Parasha Thoughts
By Rabbi Aharon Seleh
In this week’s parsha, the possuk states, “Avraham was old, well on in years.” The medrash expounds that Avraham filled all his days with Torah and mitzvos.
There was a rav who was appointed to lead a certain city. The townspeople took him around to see the city. When they reached the cemetery, he was surprised to see written on all the tombstones such young ages. This one died at 20. The other one at 15…He asked the townspeople, “Does everyone here die young? But I see so many old people on the streets!†They answered him, “Our custom is to take into account all the time one spent on Torah, tefilla and mitzvot. Then we total it up and write that amount. For example, if one spends 4 hours a day on Torah and mitzvot, that’s 28 hours a week..etc…so only a fraction of his life was was accounted for. This is the only time that counts.â€
Imagine if one passed away and saw how precious every mitzvah and moment of learning is, besides the incredible reward. If the Heavenly court would give you a chance to come back down for just one day, how would you use it? You wouldn’t know where to start! You would try to fit in every mitzvah. Let’s utilize our time. Make every moment count. NEVER kill time.
Shabbat Shalom