You Don’t Need to Know How the Book Ends Shoftim Elul Birthdays

 You Don’t Need to Know How the Book Ends — A Birthday, RoshHodesh Elul & Parashat Shoftim  Yesterdaywas my secular birthday. Today is my Hebrew birthday. And tonight is RoshHodesh Elul. In this morning’s Breakfast & a Class,we used that unusual convergence to ask a question that becomes more meaningfulwith every passing year: What are we supposed to do with the time HaShem givesus? We remembered my dear friend David Golden, who passed away last year theday after his 110th birthday, and the remarkable way he continued to appreciateevery additional day of life. Hazal teach that there is something special aboutthe day of one’s birth—but perhaps the real question is not what blessing can Ireceive today, but what am I supposed to do with another year that HaShem hasgiven me?  Fromthere, this morning’s Breakfast & a Classturned to an extraordinary cassette tape I received when I was eighteen—anastrological reading of my future that I refused to listen to until decadeslater, when Rabbi Abittan, z”l, suggested we hear it together. Its astonishingaccuracy led to an unforgettable lesson from the Rabbi and directly into thisweek’s Parashat Shoftim: תָּמִים תִּהְיֶה עִם ה׳ אֱלֹקֶיךָ — walk wholeheartedly withHaShem. Elul asks us tolook honestly at yesterday, but the Torah warns us not to become obsessed withknowing tomorrow. We don’t need to know how the book ends. We need the wisdomto learn from the pages already written, the faith to leave the unopened pageswith HaShem, and the strength to make today’s page worth reading.