While I agree with the insights of this column I'm impelled to comment on the story of Rabbi Horwitz, which I've heard before. Every time I hear it my mind goes immediately to: And who brought him meals in his bricked-up retreat? Who carried out his waste? How did the household manage in his absence? (I think of this too when I hear how Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha, walked away from his palace and his wife Yashodhara, wandering eight years before returning enlightened. Of course Yahsodhara lived in a palace, not a shtetl.) Did his awakening have a cost paid by others? I realize this is a teaching story, not history lesson; still, makes me consider how for most of us, what with to live is always with us.
Those are good questions, Carol, and as I understand the history, they were anticipated in the arrangements that were made both for his retreat (hitbodedut) and for his family. The story goes that his room was adjacent to the Kovno house of a tinsmith named Shlomo. Everything I have learned from my Mussar teachers says loudly that you don’t allow your “spiritual” life to be a burden on others or else it has already gone off the rails. Or as Rabbi Yisrael Salanter put it very elegantly, when you put on your tallis, be careful not to whip anyone with your tzitzis.
It is a comfort to me to see living and dying as part of the same journey. Living longer and the wisdom and experience gained allows me to dwell more on what I deem important in life and less on what I now see as trivial. Hitlamdut is a wonderful goal to strive for in living
There are gifts that come with aging — like the wisdom to see what is really important and what is not — if we pay attention and trust those insights. I’m watching the hysteria around the World Cup right now and I know that as soon as the last ball is kicked, everyone will instantly forget the whole affair and move on to the next focus because it is no more substantial than the animals and machines we can see in the clouds. I like sports; I am no longer drawn to the money-machine spectacle. A gift of the older, wiser years,
Alan, what an excellent and meaningful column! While I seem to be recovering from my serious illness, I feel closer to death than I ever have before. These thoughts have offered me the opportunity to reflect on what’s most important in whatever time I have left. I appreciate my new perspectives.
Glad to hear you are still on the road to recovery and, I hope, are doing well. Those new perspectives are great teachers and guides. Funny how life can deceive and mislead us.
There are lots of Jewish teachings that say death is not a destination, just the door we pass through on the way to a world beyond. I don’t know. Rabbi Perr would say that he did not know if there was an afterlife but he did know that if there is one, it depends on what we do in this life. And if there isn’t one, all we have is this life. Either way, pay attention here and now.
While I agree with the insights of this column I'm impelled to comment on the story of Rabbi Horwitz, which I've heard before. Every time I hear it my mind goes immediately to: And who brought him meals in his bricked-up retreat? Who carried out his waste? How did the household manage in his absence? (I think of this too when I hear how Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha, walked away from his palace and his wife Yashodhara, wandering eight years before returning enlightened. Of course Yahsodhara lived in a palace, not a shtetl.) Did his awakening have a cost paid by others? I realize this is a teaching story, not history lesson; still, makes me consider how for most of us, what with to live is always with us.
Those are good questions, Carol, and as I understand the history, they were anticipated in the arrangements that were made both for his retreat (hitbodedut) and for his family. The story goes that his room was adjacent to the Kovno house of a tinsmith named Shlomo. Everything I have learned from my Mussar teachers says loudly that you don’t allow your “spiritual” life to be a burden on others or else it has already gone off the rails. Or as Rabbi Yisrael Salanter put it very elegantly, when you put on your tallis, be careful not to whip anyone with your tzitzis.
Maybe if one focus's on living, dying will take care of itself.
It is a comfort to me to see living and dying as part of the same journey. Living longer and the wisdom and experience gained allows me to dwell more on what I deem important in life and less on what I now see as trivial. Hitlamdut is a wonderful goal to strive for in living
There are gifts that come with aging — like the wisdom to see what is really important and what is not — if we pay attention and trust those insights. I’m watching the hysteria around the World Cup right now and I know that as soon as the last ball is kicked, everyone will instantly forget the whole affair and move on to the next focus because it is no more substantial than the animals and machines we can see in the clouds. I like sports; I am no longer drawn to the money-machine spectacle. A gift of the older, wiser years,
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Alan, what an excellent and meaningful column! While I seem to be recovering from my serious illness, I feel closer to death than I ever have before. These thoughts have offered me the opportunity to reflect on what’s most important in whatever time I have left. I appreciate my new perspectives.
Yasher koach,
Bonnie in Los Angeles
Glad to hear you are still on the road to recovery and, I hope, are doing well. Those new perspectives are great teachers and guides. Funny how life can deceive and mislead us.
"Life is journey and death a destination . . ."
There are lots of Jewish teachings that say death is not a destination, just the door we pass through on the way to a world beyond. I don’t know. Rabbi Perr would say that he did not know if there was an afterlife but he did know that if there is one, it depends on what we do in this life. And if there isn’t one, all we have is this life. Either way, pay attention here and now.
Living and dying - All part of one fell swoop!
Yeshar koach Alan! Kol ha Kavod on your brilliant and insightful synopsis.
Bonnie
Sacramento Ca