Choose Life

I always loved my birthday. It is the happiest day of the year, the day when I celebrate my life. It may seem very egocentric, and completely unacceptable in most of the higher educated circles. However, it is a very Jewish thing to do.

There is a saying attributed to the very famous Chasidic leader, Rav Nachman of Breslav, that says: “The day you were born was the day God decided the universe could no longer exist without you”. I didn’t know this saying until recently, when a friend, who is a rabbi, sent it to me as a birthday card through WhatsApp. I immediately decided that now I had a good Jewish source for my absurdly celebratory mood during my birthday.

However, this oral tradition doesn’t find support in any written source. And now, after almost three years studying at Leo Baeck College, I would be tainting the College reputation and offending my dear teachers if I continued to repeat something without a correct source. It is a good saying, though, so I decided to research its origins.

As per my research, the rabbinic source for this saying can be found in a beautiful midrash – a rabbinic tale – found in the end of Mishnah Sanhedrin 4:5. The rabbis tell that one of the greatness of the Holy One (God) can be proven by the fact that, when a human stamps several coins with one seal, they are all similar to each other. However, God stamped every human being with the seal of Adam haRishon – the first human being – as all peoples are their descendent. However, not one of them is similar to another. Therefore, each and every person is obligated to say: “The world was created for me”.

Logic may be questioned when the source for one person being created because the world could not exist without them is the world was created for me. And suddenly it seems even more egocentric than my saying that my birthday is a worldwide holiday. However, it is the greatest responsibility of all.

The sages explain that, because the world is created for each and every person, each human being is the whole world, and killing one person is the same as destroying the world. A lesson that we have been hearing a lot during these days of war and repeating it without giving second thoughts to its words. It is easy to understand the seriousness of ending someone else’s life. However, it is difficult to apply the same lesson to the lives that we live. By not living our lives in their full possibilities we are also destroying the world.

This is an idea that finds resonance in the story of Rabbi Suszia, one of my most loved ones. It is said that when rabbi Suszia was dying, his disciples found him crying in deep suffering. When they asked him why he was so desperate, rabbi Suszia answered: I don’t fear being asked why I wasn’t like Avraham Avinu, or why I wasn’t like Moshe Rabeinu. However, when I arrive before the heavenly court, I fear being asked why I wasn’t Suszia!

As a rabbinic student I have been living very strange days. These last two weeks I was asked to officiate funerals, cremations, and shiva prayers. Very busy weeks. I find it the highest honour of this job that I chose – being able to help families during their most difficult times. Hearing the stories of their lives with their loved ones, the different aspects of these people’s lives. Learning with their stories. The blessing of the many families that I have accompanied in these weeks, was that their loved ones lived full lives, full of histories and lessons that will certainly keep their memories alive. And this is the most important lesson that we have to bring to our own lives.

There are so many stones in our way, so many challenges in our lives. I heard stories about people who survived the war, who lost families, who built their lives from zero. People who dedicated their lives for their children, who danced, who told jokes, who cooked for friends. They lived their lives, no matter what.

On the other hand, last Monday we remembered 80 years of the liberation of Auschwitz, with ceremonies that were held in Poland, and around the world. King Charles went to the official ceremony at Aushwitz, marking the first time that a British monarch visited the site.

And that is also the lesson that we have to learn from the liberation of the b’nei Israel from Egypt, that we read in this week’s Parashat Bo. We have to remember that we were slaves, but we were set free so that we could live our lives completely. We were captives, but now, as a free people, we remember that we have the obligation to be who we are supposed to be. That the world was created for each human being, including ourselves, and not living our lives when it is possible, celebrating and being able to recognise our blessings is likened to destroying the whole world.

Later in Torah, in Deuteronomy 30:19, we are commanded to choose life. And on Monday, when I celebrate my birthday, I will do as I am commanded. I will choose life, blessings, celebrations. I will have in my mind that I can make the world a better place, because God gave me blessings and curses, and created the whole world for me, to be free, to be the very best version of myself. That is my responsibility. That is each and everyone’s responsibility.

So, this year, on your birthday, celebrate your choices. Choose life, the world is yours too.

Shabbat Shalom!