Regular readers of Avot Today will recall that I have written many times on the teaching of Rabbi Eliezer ben Hyrcanus at Avot 2:15:
שׁוּב יוֹם
אֶחָד לִפְנֵי מִיתָתָךְ
Repent one day before your death.
For the benefit of newcomers to this Group, or to Pirkei
Avot itself, the point is that, since we don’t know the date of our death, we
should make a point of repenting on a daily basis since tomorrow we might die.
I write these words in my apartment in Jerusalem where, like
so many other residents of Israel, I am keeping an ear out for the sound of the
sirens that will herald an expected, indeed promised, attack from Iran. If I am
fortunate, I will run for the relative safety of the bomb shelter that services
our building, and will later emerge alive. If I am not so fortunate—and we fear
that there will be many fatalities when the rockets fall—then this will be my
final post.
Today is not the easiest of days for repentance. In the Hebrew calendar it is Rosh Chodesh Av—the
first day of the new month and a day on which we allow ourselves a modicum of rejoicing,
reciting the happy psalms of praise that make up Hallel in place of the
usual pleas for forgiveness we know as Tachanun. But repentance is still
perfectly possible even on days when Tachanun is not recited, and every
day offers a chance to be at peace, or to make peace, with not just God but
with those around us.
I have sometimes asked other people what they would do if
they knew they would die the next day, and their answers were not always
uplifting (see “A sad reflection on human nature”, here).
But at least today I know how I would choose to spend my last day: I’m spending
it the same way as I spend every other weekday. A bit of prayer, a bit of Torah
learning, a bit of socialising with family and friends, a bit of writing—and a
very great deal of being grateful for the fact these things are available to
me.
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For some positive suggestions on this topic, see “What to do the day before you die”, here.
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