Choose Life

I call on heaven and earth as witnesses today that I have offered you life or death, blessings or curses. Choose life so that you and your descendants will live! Deuteronomy 30:19Does it make any sense that a healthy person would choose death over life? Would any sane person choose destruction over survival?And yet we see - amplified in the latest atrocities going on in Israel - that there exists a perverse culture of death, of martyrdom. Where death is celebrated. Where death is the ultimate sacrifice and goal. This frightening reality compels us to look deeper into the very meaning of life and identity -- who we are as human beings. What defines us? Life or death? Blessing or curse?In the Bible G-d commands us: "Choose life." But why do we need to be told to choose life? It seems natural  that every human being graviates to do everything possible to preserve life, your own life and the life of others. Yet in times like this, where we find ourselves fighting a war where death is glorified, this verse from the Bible suddenly resounds with tremendous import and profound relevance. This darkness -- completely antithetical to life -- behooves us to examine the significance and true value of the human soul. As we wage spiritual war, alongside the physical one, please join Rabbi Simon Jacobson in this fundamental discussion and discover the importance of choosing life. Choose life. Always choose life.