"He sustains the living with kindness, and revives the dead with abundant mercy."

Rabbi Moses Chaim Rosenbaum, one of the leading disciples of the renowned Chasam Sofer, writes that someone who has no conception of the infinite will fill the days of his life with frivolous pleasures, and will never produce anything of substance. One who sees today as a fleeting entity, destined to pass away and never to return, will surely live it by the motto, "Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we may die."

Only if we have a vision of posterity will we have the drive to produce something enduring; something of true value.

And in fact, the Jew possesses an element of the infinite. He is assured by Hashem that though he will depart from this world, nevertheless in time to come Hashem will bring all the righteous back to life, and there they will be priviliged participants in the lasting and enduring universe of the future.

This is the meaning of the prayer here. "Hashem sustains the living in kindness"--but this alone is not necessarily a blessing in itself. For if one sees his life as a fleeting thing, soon to vanish into nothingness, he will misuse those gifts that are given to him, and will merely indulge in the meaningless pleasures of the here and now. And so the prayer continues, "and he revives the dead with abundant mercy." It is this second thought which gives meaning and permanence to the life of the Jew.

And so we dedicate ourselves, then, to finding that path that will enable us to leave behind a world that has been enriched by a life devoted to meaningful activity.

Copyright (c) 1997 by Rabbi Levi Langer

Courtesy of www.JewishAmerica.com