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Friday September 7, 2001

Time may be transcendent, but use the present wisely

Rabbi Stephen Pearce

Ki Tavo

Deuteronomy 26:1-29:8

Isaiah 60

Upon the death of Yitzhak Yaakov, the Seer of Lublin, his worldly goods were divided among his disciples. One follower had not asked for anything but was given the rabbi's clock. Because he did not understand the value of the great sage's possessions, he immediately offered the clock in payment for his meal and lodging at an inn. The innkeeper set the clock in one of the rooms.

Some time later, another disciple of Yitzhak Yaakov stayed at the same inn. He had great difficulty sleeping and spent the night pacing back and forth. The next morning, he asked the innkeeper how he had acquired the clock in his room. He said that he had accepted it in payment for lodging and food from a traveler. The follower told the innkeeper that the clock had belonged to the seer and it was a holy clock. "All other clocks mark time from the past, from where we have come from; but this clock ticks toward the future, toward redemption. Thus, every time I tried to sleep, the clock reminded me how much more there is to do before redemption arrives."

So much to do and so little time is the mantra of our age. Try as we may, we are unable to stuff enough activities into the daily twenty-four hours that are allotted to us before a new day arises and it is time to start all over again.

Rabbi Milton Steinberg's metaphor warns people to utilize time in the most efficient way:

"Each of us has a bank account. Its name is time. Every morning, it credits us with 86,400 seconds of life. Every night, it writes off, as forever lost, whatever of this amount you have failed to invest for good purpose. It carries over no balance. It allows no overdraft. Each day, it opens a new account for you. Each night, it cancels the remains of the day. If you fail to use the day's deposits, the loss is yours. There is no going back. There is no drawing against tomorrow. You must live in the present on today's deposit. Invest it so as to get from it the utmost in health, happiness, and success. The clock is ticking. Make the most of today."

Ki Tavo, the Torah portion for this week, notes that time is a precious commodity, "And now, behold, I have brought the first of the fruit of the land, which You, O Lord have given me" (Deuteronomy 26:10). The rabbis construed the words "and now" to mean immediacy, promptness in the fulfillment of a divine command because to them, wasted time suggested the Hebrew phrase, bitul Torah, annulling of Torah by time that could otherwise be devoted to consecrated work.

Judaism teaches that the correct use of time is the sacred path to a fulfilled life, while squandering time results in a wasted life because time moves with alacrity as the psalmist notes, "A thousand years in Your sight are but as yesterday that has past, as a watch in the night" (Psalm 90:4).

Judaism measures time in a unique fashion. Each week of the year is named for a different portion of the Torah. But measuring time by the Torah is only one of several ways that Jews sanctify time. While other peoples sanctified space or a human being, Jews segregated time, one-seventh of the week, sanctifying it as a time for rest and introspection.

Jews also believe that time is transcendent because all Jews, past, present, and future are considered to have been at Mount Sinai: "I make this covenant, with its sanctions, not with you alone, but both with God and with those who are not with us here this day" (Deut. 29:13).

The Ba'al Shem Tov, the founder of Chassidism, once noted that "memory is the secret of redemption." The Jewish view of memory is also unique. Jews observe yahrzeits to remember those who continue to be precious even though they are no longer here. By remembering the lives of those who preceded us, we redeem their lives from oblivion.

Covenant is another part of Jews' unique view of time. Jews believe that they are God's chosen people because they have agreed to be God's partners in work that is never complete. Because God's creation is continuous, we who are God's partners and are created in God's image are also never done with the sacred work of tikkun olam -- the repair of a broken world. Thus, it is no surprise to read in Pirke Avot: "It is not incumbent upon us to complete the work, but neither are we free to desist from it" (Avot 2.21).

A pithy aphorism admonishes us to consider the fleeting value of time and to use our daily deposits of 86,400 seconds with care: "Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a gift. That is why it is called the present!"

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