Nitzavim-Vayilech
Deuteronomy 29:9-31:30
Isaiah 61:10-63:9
There is a story told about Benjamin Kubelsky, alias Jack Benny, concerning the choosing of life. The late comedian said the line that always got him the biggest laugh was when he told about a mugger who came up to him from behind, shoved a gun in his back and said, “Your money or your life.” A master of timing with a reputation as a cheapskate, Benny paused while the gangster fidgeted. Finally, the bandit got impatient and demanded a second time, “Your money or your life!” Benny responded, ever so slowly, “I’m thinking, I’m thinking.”
Had he stepped out of character and responded from his Jewish upbringing, the words of this week’s Torah portion would have reminded him not to hesitate at all. He would have said, “Therefore choose life!”
Our Torah portion includes the following advice to the Israelites, “Surely, this Instruction [Torah] which I enjoin upon you this day is not too baffling for you, nor is it beyond reach … I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day: I have put before you life and death, blessing and curse. Choose life — if you and your offspring would live” (Deut. 30:11 and 19).
These verses are part of the passage read on Yom Kippur morning in most Reform congregations because they stress the doctrine of personal responsibility, and that the source of knowledge lies within the grasp of human experience. The assertion that each person’s duty is to walk in God’s way cannot be delegated to others, is followed by the ringing charge to choose life.
The contemporary Israeli scholar Pinhas Peli notes that one may ask: How can a human make a choice between life and death? He believes that the biblical text refers to life and death not as biological facts, but as principles and values.
Being alive means growing, responding, developing. To be dead (even if biologically one is alive) means to stop growing, to fossilize, to become an inert object.
Many people never face the clear alternative between the values of life and death. Living in neither world, they become zombies, their bodies alive while their souls are dead.
To choose life is the necessary condition for love, freedom and truth.
Furthermore, in the biblical text, Moses is implying that when the choice is made, one must make sure it is not for one’s self alone — but for one’s children as well. It is as if Moses is saying: Make sure that the way of the Torah you are accepting is not a way that creates a gap between generations. A culture and a way of life cannot be created in one generation. It stands the test of time only if it is perpetuated and proves viable for “you and your children.”
In the Talmud, the rabbis consider what to do if a funeral and wedding procession both arrive at an intersection at exactly the same time. Who should proceed? Although traffic stops in America when a funeral procession passes, the Talmud says it is the funeral procession that must wait for the wedding procession. Life takes precedence.
We are also taught that the value of a human life is incalculable. Our tradition makes this clear by saying, “If you save one life, it is equivalent to having saved an entire world. If you destroy one life, it is equivalent to having destroyed an entire world” (Sanhedrin 4:5).
Indeed, nothing is more precious than a person’s life, nothing as wondrous, and nothing as fragile.
From Selichot until Neilah, we should keep close to our hearts and our minds the basic principle that guides so many Jewish decisions, and that we dedicate ourselves to anew: “Choose life!”
Wishing you and all those you care about a full and healthy year of life. Let us say “l’chaim.”
Rabbi Larry Raphael is the senior rabbi of Congregation Sherith Israel in San Francisco.
His column replaces that of Rabbi Karen Citrin.