Jewish Life Digital Edition January 2014 | Page 30

SERIES

THINGS I LEARNED…
WHILE TEACHING EVERYONE ELSE
BY RABBI YOSSY GOLDMAN

“WHAT A MAN! HE
RETIRED AT 40!”
AND THEN?
CAN YOU REALLY SPEND YOUR WHOLE LIFE PLAYING
golf and going fishing? Now before some
of my good friends answer that question
with a resounding ‘yes’, please hear me
out. We are not cows or hippos happy to
graze all day and all our lives. The human
psyche is such that we need to feel productive and useful. We need to feel that our
lives are purposeful and meaningful. And
that means we need to keep busy. Sure you
can retire. You don’t have to be married to
your business ‘till death do you part’. But
you also have to find something meaningful to be occupied with after your retirement, even if it is ‘only’ family.
According to the Book of Job (Iyov 5,
7): “Man is born to toil.” Does this mean
that G-d wants us to have a hard life? G-d
forbid. It means that in the vast eternal
plan of creation, human beings are meant
to be active and productive. How and
where we direct our efforts is entirely our
choice, but productive we must be. Otherwise, sooner or later, we will feel a debilitating sense of emptiness in our lives.
I remember back in 1972, on the occasion of his 70th birthday, my saintly
mentor and teacher, the Lubavitcher
Rebbe of righteous memory, addressed
thousands of his followers. He announced that people were now telling
him to slow down, to take it easy, maybe
have a holiday (the Rebbe never took a
day off in his life!) and basically step back
a bit as he had now reached ‘three score
and ten’. His response? No way! In fact,
he called for the establishment that year
of at least 71 new institutions. He wanted to make sure no one thought he was
planning on slowing down. And it wasn’t

26 JEWISH LIFE

ISSUE 69

NO TZORRES, SURE,
BUT TO SETTLE, TO RELAX
AND TO STOP BEING
ACTIVE, DYNAMIC,
CREATIVE AND
INDUSTRIOUS, WAS
UNDESIRABLE AND
COUNTERPRODUCTIVE.
because he was a workaholic, but because
he believed passionately that this was Gd’s plan for all of us, and that in following
that path, we find our own personal happiness and ultimate fulfilment.
Rabbi David Hollander olov hasholom
was a regular visitor to South Africa over
many years. He was one of the USA’s leading rabbis, serving as president of the
Rabbinical Council of America. Both Rabbi Tanzer and I consider him a friend and

mentor. I learned a great deal from him
when I was embarking on the path of congregational rabbinics. While he was a
graduate of Yeshiva University, in mid-life
he became an ardent admirer of the Rebbe. In his later years, when he was ready
to retire, he went to the Rebbe to ask for
his consent and blessing. The Rebbe
would hear nothing of it. “The rabbinate
for life!” he insisted. Rabbi Hollander
would later quip, “I got a life sentence!”
Our father and patriarch Jacob had a
difficult life. He experienced one set of
tzorres after another – Esau threatening
to kill him, Laban cheating him repeatedly, and then his daughter Dinah being abducted and abused. Finally, when he returns to his homeland, we read (Genesis
37) ‘Vayeshev Yaakov’, that Jacob ‘settled
down’. All he wanted was a little peace
and quiet in his life. He hungered for
some serenity and tranquillity. So what
happens? His beloved Joseph goes missing and is presumed dead. And Rashi,
quoting the Midrash, writes that Hashem
said, “Is it not enough for the righteous
that they will enjoy the World to Come?
They wish to enjoy this world as well?”