R’ Eliezer ben Hyrcanus’s teaching at Avot 2:15 has become so familiar to Torah students that it might be fair to say that some of us have come close to not thinking about it at all any more. In the middle of this mishnah he says:
שׁוּב יוֹם אֶחָד לִפְנֵי מִיתָתָךְ
Repent one day before your death.
Who now is unfamiliar with the explanation that, since we do
not know which is the day before our death, R’ Eliezer is telling us that we
should repent every day? This is the well-worn path taken by the Talmud
(Shabbat 153a), Avot deRabbi Natan (15.4), Rambam, Rabbenu Yonah, the Me’iri, the
Bartenura, the commentary attributed to Rashi, and others.
R’ Yisroel Miller (The Wisdom of Avos), having
concurred with its traditional understanding, takes a refreshingly different
look at this teaching, one that is founded on a midrashic cadenza on a verse
from Ecclesiastes. He writes:
Koheles [= Ecclesiastes]
tells us: “At all times let your garments be white” in celebration. But Chazal
[= our sages] say that the “white garments” mean shrouds, to always be
prepared for the day of death, which is somewhat odd. A Midrash generally adds
depth to the plain meaning of the pasuk, yet here it seems to teach the
very opposite of the plain meaning!
Rav Isaac Sher explained that
there is no contradiction. The pasuk says to celebrate each day, and the
midrash shows us the way to feel how precious each day is—by saying to yourself:
“I will live this day as if it were my last”.
If I had but one more day, I
would make sure to tell my spouse and children how much I love them and what
they mean to me. I would savor the sunlight, pour out my heart at my last
davening, and feel my soul bond with one last hour of Torah learning….”
R’ Miller continues in this positive vein. Gila Ross (Living
Beautifully) hits upon the same theme:
“How does a person know when he
is going to die? He doesn’t. He’s telling us to treat each day as though it
were our last….
Imagine if we all lived every
single day as though it was our only opportunity in this world. We would be in
a state of perpetual self-improvement, of living in the moment, of taking
opportunities to do mitzvos. We would be the very best people we could be!”
These words may have strayed a little from the simple but
austere message of R’ Eliezer, but they certainly address the contemporary Jew
in a constructive and meaningful manner.
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