fbpx

A Moment in Time: Measuring our Lives by Opportunities

[additional-authors]
June 13, 2018
Dear all,
Jaeden’s Bar Mitzvah is coming up next week.  We were talking about the relative time it takes to do things, and we wanted to put it into life perspective.  So we each asked Siri how many minutes it had been since our respective birthdays.
Jaeden’s answer was much MUCH different than mine!
Of course, this whimsical diversion gave me pause…
25 million minutes (I’ll round down) since I was born.  25 million moments of opportunity!
Let’s be fair.  We’ll subtract 2 million for the first few years of my life.  That leaves 23 million.  We’ll now take 1/3 off of that number to allow for sleep.
That leaves 15.3 million minutes.
What have I done with them?
Moments of joy.  Moments of difficulties.  Moments of gratitude. Moments of fear.  Moments of connection.  Moments of loneliness. Moments of pride.  Moments of potential.  Moments in time.
There’s no way to determine the number of moments moving forward.   So we focus our future, capturing moments that will make a difference in the world!
With love and shalom,
Rabbi Zach Shapiro
Rabbi Zach Shapiro
A change in perspective can shift the focus of our day – and even our lives.  We have an opportunity to harness “a moment in time,” allowing our souls to be both grounded and lifted.  This blog shows how the simplest of daily experiences can become the most meaningful of life’s blessings.  All it takes is a moment in time.
 
Rabbi Zach Shapiro is the Spiritual Leader of Temple Akiba, a Reform Jewish Congregation in Culver City, CA.  He earned his B.A. in Spanish from Colby College in 1992, and his M.A.H.L. from HUC-JIR in 1996.  He was ordained from HUC-JIR – Cincinnati, in 1997.
Did you enjoy this article?
You'll love our roundtable.

Editor's Picks

Latest Articles

Jerusalem: A City that Defies Description

For about an hour or two, you’re asked to absorb centuries upon centuries of kings, armies, religions and empires taking turns trying to take control of the center of the world.

‘Playmakers’: A Jewish Toyland

The entire toy industry in America was largely Jewish, from the company founders and executives to the designers and factory workers, from the wholesale distributors and the army of salesmen, to the retail outlets and the large department stores that sold them.

Batya’s Moment

NewsNation host Batya Ungar-Sargon talks about her new book, “The Jews and The Left,” her rift with Megyn Kelly and why antisemitism has spread like wildfire in America.

Jewish Power and Other Myths

Historically, Jews have been accused of controlling politics, the banks and the media. I haven’t read yet that they control the weather, but that wouldn’t be any more bizarre than the other charges.

More news and opinions than at a Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.