Length of Days

It was ordained that no one should live beyond 120 years.  That number represents the outer boundaries of human life.  Moshe rabbenu died when he was that age.  For this reason, Jews have often said as a blessing to one another, “May you live to 120!”

It seems that staying alive is an art: eat the right foods, do the right exercise, take the correct vitamins and you may be rewarded with longevity.  It is usually a blessing to live a long life, although it is not always.    The Jewish approach to life is one of quality not quantity.  What good does innumerable years of misery amount to?  The only positive part about such a long life is that it gives us ample opportunity to “get it together.”

Here is an authentic Jewish approach to meaningful years:

Rabbi Hannina said, “Much have I learned from my teachers, more from my friends, and yet more from my students.”   -Talmud, Taanit 7a

Events are teachers.  Failures are teachers.  Successes are teachers.  And students are teachers…only if we are paying attention.

Meaningful living is connected with growth.   Through the millennia we have hoisted the idea that learning ennobles the soul and enriches life.  It lends quality to our years.  There is an old adage, “the more things change the more they remain the same.”   What a terrible statement about life.  While it is true that human nature may remain the same we do not have to accept that for ourselves.   We do not have to sop growing just because we pass out of teenage years.  As David’s poem goes, “even in old age they shall bring forth fruit.”  -Psalm 92 

Growth can be ongoing.  And each time we gain wisdom our universe glows a bit brighter.  Life looms larger.  The colors of the world become invested with greater vibrancy.  And length of pales beside the quality of each moment lived.

When Rabbi Noach assumed the rabbinical post from his father, Rabbi Mordecai, his followers noticed subtle changes in the way he did things.  His ways were unlike his father.  The disciples gather and asked why he was conducting himself so differently.  He answered, “I do just as my father did.  Just as he did not imitate, so I do not imitate.”

A life that matters comes from an open heart and an open mind.   Open them to Torah.