Jim Croce sang it best:

If I could save time in a bottle
The first thing that I’d like to do
Is to save every day
Till Eternity passes away
Just to spend them with you

If I could make days last forever
If words could make wishes come true
I’d save every day like a treasure and then,
Again, I would spend them with you

But there never seems to be enough time
To do the things you want to do
Once you find them
I’ve looked around enough to know
That you’re the one I want to go
Through time with

If I had a box just for wishes
And dreams that had never come true
The box would be empty
Except for the memory
Of how they were answered by you
Songwriters: JIM CROCE
Time In A Bottle lyrics © BMG RIGHTS MANAGEMENT US, LLC

What is time?

There are two words (at least) in Hebrew for time: Zeman, Ait. We know them from our prayers. Shehechianu which we will recite later today ends, shehechianu v’kiyimanu, v’higianu lazman hazeh, praising G-d for keeping us alive, for sustaining us and for enabling us to reach this time. Modim anachnu lach, giving thanks to G-d, reminds us to do so, morning, noon and night, at all times. Another prayer hopes that this will be an ait ratzon, an auspicious time.

What do we do with time?

We make time, save time, waste time. We use time…wisely or otherwise. We mark time. We measure time. We treasure time. Turns out there is no easy definition of time, but physicists, and they don’t agree either, think that time has some movement. So a clock ticking (do those digitals ones even do that) is part of the movement of time.

Time is important in Judaism. We sanctify it, consecrate it, make it holy by setting it apart. That’s what kadosh means. To make holy, to set apart.

Shabbat is holy time. One of the things I learned in Guatemala is that the number one verb in American English is to do. What do you do? How do you do? What are you doing now? The list goes on and on. We are often defined by what we do. I am a rabbi. That’s what I do. What do you do? So much of our identity is wrapped up in what we do.

G-d created the world in six days and on the seventh G-d rested. G-d took a breath from all G-d had done. V’yinafash. G-d re-souled. That’s a good thing. A very good thing.

When King Solomon was old, so the story goes, he penned the Book of Ecclesiastes, Kohelet in Hebrew. Part of the wisdom literature, it has much to teach us about time. We know this, partly because we read it on Sukkot to keep our joy in check and partly because of the Byrds song, Turn, Turn, Turn. It uses the Hebrew Ait,

To everything there is a season and a time for every purpose under heaven.

2 A time to be born, and a time to die;
a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;

3 A time to kill, and a time to heal;
a time to break down, and a time to build up;

4 A time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

5 A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

6 A time to seek, and a time to lose;
a time to keep, and a time to cast away;

7 A time to rend, and a time to sew;
a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

8 A time to love, and a time to hate;
a time for war, and a time for peace.

But the very next line, we never really examine:

9 What profit has he that works in that he labors?

10 I have seen the task which God has given to the children of man to be exercised therewith.

What then is the task that G-d has given us? What are we supposed to do (there’s that verb again) with our time? How do we make our time count? If we are lucky enough to have time?

Reb Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof thought he had the answer.

“If I were rich, I’d have the time that I lack to sit in the synagogue and pray.
And maybe have a seat by the Eastern Wall.
And I’d discuss the learned books with the rabbis
Several hours every day.
That would be the sweetest gift of all.”

He is longing for retirement.

Oy—maybe it is a question not of being rich, but of priorities and balance. Earlier this year as part of a Shabbat morning service, I took a vase and filled it with rocks, then pebbles, and then sand, and then water, asking each time if the vase was full. What we choose to put in our own vase is our choice and reflects our values and priorities.

Our tradition has some answers to the question, what do we do with our time. The prophet Micah answering the question what is required of us, said simply, “Do justly, love mercy and walk humbly with G-d.”

The Talmud and the Midrash attempt to answer this question, how do we walk humbly with G-d? How do we spend our time?

“To walk in God’s ways” (Deuteronomy 11:22). These are the ways of the Holy One: “gracious and compassionate, patient, abounding in kindness and faithfulness, assuring love for a thousand generations, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin, and granting pardon.” (Exodus 34:6). This means that just as God is gracious, compassionate, and forgiving, you too must be gracious, compassionate, and forgiving. (Sifre – Devarim, Ekev)

Follow the Lord your God” (Deuteronomy 13:5). What does this mean?…The verse means to teach us that we should follow the attributes of the Holy One…As He clothes the naked, you should clothe the naked. The Bible teaches that the Holy One visited the sick; you should visit the sick. The Holy One comforted those who mourned; you should comfort those who mourn. The Holy One buried the dead; you should bury the dead. (Sotah 14a)

Another version from the Talmud, that works as a checklist has it this way:

These are obligations without measure, whose rewards, too, are without measure:

* to honor father and mother,
* to perform deeds of love and kindness,
* to attend the house of study daily,
* to welcome the stranger,
* to visit the sick,
* to provide for the wedding couple,
* to accompany the dead to burial,
* to pray with sincerity,
* to make peace between two people,
* And the study of Torah leads to them all.
(Pe’ah 1:1)

We’re back to Reb Tevye’s idea. Spending time studying. It leads to them all. Rabbi Evan Moffic at Congregation Solel recently wrote a book about this section of the Talmud which he calls the Happiness Prayer. If we do these things, then we will be happy.

Pirke Avot Chapter 5, another section of the Talmud, tells us at what age, what time specific tasks are begun.

He used to say (Yehuda ben Teima):
Five years for Scripture
Ten for Mishnah
13 for the commandments

15 for Talmud

18 for the chuppah (wedding canopy)

20 for an occupation

30 for full strength

40 for wisdom

50 for counsel

60 for mature age

70 for a hoary head

80 for superadded strength

90 for bending

100 is as if dead, passed away and ceased from the world.

A little bleak perhaps. But we learn that the goal is not being old. It is being wise and able to give counsel.

Rabbi Nachman of Bratzlav said that to become old is a grave sin. Think about that for a moment. What then is the goal?

The goal is to make life ever new. Tzvi Freeman teaches that “’Old’ is something that sits there, looking the same today as yesterday, as it will tomorrow—just a little, well older.” And he reminds us that “old” and “sleeping” are spelled the same way in Hebrew. You get old by sleeping through life. In Hebrew literature you will never find the term old applied to a person, that word is “zaken”. Wine can be old. A house can be old. But not people. Zaken is a contraction for ‘zeh shkanah chochmah, one who has acquired wisdom.”

And here is the tie in with the parsha. Pharaoh didn’t ask Jacob if he was old. He asked, “how many are the days of your life.”

What we are meant to do is collect days. How? Freeman teaches, By starting out each one as a newborn child, full of wonder and awe. Collecting experiences, expecting to be surprised. Willing to try new things. Putting all your strength into pulling yourself forward no matter how little you seem to move. Standing up no matter how many times you’ve fallen. Running ahead no matter how many times you smash into a wall (a good reminder for me the runner!). Laughing at stupid things. Celebrating the small stuff. And yes, smiling at any stranger. Another good list.

Today we celebrate a transition moment. The real retirement of Risa. She will now have the time that she lacked to sit and study. To continue to do the kinds of things she likes to do, to travel, to spend more time playing mah jongg and bunko, more cooking, more time with family. To find that elusive balance.

May we all find a way to live with courage, to number our days, so that we find a heart of wisdom.

Blessing for Risa on her retirement
May the One who blessed our ancestors – Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel, Leah, Zilpa and Bilha; Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob – bless you as you enter into this new chapter in your life.

The world was not formed by a single act. Each and every day God renews the work of creation. May God grant you the strength to constantly renew your own creation.

May you open your heart and mind to continuous growth, unexpected change, and the perpetual unsettling, liberating expansion of being alive.

May you have the courage to name and sanctify this moment of change that is shaping your body and soul in the image of the Divine.

Blessed are You, El Shaddai, our God, the Renewing One of the world, who has kept us alive and sustained us and allowed us to reach this time of transformation. And let us say: Amen!

https://www.ritualwell.org/ritual/blessing-adult-milestones-0

For Risa to say:

As I look back over the years that have gone, I ask to see life as a continuum from youth to age: What lies before me now? I look ahead not knowing what will be given me to see. Sustain me, Adonai, Fountain of Life, with faith that the best is yet to be, for opportunities now await me. There is blessing that only the maturity of age can bring; there is a ripeness that experience alone can yield. May I find the sweetness of that joy that is reserved for those who serve others through the counsel and guidance learned in the school of life. Out of the lessons drawn from disappointment and success alike, may I be able to help them to discover value in life’s struggles, and find joys and triumphs that endure.

Now I have precious time to give to those I love, to family and friends. I pray for insight and a warm heart: let me be with them when they need me, let me respond when they call to me. And let me use my leisure to explore new worlds of thought and feeling, or to rediscover old ones. Now I can study my heritage of Torah, savor the beauties of nature and art, find new meaning and inspiration in the book of life. Let the passage of time continually deepen within me the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of knowledge and reverance for life.

And let me never lose that sense of wonder that stirs within me in the presence of Your creation and that beckons me to greet each day with zest and eager welcome. Thus will my life be renewed and blessed, and thus will I bring blessing to many in the years to come. Amen.

https://reformjudaism.org/practice/prayers-blessings/upon-retirement

And the congregation responded with a resounding Shehechianu.