The Ages of the Sages

These are the words that Moshe spoke to all Yisrael… (Devarim 1:1)

ON

March 27, 2012, at the Queen’s diamond jubilee, a number of dignitaries presented Loyal Addresses to Her Majesty. The president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews wished the queen, “until a hundred and twenty.”

Neither the queen nor the prince had heard the expression before. A hundred and twenty is stated (Bereishis 6:3) as the outer limit of a normal human lifetime.  This number is especially associated with Moshe, whom together with Avraham Avinu, is a model of how to age well.

With the growth of human longevity, this has become a significant and challenging issue for our generation.  How do you grow old yet stay young? (Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, Covenant & Conversation).

There’s no time like a birthday to give thanks for the past and present, and tefillos for the future.

For my birthday a few weeks ago, Yitzi presented me with a beautiful gift. With the help of his sisters, he’d printed hundreds of pictures that were just sitting on my computer and arranged them beautifully in two loaded albums.

As I paged through the photos, I was swamped with emotions. I looked over at Yitzi, perched on the arm of the chair next to me, and marveled at the amount of time and effort he’d put into this gift.

Yitzi had made sure each child in the family shared equal time in the albums, and as I came to pictures of his bris, vivid memories flooded my mind.