” The Untaneh Tokef prayer tells the poetry of mortality with haunting pathos:

Bonus Material

Baron Rothschild’s Secret by Rabbi Shlomo Landau

It all started in 1991. I was in a helicopter and we had just lifted 50 feet above the ground. At the same time, a small plane was taking off with an instructor and his student. We collided. Our helicopter crashed to the tarmac. But the plane exploded. Its two passengers were killed. I woke up in the...

Daily Goals

Daily Goals:
Remember that Jewish identity is that inner voice, learned in childhood, reinforced by lifelong study, rehearsed daily in ritual and prayer. That is what gives us a sense of direction in life. It gives us the confidence of knowing that Judaism, virtually alone among the cultures and civilizations of its day, has survived while the rest have been consigned to history. It is what allows us to avoid the false turns and temptations of the present, while availing ourselves of its genuine benefits and blessings.

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