Shabbat Table Talk from the desk of Rabbi Alexander Seinfeld
Aug 14-15, 2026 • 2 Elul 5786 • Shoftim (Deut 16-21)
Countdown to Rosh Hashana is live on www.jsli.org.
We hear this every year, don't we?
"What if you knew you only had one year to live, how would you live it?"
I'd like to suggest a longer time frame. Let's make it 25 years.
If you knew you had only one year, you might not try to do very much. You would have a bunch of adventures on your bucket list, like skydiving and whatnot. Maybe you'd spend a lot more time with family and friends. These might be very good things to do, and maybe that's the point. Or you might become a workaholic, trying to cram too much into that short time. Might that be a good way to live your last year?
"What if you knew you only had one year to live, how would you live it?"
I'd like to suggest a longer time frame. Let's make it 25 years.
If you knew you had only one year, you might not try to do very much. You would have a bunch of adventures on your bucket list, like skydiving and whatnot. Maybe you'd spend a lot more time with family and friends. These might be very good things to do, and maybe that's the point. Or you might become a workaholic, trying to cram too much into that short time. Might that be a good way to live your last year?
A friend of mine just had a malignant tumor removed from his brain. It was the worst kind, that has a very poor prognosis, like maybe 3-5 years if he's lucky. Yet with ongoing treatment, including hopefully participating in one or more clinical trials, he may get another 25 years or even more. It is not impossible.
And yet the surgery was so painful that he said to me, "If you had a choice between what I went through or having a freight train hit you at 300 miles per hour, take the freight train."
We just began the month of Elul and the four-week countdown to Rosh Hashana. Now we start to think about the new year and how we want to live it. Should my friend limit his dreaming and planning to one year—a la typical Rosh Hashana—or would he be be better off on the twenty-five-year plan?
And yet the surgery was so painful that he said to me, "If you had a choice between what I went through or having a freight train hit you at 300 miles per hour, take the freight train."
We just began the month of Elul and the four-week countdown to Rosh Hashana. Now we start to think about the new year and how we want to live it. Should my friend limit his dreaming and planning to one year—a la typical Rosh Hashana—or would he be be better off on the twenty-five-year plan?
May he—and you—be inscribed and sealed in the Book of Life.
Chodesh tov and
Shabbat Shalom
