Question:
Why is the Jewish custom to wish "long life" to mourners? After losing someone dear to you, why would you want to live a long life without them? Can the blessing for long life not sometimes be a curse?
Answer:
In the original Hebrew, the blessing is, "May you have long days." Some of us are blessed with long lives, some not. But we can all have long days.
A long day is a day full of meaning, a day spent doing good, spreading happiness and fulfilling a purpose. A day of giving and loving, learning and teaching, building spirits and lifting souls - that is a long day.
Some achieve in a short lifetime what others never get around to doing. The difference is not how you spend your life, but how you spend your day. We don't choose how many days we live, but we can choose how we live our days. The length of our days is not measured in hours on the clock, but in beats of the heart, not in minutes, but in mitzvahs.
When we suffer the loss of a loved one, we become more sharply aware of how precious just one day can be. A wasted day is an eternity lost. And a day well spent can have an eternal impact.
Yes, there's always tomorrow, but there's only one today. And we have many lifetimes, but this one we only live once. Don't wait for tomorrow. Time is short, make today a long day.
Why is the Jewish custom to wish "long life" to mourners? After losing someone dear to you, why would you want to live a long life without them? Can the blessing for long life not sometimes be a curse?
Answer:
In the original Hebrew, the blessing is, "May you have long days." Some of us are blessed with long lives, some not. But we can all have long days.
A long day is a day full of meaning, a day spent doing good, spreading happiness and fulfilling a purpose. A day of giving and loving, learning and teaching, building spirits and lifting souls - that is a long day.
Some achieve in a short lifetime what others never get around to doing. The difference is not how you spend your life, but how you spend your day. We don't choose how many days we live, but we can choose how we live our days. The length of our days is not measured in hours on the clock, but in beats of the heart, not in minutes, but in mitzvahs.
When we suffer the loss of a loved one, we become more sharply aware of how precious just one day can be. A wasted day is an eternity lost. And a day well spent can have an eternal impact.
Yes, there's always tomorrow, but there's only one today. And we have many lifetimes, but this one we only live once. Don't wait for tomorrow. Time is short, make today a long day.