With cell phone in pocket or purse, we are all photographers
these days. It’s so easy. Film has gone the way of the typewriter, and everything
is digital. No need to load the camera; no need to turn the film to the next
frame. The pace of life is fast, and it can be captured at an equally fast pace
in pictures that preserve our most precious memories.
There are cameras on our doors, too,
and on our PCs and laptops, in the streets, and in all kinds of buildings. The
cameras keep clicking, covertly capturing our activities, and we do not always
get to smile.
Yet, aside from the cameras we
hold in our hands or mount on poles, there is another kind of camera. In these
days of the Yomim Nora’im, our attention is drawn to Life’s camera, which is
clicking away, recording our lives constantly, not omitting a single detail. An
album is being created; a “reality show” is being recorded. They will reveal
the way we actually lived our lives – when we are not posing.
Are we taking the right pictures
and striving for picture-perfect so that the end result will deserve the title
“A Life of Kiddush Hashem”?
Focus the Lens
In photography, the lens is
vitally important. The way we see things, the way we
do things, should always be through the lens of Torah perspectives. To get our lives in focus, we need to fine-tune the lens to focus in on Hakadosh Baruch Hu’s will. We need
to ask ourselves, will Hashem be pleased with this picture we are about to
take? Only then do we snap the “photo,” ensuring a beautiful picture.
Common
sense is another important lens to always keep on our camera. And sometimes a wide-angle
lens is extremely important to give us the tolerance to include everyone in the
picture.
Steady Does It
When
taking pictures, we need to keep the camera steady. May I suggest a tripod? To
keep our lives on steady keel, we depend on the three legs of the tripod:
·
Home: Children
learn menshlichkeit and shalom bayis by seeing a warm home of
love and kibbud av va’eim (respect for parents).
·
Mosdos (institutions):
Our schools and yeshivos transmit chinuch
(education) and Torah study, and teach us the proper hashkafa (religious outlook).
·
Kehilla (community): Shuls,
rabbanim, and a community of friends and neighbors are vital.
The tripod needs a solid floor to
rest on. That is our Avos (Patriarchs)
and heritage. We build on the solid foundation our parents and grandparents
transmitted to us. A ger or baal teshuva, too, can honor their
parents, who certainly did something very right in raising their children; they
deserve respect and proper hakaras hatov (appreciation).
A Flash in the Dark
If it is
too dark, we may require a flash to brighten the subject and get a clear picture.
We, too, are enlightened by the flashes of insight and experience from our
elders when we seek their advice. Sometimes, we need a stepladder to get just the
right angle. That is our rabbanim and mentors, who provide us with daas Torah and guide us in the Torah derech.
Framing
A beautiful picture takes a beautiful frame.
Hashem sees the beauty and truth of our picture –no frame needed. But here in
this world, the presentation is important. We have to frame all of our actions –
kindness, humility, generosity, chesed,
friendliness, and love – in the frame of kiddush
Hashem, so that we bring honor to Hashem, His Torah, and the Jewish people.
* * *
After 120 years, the album is complete; the
video is over. One copy we leave here on earth as our legacy, and one copy we
take to Shamayim, where the pictures
and videos of our life go to the Big Screen. It is they that will determine our
reward. They are the key to Olam Haba.
I once saw a clever sign:
Life
is like a camera.
Focus
on what is important.
Capture
the good times.
Develop
from the negatives.
And
when things don’t go right,
Take
another shot!
Wishing everyone a gmar chasima tova!
Eli W. Schlossberg is a businessman, trustee of Ahavas
Yisrael, and the author of My Shtetl
Baltimore.
