Aggadot from Hamivtar

by
Rabbi Yitzchak Blau

Prolonging Life, Shortening Life and The Well Balanced Life

Rav Yehudah said: Three things prolong a person’s days and years: One who extends his prayers, one who extends his table and one who extends his time in the lavatory.

Rav Yehudah said that thee things shorten a person’s days and years: One who is given a Torah scroll to read and does not read, one who is given a cup of benediction to bless with and does not recite the blessing and one who assumes authority. (Berakhot 54b-55a)

The talmudic explanation for the first list is straightforward. The first item refers to one who prays with great devotion. The second refers to someone who eats a lengthy meal in order that he can give more time for poor guests to arrive Both these people engage in religiously meritorious behavior and deserve reward. The third item regarding the fellow patient in the bathroom presumably refers to a health issue and not to reward for mizvah performance. If so, the second list’s structure reflects the mirror image of the first. Those who refuse the Torah scroll or the cup of benediction refuse mizvot. The one who assumes the mantle of leadership does not sin but does take on work that can shorten a life in a naturalistic way. Both lists include two items of Divine reward and punishment and one item of naturalistic impact on a lifespan.

Rav Kook’s Ein Ayah locates deeper significance in these two statements of Rav Yehudah. He suggests that the items on the first list compliment each other and warn of the danger that a single positive ideal might crowd out other important ideals. A person who prays with great devotion runs the risk of focusing all his energies on achieving closeness to Hashem and forgetting about the needs of the poverty stricken. Thus, Rav Yehudah supplements the long prayer with the long table that helps the poor. Another person might be so dedicated to mizvot, both of the bein addam la’makom and bein adam le’havero variety, that he forgets to care for his basic physical needs. Thus, the first two items need to be complimented by the extended stay in the bathroom insuring basic physical maintenance.

According to Rav Kook, R. Yehudah’s second list portrays the opposite of the former list. The person who turns down the Torah will not achieve the knowledge necessary for the extended prayer. As an aside, it is striking to note how Rav Kook clearly assumes that true devotion in prayer cannot emerge out of ignorance but only out of serious learning and deep understanding. The person who turns down the cup of benediction, usually drunk at public festive celebrations, resents having to share his meal with others. Such a person diametrically opposes the extended table. Finally, the person tempted by public office is often a visionary motivated to change the world. That type of person is subject to the temptation to forget about more basic responsibilities such as the extended time in the lavatory.

In the continuation of that gemara, the gemara cites a specific example of a shortened life due to the onus of leadership. Yosef passes away before his brethren because he assumed a significant position in the Egyptian government. We have already mentioned a naturalistic account of the impact of assuming leadership. Rav Kook, on the other hand, reads it in light of the religious framework mentioned above. Yosef was indeed a visionary aiming at realizing his youthful dreams. His chasing after that lofty ideal may have led him to forget about some more basic responsibilities to his father (some rishonim suggest that Yosef never contacted Yaakov from Egypt because he was trying to enable his dreams to come true) For this reason, he did not share the longevity of his brethren.

Many people need no reminder to take care of physical needs or to feel responsible for basic ethical requirements. Such people require exhortation to strive for clinging to Divinity or for realizing a grand vision. Yet precisely those people who do hear the call of greatness and feel charged to change a world need a reminder that basic responsibilities cannot be ignored.