The 11th-century Spanish-Jewish philosopher Rabbi Bahya ibn Paqudah understood that everything we do counts. "Lives are like scrolls," he said. "Write on them only what you would want remembered." Today, where so much of what we do is recorded somewhere, or many somewheres, R. Bahya's statement is all the more powerful. Our good deeds may be easily forgotten, but nothing we do wrong will ever disappear.
On the days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, our lives are in the balance. These are days to walk on eggshells, lest we tip the scales the wrong way. This is an opportunity - don't fail to be transformed by these Aseret Yemei Teshuvah / Ten Days of Repentance.
It is amazing that the words from a philosoopher from over a thousand years ago are so relevant today!
ReplyDeleteAll the more so. What has made Judaism continue to be relevant, even after 2000 years of exile and dispersion throughout the world, is its ability to be constantly re-interpreted and re-applied in every time and place in which Jews have lived.
ReplyDeleteShanah tovah!