Now, Choose Life!
You have seen the witnesses, the Talmud, Vayikra 12, the two trees, the paradox, attachment, letting go: you can no longer say “I didn't know”.
Devarim 30:15: “See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil.” Hayom: not tomorrow.
Two paths: “I want to live here” or “I know that I die here.”
Every day, every moment is a choice between life and death. Choose life!
You have seen the 50 million witnesses. You have read the Talmud in Berakhot saying that the living know that they die. You have discovered Vayikra 12, where Rashi calls the womb “the tomb.” You have understood the secret of the letters: אמת = אם + מת (mother + dead = truth).
You know the two trees: life versus death. You know the paradox ✡: how to obtain the infinite within the finite. You understand the attachment that kills, you have learned to let go of death, and you know what truly belongs to you: knowledge and actions.
Before this course, you could say: “I didn't know. No one ever told me. How could I have known?”
“See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil.” (Devarim 30:15)
הַיּוֹם (hayom) = today. Not tomorrow, not in a month, not “one day.” Today.
“You shall choose life, so that you and your descendants may live.” (Devarim 30:19)
Path 1: “I want to live here.” I attach myself to this world, I want to possess everything here, I think that “succeeding” = being successful in this world, I cling to my possessions, my status, my appearance. I choose the Tree of Knowledge: I choose death.
The result, according to the course: when I die physically, I will be alive (Olam HaEmet), but I will suffer like the innkeeper, I will ask “Where is my empire?”, I will feel the worms. I will be alive but a prisoner of my attachment to death.
Path 2: “I know that I die here.” I understand that this world is a temporary death, I do not attach myself to fleeting things, I fill my “shopping cart” with life (Torah, mitzvot, good deeds), I quickly let go of what does not truly belong to me, I build in the spiritual. I choose the Tree of Life: I choose life.
The result: when I die physically, I will be alive (Olam HaEmet) and I will be able to fully enjoy that life, free and not a prisoner of attachments, and what I acquired here will accompany me there.
According to the course, this is not a philosophical question: it is not a nice idea to meditate on, nor an interesting intellectual concept. It is your life, it is your eternity, it is your choice.
When you get up in the morning: you choose. When you are angry at someone: you choose. When you want to buy something: you choose. When someone betrays you: you choose. When you study or not: you choose. When you give or take: you choose.
Rav Haim Ziegler zatsal and Rav David Menashe zatsal spent their lives awakening the people of Israel. They said: “The exile is over. We are going home.” They taught: “2000 years of exile made us forget who we are.”
They departed to the Beit HaHaim (the House of the Living). They stopped dying, they returned to life. But their teaching remains: their voices still resonate, their flame still burns, through you, through this course, through your choice.
“See, I have set before you today life and death. The choice is in your hands.”
לעילוי נשמת הרב חיים זיגלר זצ״ל והרב דוד מנשה זצ״ל
For the elevation of the soul of Rav Haim Ziegler zatsal and Rav David Menashe zatsal. Two men. One mission. Awaken a sleeping people. Make Israel grow. תְּהִי נַפְשָׁם צְרוּרָה בִּצְרוֹר הַחַיִּים
Quiz — Now, Choose Life!
Five questions to check