Shabbat Table Talk from the desk of Rabbi Alexander Seinfeld
October 31-32, 2025 • 10 Mar Cheshvan 5786 • Lech Lecha (Gen 12-17).
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A couple weeks ago, an out-of-the-blue message came in from a cousin:
"Here's a beautiful antique cabinet that belonged to our grandparents... we're remodeling and have no space for it, would you guys like it?"
Frankly, it's amazing that it stayed in the family this long.
Did you ever have to deal with the estate of someone recently deceased?
Beyond the financial obstacle course, there's all that stuff.
Unidentified photos. Random files. Notebooks and scraps of paper.
When my grandmother died 20 years ago, she left gorgeous vintage fur coats that NOBODY wanted.
And the thing that bothered me the most is that she hadn't worn those coats in decades.
So here we are, you and I, each of us hopefully healthy and with many years ahead of us.
But how much of our stuff is really unneeded fluff?
What kind of burden are we bequeathing on our heirs?
Are we living as if we'll live forever, or are we mindful that this world is a prozdor, in Talmudic parlance, a corridor between where we came from and where we're going?
Once upon a time, a visitor from America to the home of the Chafetz Chaim (Rav Yisroel Meir Kagan) was taken aback by the sparse furniture - only benches, not even chairs.
"Where are your chairs?" he asked.
"Where are yours?" asked the Rav.
"Mine? But I'm just a visitor here."
"So am I," said the Rav.
We are all (myself included) so busy that it's easy to forget how very fleeting life is... If you were 100 percent mindful of being "just a visitor here", how would you live your life differently?
Shabbat Shalom
A couple weeks ago, an out-of-the-blue message came in from a cousin:"Here's a beautiful antique cabinet that belonged to our grandparents... we're remodeling and have no space for it, would you guys like it?"
Frankly, it's amazing that it stayed in the family this long.
Did you ever have to deal with the estate of someone recently deceased?
Beyond the financial obstacle course, there's all that stuff.
Unidentified photos. Random files. Notebooks and scraps of paper.
When my grandmother died 20 years ago, she left gorgeous vintage fur coats that NOBODY wanted.
And the thing that bothered me the most is that she hadn't worn those coats in decades.
So here we are, you and I, each of us hopefully healthy and with many years ahead of us.
But how much of our stuff is really unneeded fluff?
What kind of burden are we bequeathing on our heirs?
Are we living as if we'll live forever, or are we mindful that this world is a prozdor, in Talmudic parlance, a corridor between where we came from and where we're going?
Once upon a time, a visitor from America to the home of the Chafetz Chaim (Rav Yisroel Meir Kagan) was taken aback by the sparse furniture - only benches, not even chairs.
"Where are your chairs?" he asked.
"Where are yours?" asked the Rav.
"Mine? But I'm just a visitor here."
"So am I," said the Rav.
We are all (myself included) so busy that it's easy to forget how very fleeting life is... If you were 100 percent mindful of being "just a visitor here", how would you live your life differently?
Shabbat Shalom
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