Echoes of Elul, Day 3: A Zeydeh’s Wisdom

By Hal Bogin

As I was preparing for my Bar Mitzvah, trying to cope with words from the Torah that I really didn’t understand, my Zaydeh entered the room and uttered words of wisdom I have never forgotten.

He told me that when I was born, G-d created a time account in my name. The account would be credited with an unknowable number of days and would be governed by an immutable set of rules:

1. A day would be subtracted from the account every sunset.
2. I would never know what the remaining balance was.
3. I could never make a deposit to the account.

This, I understood.

I have lived my life ever conscious of the wisdom my Zaydeh bestowed on me. It colored everything I tried to accomplish. May he rest in eternal peace!