Living Our Best Lives

September 2024

By Rabbi Chanoch Oppenheim

Whether it’s carpool or canasta, we’re slowly getting back to our routines after a (hopefully) restful summer. Although 2025 is about four months away, we are less than a month away from 5785, the Jewish New Year. This month, the month before Rosh HaShanah, is called Elul, the month connecting the past and present year with the future. It’s traditionally a time of introspection; am I satisfied in my relationships, self-care, charity, support of Israel, and Jewish community engagement? In short, am I happy with my life? If so, how can I make it better. If not, what can I do to change things so that I’ll be in a better place next year?

One of the main themes of the High Holidays is life. We pray not only for life, but we pray for chayim tovim, a good life — a life of health and prosperity. This year, for Jews around the world, life takes on new significance because after October 7, we no longer take life for granted. As a result of the tragic events that day, many Jews have begun searching and questioning what it means to be Jewish and why we are hated. There’s no way a short article can address those important questions but concerning life, we all agree that we want as much of it as possible. Let’s look at the word chayim (life) and see what it teaches us about ourselves. Many words in Hebrew are not simply words, they are concepts, and chayim is one of them.

The first thing to note is that chayim is always plural. On Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur, we ask for chayim tovim (good lives), not chayim tov (good life). The significance of the word chayim never being singular is reflected in the knowledge that each of us has many lives. Here are five suggestions for discovering and embracing your numerous lives:

1. Chayim is plural because no one has a single role in life. You might be a father or mother, but you’re also an accountant, doctor, lawyer, or some other vocation that is an integral part of your life. You aren’t defined solely by your profession, nor are you defined solely by being a parent. In addition, you might be involved in communal projects, support of Israel, and many other endeavors. No one has just one life; we all have many lives.

2. Chayim is not singular because our lives are shaped by our ancestors. We connect to them and elevate their souls when we live our lives in the right way.

4. G-d’s name is sometimes written with two yuds (the tenth letter of the Hebrew alphabet). The Hebrew spelling of chayim (םייח) has two yuds in the middle, signifying that we bring G-d to dwell within our lives.

4. G-d’s name is sometimes written with two yuds (the tenth letter of the Hebrew alphabet). The Hebrew spelling of chayim (םייח) has two yuds in the middle, signifying that we bring G-d to dwell within our lives.

5. The two yuds in chayim (םייח) symbolize two keys to life: not staying stationary but instead going from strength to strength and recreating our lives in an upward direction, and pivoting our lives to get back onto a productive footing when we have erred and need to do teshuvah (repentance). Autopilot — continuing down a single path — is not how we’re supposed to live. Instead, we should keep recreating ourselves to get stronger.

As the summer comes to a close, it’s a good time to reflect on life, the many lives you lead, and the people who come into and go out from those lives.