Dear Friends,
“Choose Life!” (Deuteronomy 30:19)
What a strange command – choose life!? How could we NOT choose life? It is our birthright, after all!
But, it is one of the final commandments in the entire Torah, coming at the end of Deuteronomy as a completing message.
So, let’s think about it. Carefully…
Many of us take life – and living – for granted. We just breathe and it is so. But then there are those who have come to recognize, especially in the last 18 months, that the breath of life is a serious and sacred privilege. Millions have been ill with coronavirus and learned to appreciate the simple act of breathing. Sadly, hundreds of thousands have died, surrendering their last breaths to the illness.
And, we might even suggest that personal choices – wearing masks, getting vaccines, social distancing – are implicit in the experience of life today. The command, “Choose life,” becomes more complex when we have moments nearly every day, in which our decisions could impact life and be a fulfillment of the very charge, to “Choose life!” Do we go out to eat, or stay home and cook? Do we visit a friend, or call them? Do I remember to have my mask in my pocket, and then on both my nose and mouth, or am I lackadaisical?
Note that the entire verse from the end of Deuteronomy is even more compelling than the merely powerful two words of “Choose Life.” The entire verse reads, “I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day; I have put before your life and death, blessing and curse; Choose life, if you and your offspring would life—"
Thus, our choices of life and death are not simply our own, private, unnoticed behavior. Rather, the heavens and the earth, the mountains and the rivers, the squirrels and the swallows - and our neighbors – are all witnesses and impacted by our choices.
So, yes, “Choose Life!” is not a simple command. It is demanding and complex, compelling and vital. What a brilliant capstone to the Torah’s 613 commands! What could be stronger?
Shabbat Shalom and Shanah Tovah,
Rabbi Douglas Kohn
“Choose Life!” (Deuteronomy 30:19)
What a strange command – choose life!? How could we NOT choose life? It is our birthright, after all!
But, it is one of the final commandments in the entire Torah, coming at the end of Deuteronomy as a completing message.
So, let’s think about it. Carefully…
Many of us take life – and living – for granted. We just breathe and it is so. But then there are those who have come to recognize, especially in the last 18 months, that the breath of life is a serious and sacred privilege. Millions have been ill with coronavirus and learned to appreciate the simple act of breathing. Sadly, hundreds of thousands have died, surrendering their last breaths to the illness.
And, we might even suggest that personal choices – wearing masks, getting vaccines, social distancing – are implicit in the experience of life today. The command, “Choose life,” becomes more complex when we have moments nearly every day, in which our decisions could impact life and be a fulfillment of the very charge, to “Choose life!” Do we go out to eat, or stay home and cook? Do we visit a friend, or call them? Do I remember to have my mask in my pocket, and then on both my nose and mouth, or am I lackadaisical?
Note that the entire verse from the end of Deuteronomy is even more compelling than the merely powerful two words of “Choose Life.” The entire verse reads, “I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day; I have put before your life and death, blessing and curse; Choose life, if you and your offspring would life—"
Thus, our choices of life and death are not simply our own, private, unnoticed behavior. Rather, the heavens and the earth, the mountains and the rivers, the squirrels and the swallows - and our neighbors – are all witnesses and impacted by our choices.
So, yes, “Choose Life!” is not a simple command. It is demanding and complex, compelling and vital. What a brilliant capstone to the Torah’s 613 commands! What could be stronger?
Shabbat Shalom and Shanah Tovah,
Rabbi Douglas Kohn
