Life in This World: A Gift More Precious Than Gold

What Have You Lost, Human?!

Rabbi Naftali of Ropshitz, while dancing with his Chassidim, would sing: "Man's origin is dust and his end is dust". They asked him in astonishment: "How does this bring joy? If his beginning is dust and his end is dust - how can one rejoice and dance?! Couldn't we find a more suitable song for dancing and rejoicing?!"... He replied: "If man were made of gold and ended as dust, there would be reason to grieve, but now, when his origin is dust, and his end is dust, and meanwhile we pray a little, study a chapter of Mishnah, a page of Gemara, drink a little whiskey and dance a little - is there not reason to rejoice?! What have you lost, human formed from clay?!"...

The Gaon Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv writes in a letter of condolence to the family of a young Torah scholar who passed away in his prime:

Regarding the question I was asked, why did Hashem do this, to this question I obviously cannot answer. Hashem's ways are hidden and wondrous, and the Rock, His work is perfect. Nevertheless, I want to mention here what is written in the holy Zohar, Parshat Vayishlach:

"Rabbi Shimon said, it has been explained that King David, before he was born, had no life allocated to him at all. But Adam, the first man, gave him seventy years from his own life, and thus King David's existence was seventy years. And the life of the first man was meant to be one thousand years minus seventy. Thus, in those first thousand years were included Adam and King David". This means that King David was born without years, meaning he was supposed to be a miscarriage, but Adam was the one who granted him seventy years from the thousand years that were allotted to him, and therefore Adam lived nine hundred and thirty years.

It follows that sometimes a person lives on earth, not knowing that perhaps all his days and years that he lives were given to him as a gift and through grace, and therefore one should thank Hashem for this precious gift that was given, and for meriting the crown of Torah and the crown of a good name, and for leaving righteous offspring, a blessed upright generation.

King Solomon says: "A good name is better than fine oil, and the day of death than the day of birth" (Ecclesiastes 7:1)

Why is the day of one's death greater than the day of one's birth? Because on the day one is born, no one knows what his deeds will be, but when he dies, his deeds become known to all. Rabbi Levi said (Exodus Rabbah 45): A parable about two ships, one leaving the port and one entering. Everyone was happy with the one leaving and waved to it. For the one entering, not everyone was happy. There was a wise man who said, "I see things differently! The ship leaving port - everyone should not rejoice for it, since they don't know what conditions it will face, what seas it will encounter, and what winds it will meet. And the ship entering port - everyone should rejoice, because they know it has entered safely and departed safely from the sea". Similarly, when a person is born everyone rejoices, and when a person passes away everyone is sad. But in truth, when a person is born - we don't know what his deeds will be and how he will act in his life, whereas when a person passes away - we see what his deeds were, and can rejoice when he acted properly in his life.

And Rashi adds examples of this: When Miriam was born - not everyone knew who she was. When she died - the well disappeared [and thus everyone saw that the well existed in her merit]. The same with Aaron, when he passed away the pillar of cloud departed, and similarly with Moses, when he died the manna stopped falling.