Writing Your Own Obituary

The obituary column is a fascinating part of the newspaper. On one hand, it is about death and dying: something most people do not feel comfortable with. It reminds us of the inevitable. On the other hand, one can glean fascinating insights into who these ordinary people were, what they did, but most importantly what they lived through. It is always a gem to find someone who passed away in their 90s or even 100s and be like "Wow. This is what they saw/heard in their lifetimes." The post this week is inspired by the Jewish holiday of Simchat Torah (The Celebration of Torah): in which we finish the Torah (which takes 1 year to finish, by each week) and start again. The end of the Torah is Moses's death. A very tragic time for the Jewish people, as he was their leader. But the last 8 verses are his obituary.

"So Moses the servant of the LORD died there, in the land of Moab, at the command of the LORD. He buried him in the valley in the land of Moab, near Beth-Peor; and no one knows his burial place to this day. Moses was a hundred and twenty years old when he died; his eyes were undimmed and his vigor unabated. And the Israelites bewailed Moses in the steppes of Moab for thirty days. The period of wailing and mourning for Moses came to an end. Now Joshua son of Nun was filled with the spirit of wisdom because Moses had laid his hands upon him; and the Israelites heeded him, doing as the LORD had commanded Moses. Never again did there arise in Israel a prophet like Moses—whom the LORD singled out, face to face, for the various signs and portents that the LORD sent him to display in the land of Egypt, against Pharaoh and all his courtiers and his whole country, and for all the great might and awesome power that Moses displayed before all Israel." (Deuteronomy 34:5-12)

What a powerful obituary it is at that.

The Rabbis in the Talmud disagree as to whether or not he wrote those lines himself, or if Joshua, his successor wrote them after he passed. I believe that Moses wrote them himself, and this week's blog will be focused on what that could mean for us as people and as historians today.

When something happens in the world, we are all affected by it, whether by proxy or proximity. It is common practice for us to wonder why things happen to us, but I believe that we should also be asking, how do we react to what happens. Our reactions to events, whether tragic or happy, is what defines us. We work to shape our lives based on these events. Our greatest strength is ourselves. Moses saw the Israelites struggling and worked to set them free (with Gd's help). He showed signs and performed miracles for the people. He reacted to the enslavement, and struggles of his people in a strong, and inspiring way.

Winston Churchill once said, "History will be kind to me, for I intend to write it."

An obituary is a column of text that could easily describe where we lived, who we were related to, and how old we were when we died. Or we could work to ensure that our obituaries are full of stories that we wrote for ourselves. Hopefully our histories are ones that are kind to us because we made something of our lives.