Choosing Life | Rabbi Uren Reich

Rabosai, I'd like to share with you an episode that happened in Lakewood, some 65 years ago. Lakewood, the town, was not the town that it is now. It wasn't bustling with hundreds and thousands of Yidden, Kein Ayin Hara. It was a small, sleepy town and the Yeshiva, which was at that time not even 20 years old, the Yeshiva had maybe 100-150 Lomdim, hardly the Yeshiva of today. And this happened on a Shavuos night, towards the morning, at the end of a long, intense, Seder HaLimud of the whole Olam learning together, בחבורה אחת on Leil Shavuos, in the company of the great Rosh Yeshiva, R’ Aharon zt”l. And expecting to go מחיל אל חיל, from the learning to the Shachris, to the Tefillah of אהבה רבה, the Rosh Yeshiva said a few informal words of Chizuk to the Olam. And he spoke nostalgically about the great Madregos of Torah that the גדולי תורה of the previous generation had come to achieve, be it the Vilna Gaon, be it the Chasam Sofer, be it R’ Yisroel Salanter and R’ Yehoshua Leib Diskin, R’ Chaim Brisker and R’ Meir Simcha. And he emphasized how small and insignificant we seem, when compared to those great giants. And then, to the surprise of all the Talmidim, he gave an urgent clap on his Shtender and he said, But we have an advantage over all of them. The Talmidim were surprised. And then R’ Aharon zt”l said, Because we are still alive. Their great Zchusim, their great Mitzvos they accrued in their lifetime, and those Mitzvos are continuing to make פירות and פירי פירות, but they have no free choice anymore. They have no בחירה. We, who are still alive, have the precious gift of free choice, and Hashem Yisborach tells us with an urgency, Make the right choice. ובחרת בחיים. Every time we have a choice, whether to חלילה look at something improper or to refrain and sacrifice a moment's pleasure for eternal נצחיות, let us remember that it's a privilege to be alive, and it gives us the unique privilege of ובחרת בחיים. Every Vayimaen, every refusal to succumb to the Yetzer Hara, is a true ובחרת בחיים.