Dear all,
On a recent trip to Muir Woods National Monument, our family stood before a fallen redwood that had lived for more than a thousand years.
Let that sink in…. A thousand years.
It’s almost impossible to comprehend. This one living being stood rooted while empires rose and fell, while languages were born and forgotten, while generations came and went.
Within its rings are not just markers of time, but witnesses to history—each layer a season, each scar a story.
Standing there, it’s easy to feel how brief our own lives are by comparison.
Fleeting. Fragile. A moment in time.
But perhaps that’s not the point.
Because while we do not measure our lives in centuries. The question is not how long we live, but how deeply we live—what we leave behind in the hearts of others.
The redwood endures not because it strives for forever, but because it grows faithfully – year by year.
So what would it mean for us to live that way?
To root ourselves in what matters.
To widen the circle of compassion and care.
To leave a soul-print that outlasts us.
Our days may be brief—but our impact doesn’t have to be.
With love and Shalom,
Rabbi Zachary R. Shapiro
