Choose Life!

"I call heaven and earth today to bear witness against you: I have placed life and death before you, blessing and curse; and you shall choose life (uvacharta bachaim), so that you will live…" (Devarim 30:19).

Choosing life is what Rosh Hashanah is all about. Zachreinu l'chaim, remember us for life! Melech chafetz bachaim, the King who wants us to live. But it’s not just God who chooses life for us on Rosh Hashanah. We have to make the choice, too.

A new year is upon us and it is time to make a reckoning. What happened this year? Although we may feel we have another 100,000 years to go, life is a finite number of years, and we need to take stock and do a cheshbon hanefesh, a spiritual accounting. It's time to wake up and choose life.

The first aspect of waking up is simple: Stop doing what you know the Almighty considers wrong. Are you wasting time? Are you standing in front of the Almighty in prayer without even knowing what you're asking for, without even believing He will answer you? Are you frequently losing your temper? Forgetting your learning? Are you going to continue doing these things for rest of your life?

There are so many obvious things that we know we are doing wrong. Taking stock of these things is a simple reckoning, but it requires the courage and honesty to confront ourselves and eliminate the excuses. Now that you see these mistakes, what are you going to do about them?

A second aspect of preparing for the new year is to ask yourself: What is the breakthrough I know I can achieve if I would just put my heart and soul to it? What are the next significant rungs on my ladder of growth that I should reach for? Deep down, what am I yearning to accomplish this coming year? Is it learning a seder of mishnayos by heart? Mastering a complete tractate of the Talmud? Is it getting in shape by losing 15 pounds? What goal do I want to conquer?

Don't let another year go by where you let your dreams slip away. Uvacharta bachaim – choose life.

Life and Death Choices

The verse says, "I have placed life and death before you… choose life!" The Torah frames the essential choice of man as a choice between life and death. Why? And why does God bother to instruct us to choose life? Isn't it obvious that everyone wants to live?

To answer these questions, let us take a look at the creation of man. The Torah says, “And Hashem, God, formed the man of dust from the ground, and He blew into his nostrils the soul of life; and man became a living being” (Bereishis 2:7). Man is a composite of a physical body and lofty spiritual soul. Both yearn to go back to their source. The body wants to escape from all pain and challenge, to experience nothing but comfort and the all-too-easy fix that comes through instant gratification. The soul yearns to grow, to reach its potential and cling to the Almighty. It craves the meaning and fulfillment that come through toil and exertion.

These two forces are waging a constant internal battle. The alarm clock rings in the morning. The soul wants to declare “Modeh ani lefanecha” – another day of spiritual growth and challenge. Let’s seize the day! But the body says to hit the snooze button, hug the pillow and go back to sleep. Your soul wants life; your body wants death.

Why death?

To understand the death wish that exists inside each of us, it is necessary to define the opposite of pain.

Most people answer, “Pleasure,” and in doing so they are making a fundamental mistake that has serious ramifications. The opposite of pain is not pleasure; it is no pain. No pain equals comfort, not pleasure. Do not confuse comfort with pleasure. Comfort is the absence of pain, the numbing sensation of falling asleep. The ultimate experience of feeling no pain is death. Pleasure, on the other hand, requires pain. “Lefum tza’ara agra – according to the effort is the reward” (Avos 5:22). Real pleasure and fulfillment come through pushing ourselves and tackling challenge. If we mistake pleasure for comfort, we will choose the pillow every time and avoid putting in the effort that will help us accomplish and actualize our potential in life.

The Talmud teaches, “R' Shimon ben Levi said: A person’s evil inclination threatens to overpower him every day and seeks to kill him, as it is stated, ’The wicked one watches for the righteous and seeks to kill him’ (Tehillim 37:32). And if not that the Holy One, Blessed is He, helps the person, he would be unable to prevail against him; as it is stated: ‘Hashem will not forsake him to his hand’ (ibid v. 33). (Kiddushin 30b)

This is a frightening passage. The Talmud is telling us that we have a death wish, an evil inclination that seeks to kill us, and without Hashem’s help we would not stand a chance. But thank God, the Almighty has our back. He is supporting us; we can count on Him. And no matter what rut we feel we are in, no matter what habit we feel is straitjacketing us, Hashem gives us the power to choose life. There is no such thing as the excuse, “I can’t, I’m stuck.” If you are prepared to take the pain, you can make the difficult choice to overcome the yetzer hara and the Almighty will help. Uvacharta bachaim, choose life.

Sometimes we feel that doing teshuvah and fulfilling the Torah is just too hard; it does not seem attainable. But this is a trap that the yetzer hara throws in our path. In this week’s parashah, the Torah directly addresses this trap: “For this commandment that I command you today – it is not hidden from you and it is not distant. It is not in heaven, for you to say, ‘Who can ascend to the heaven for us and take it for us, so that we can listen to it and perform it?’ Nor is it across the sea, for you to say, ‘Who can cross to the other side of the sea for us and take it for us, so that we can listen to it and perform it?’ Rather, the matter is very near to you – in your mouth, and in your heart – to perform it.” (Devarim 30:11-14)

Do not let the yetzer hara defeat you, the Torah is saying. You have the power in your hands to choose life. It is exceedingly near to you. How near? It’s right here; you don’t have to go anywhere. It is “in your mouth and your heart to perform it.” You have everything you need. Just hold on to that clarity, understand the difference between the trap of comfort and the exhilaration of real pleasure, and choose life.

When I was a young yeshiva bachur, I used to work in the summers. One summer, when I returned from my work, my rosh yeshiva, Rav Yitzchak Ruderman zt”l of Ner Israel, asked me, “Noach, how are you going to learn this zman?”

I said, “Rebbe, im yirtzeh Hashem, if the Almighty wills it, I'm going to accomplish great things, I'm going to learn really well.”

He bent over and said to me with quiet confidence, “Noach, I arranged it already. The Almighty wants it.”

My friends, it has been arranged. The Almighty wants it and is waiting for you. Wake up and live. Choose life.