Mazal Tov. Yisrael Kristal turned 113 years old yesterday. September 15th marked 100 years since his Bar Mitzvah!
Earlier this year, Guinness world records officially recognized Yisrael Kristal, a holocaust survivor who barely survived Auschwitz, as the oldest man alive.
But Yisrael doesn't make a big deal about his age. He told Guinness “There have been smarter, stronger and better looking men then me who are no longer alive. My longevity is a gift from G-d”. He takes no credit for living so long. But what he does take great pride in, and made a big deal out of in his Guinness interview, is the fact that he has worn Tefillin every day (except Shabat and holidays) for 100 years!
His interview brings to mind the saying “Immortality lies not in how long you live, but in how you live.”
More important than how many years you live, is how you fill those years.
We invest so much time and energy into our health. We exercise, eat healthy and go to doctors hoping to extend our years, but are we investing as much into the content of those years?
The first Chabad Rebbe, Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi, once wished to bless the renowned Chassid Reb Yekusiel Liepler with wealth. Reb Yekusiel declined the offer, saying that he was afraid it would distract him from more spiritual pursuits. The Rebbe then offered to bless him with long life. Yet Reb Yekusiel demurred, and replied, “but not peasant years. Not years of those ‘who have eyes, but do not see; who have ears, but do not hear’ — who neither see nor hear G-dliness.”
As far as he was concerned, the only life worth living was one filled with goodness. It matters not so much how many years one lives, but that one should truly be alive during those years.
Shabbat Shalom
Rabbi Benjy Silverman