I’m still celebrating my birthday … my Hebrew birthday! I was born in a leap year in the Hebrew calendar, which is an extremely complicated combined lunar and solar calendar. This means that in every cycle of 19 years, 7 of them have an extra month intercalated, to keep all the holidays in their right seasons. This year is also a leap year, so I got to have my real Hebrew birthday earlier this week. Isn’t time fun??
Talking about time … a couple of weeks ago my kid pointed out to me a cartoon in the Saturday Winnipeg Free Press – Foxtrot, to be precise. In it, the 16 year old Peter is excited that a new version of the violent video game Grand Theft Auto (GTA) is about to come out. His little brother, Jason, points out that their mother won’t let him play it. That’s OK, replies Peter – when the game comes out next year, I’ll be old enough that I can buy it without permission!
Here comes the fun part. Jason says that they had this exact conversation when GTA first came out. Impossible, Peter counters – that was 10 years ago. Both of them suddenly realise that time in their world does not move – Peter is forever 16, and will never be old enough to play GTA. Jason, ever philosophical, remarks that it is better not to think about it. Peter covers his face and moans that that is why he has always had trouble with physics. A clever little breaking of the fourth wall.
So why am I telling you about this? Because we, unlike the characters in Foxtrot, have an expiry date – and it’s important not to live as if time stands still for us as well. If there are things in your life that you have always wanted to do, and suddenly you are in your sixties and you aren’t sure how that happened, it might be a good idea to reflect on that. Birthdays are a particularly auspicious time to pause and consider the time that has passed, the time we have ahead of us (considerably less when you are my age), and what we want to do with that time.
For me, that reflection has meant that last May, I enrolled in rabbinical school. I have always wanted to be a rabbi, which probably won’t surprise those of you who know me in person. There were always excellent reasons not to take this step – kids, not wanting to move, etc. The pandemic gifted me the opportunity to take remote classes from a school based in New York City, which I am enjoying very much. Ordination is probably at least five years away, and who knows where life will take me after that. But at least I will know I gave it a try.
What have you always wanted to do? Maybe it’s time to do it! As Hillel the Elder said, if not now, when?
