“How did it get so late so soon? It's night before it's afternoon. December is here before it's June. My goodness how the time has flewn. How did it get so late so soon?”
― Dr. Seuss
SHALLOOOMMMM SWEEEEEETEST FRIENDS!!!!!
Imagine! You are VERY rich [maybe you don't have to imagine and you really are!!!
“Carpe per diem – seize the check.”
“Always live within your income, even if you have to borrow money to do so”
“A nickel ain’t worth a dime anymore” - Yogi Berra
“I am not worried about the deficit. It is big enough to take care of itself.” — Ronald Reagan
So where do you invest the money? The stock market? Real estate? Gold? Start ups? Start downs? Manual typewriters? VCR's? Israeli Lirot? Part ownership of the NY Mets? We would all be VERRRRYYYYY careful. We don't want to make bad decisions! If we do, we might LOSE money and that is a HUUUUUGE Chas Vi-shalom........
We are given something much much more important than money. That is LIIIIFFEEEEEE!! And TIME IS LIFE!!!! So now we have to ask - How do we best INVEST our time? Money can be recovered but time - NEVER. Yesterday is gone and will never come back. I am not only 49 years old - I am 49 years DEAD!!! UUUUUWWWWWWWW!! Dose years is gone and dey ain't comin' back! [In my old age, I am losing my ability to speak English..].
"I'm great at multitasking. I can waste time, be unproductive, and procrastinate all at once. "
People who write "u" instead of "you". What do you do with all the time you save?
The Medrash on the first pasuk in this week's Parsha tells us that just as Sarah was a complete person - so were her days: כשם שהם תמימים כך שנותם תמימים. Her DAYS were complete. Rebbe Akiva saw that his students were dozing off and he told them that Esther ruled over 127 countries b/c Sarah lived 127 years. To say - TAKE ADVANTAGE of your time b/c in the merit of Sarah's time management - Esther ruled over 127 countries. Every year a country, every day a city, every hour a street.
Same with Avraham ואברהם זקן בא בימים - He was coming with his days. He took EVERY day with him. We are ALL writing autobiographies. EVERY DAY is another page in the book. Woe unto the person who goes to heaven and he has blank pages in his or her book.
The Medrash says that there are 365 days in the year and 365 negative commandments and each day decrees that we not transgress the mitzvos. Time, the Kabbalists teach, is a REALITY. בראשית ברא אלקים - Hashem created the beginning TIME! We talk about "ביטול זמן". It is not only that we are מבטל ourselves when we waste time but we are trashing the time itself!!!
The word "זמן" in Hebrew means to "prepare" [see Sanhedrin 48 - הזמנה מילתא או לאו מילתא]. Time is a preparation for an existence beyond time!
SWEEEEEET FRIENDS!!!! We live in a world where there are SOOOOO MANY WAYS to waste our time. The time just FLIES WAY and never comes back. אדם דואג על איבוד דמיו ואינו דואג על איבוד ימיו - ימיו אינם חוזרים ודמיו אינם עוזרים. Man worries about the loss of his money but not about the loss of his days. His days won't come back and his money won't help him [you can't take it with you.... No pockets in burial shrouds!].
“Top 15 Things Money Can’t Buy
Time. Happiness. Inner Peace. Integrity. Love. Character. Manners. Health. Respect. Morals. Trust. Patience. Class. Common sense. Dignity.”
On the positive side, there are also SOOOOOO MANNNNYY ways to take advantage of our time. Modern technology affords us so many time-saving devices [washing machines, electric ovens, cars etc.] and at the same "time" we have so many opportunities to take advantage of our time. So many online shiurim, so many accessible sfarim, so many ways to do chesed and the list goes on and on and on.
This weeks parsha is called חיי שרה even though it tells of her passing. Maybe because if we live life properly here - not only will we leave a legacy after us for the living, but b/c it is then that true life begins. As the pasuk says [quoted by the Medrash abt. Sarah] יודע השם ימי תמימים ונחלתם לעולם תהיה - Hashem knows the days of the complete ones and their inheritance is FOREVER!!!
MAY WE ALL MERIT TO MAKE THE MOST OF EVERY DAY. DOING SO WILL NOT ONLY BE A FULFILLMENT OF YOUR TASK ON EARTH BUT ALSO FEELS GREEEEAAAAATTTT!!!!!!
LOVE AND BLESSINGS
SHABBAT SHALOM!!!!!
For an audio shiur on the parsha - here.
