Musar zu Mischlej 10:27

And [part of] the content of excision is the shortening of years; like the matter that is stated (Proverbs 10:27), “but the years of the wicked will be shortened.” But there is a difference in the matter of the shortening of the years between death [at the hands of the Heavens] and excision. For [in the case of] excision, the death of the person is before fifty years, whereas [in the case of] death, [it] is before sixty - like those that died in the desert. This is meaning to say, that one about whom it was decreed to live for seventy or eighty years, but became liable for death [at the hands of the Heavens], will die at less than sixty years. However there are righteous ones the [decree for which] is to have less days than sixty [years] - as they said (Taanit 5b), “One [who dies] at fifty-two years, this is the death of Samuel of Rama.” And it is stated (Numbers 4:18), “Do not let the group of Kohathite clans be cut off from the Levites.” And our Rabbis, may their memory be blessed, expounded (Yerushalmi Bikkurim 2:1) from this that excision is before fifty years. Its explanation is, let not an accident be how you cause the tribe of the Kohatites to be cut off from the service of the Levites. For if you do not guard them - that they should not come to see when the holy [vessels] are covered - they shall be excised from the service of the Levites, and will die before they are fifty years; as it is stated (Numbers 8:25), “But at the age of fifty they shall retire from the workforce, etc.”

ואברהם זקן בא בימים . The emphasis on the word בימים, which at first glance seems superfluous, teaches us that a person must be concerned every single day of his life to do good and not to sin. When he thinks in this vein only, every single day of his life will assume meaning. His reverence for G–d will result in his being granted more years. The years of the wicked, on the other hand, become shortened; this means that even if they live chronologically speaking for many years, the sum total of their life is short, seeing it was not filled with worthwhile activities. When Abraham is described as "aging," this means that he had made every one of his days count.

I have also dealt elsewhere at length with קדושת הזמן, the sanctity of time. The reason why our sages call the week שבת [not שבוע Ed.] is that they wish to exhort us to conduct ourselves every day of the week in such a way that from a spiritual point of view each day represents the essence of the idea of the Sabbath. Once we do this we cleave to a world which is totally under the aegis of the Sabbath spirit, and every one of our mundane activities thereby assumes a sacred character. It is this thought that dominates the benediction we recite at the end of the Sabbath when we refer to "G–d who makes a distinction between the holy and the profane, between light and darkness, between Israel and the Gentile nations and between the seventh day and the six days allocated to work." The Gentile nations are the epitome of what is mundane or profane, as explained by Rabbenu Chananel in connection with Pessachim 103-104.I have discussed this in connection with Proverbs 10,27: יראת ה' תוסיף ימים, "The fear of the Lord prolongs one's days."

The reference to Israel counting its days according to the solar calendar, etc., is simply a hint to the moon that it had misunderstood G–d and that a whole lifetime of seventy years may on occasion be telescoped into merely days, all depending on the opportunities that presented themselves to G–d's creature, (in this case the Israelite) to perform the commandments. In other words, under certain circumstances G–d will consider the intention as equivalent to the actual performance. In terms of the debate about the relative value of study versus peformance, this means that study is superior. Study is almost always לשמה, whereas performance may often be merely by rote, without even the intention to perform G–d's will.

The author views our rehabilitation process as linked to our souls having stood at Mount Sinai and having witnessed the revelation. The major organs involved were the ears which had heard the commandments. When later generations tune in their ears to what is written in the Torah, it is as if they were trying to make up for generations or individuals who had closed their ears to Torah instructions. The very word נעשה "we shall do," which the Jewish people said prior to the revelation was an allusion to the beginning of creation when G–d had said נעשה אדם בצלמנו. Once our ears are involved in this process of rehabilitation the other organs will become involved also and general מצוה performance will result.