How Sweet Is the Light

Q: If a man is suffering terribly in his old age, how can that be viewed positively?

A: The sufferings attendant upon old age are a gift — no question. They humble the proud heart that once reveled in the happiness of youth. They make him more considerate of others. He learns to sympathize with other people’s suffering. He learns that even though this world is a place of so much happiness — a world in which Hashem gives and gives — he begins to realize how limited the happiness of the world is, how brief it is.

The Mesillas Yesharim (1:8) says, “Everything in this world is made to test a person.” Everything is a test. Therefore, when something happens, the first thing you should know is that “all that the Merciful One does is done for good” (Berachos 60b). Even though you don’t know why, it’s for your good. That’s number one. Why He made good in this form is His business. If you say that and continue in this way, it’s a success already. Oh, what a success! If you understand that everything Hashem is doing in the world is for kindliness, you have already passed one of the tests. You’re already successful. If you study more, you might discover even more. You might discover even in this life why it was good. Many times, we ourselves will see with our own eyes that it actually is good. But even when we don’t understand, we have emunah. It’s a nisayon, a test, to accept that whatever He is doing is for good.

At the end of his life, the wise man realizes he didn’t lose anything. He now begins to turn his eyes to that far-off horizon where the sun begins to arise anew. For him, “Uk’or boker yizrach shemesh — The sun will begin to shine forth like the light of morning” (II Shmuel 23:4). The great happiness, the unequaled pleasure of the World to Come, now begins to loom up in his mind. In the midst of his yissurim — yissurim means “instruction,” “vicissitude,” which includes his sufferings in old age — the old man dives into his bright future like the youth dives into the happiness of life. A youth goes into a meal with gratitude and makes a hearty berachah. He enjoys every extra pleasure afforded to him during the meal. He’s grateful and he thanks and thanks. The old man thanks, too, but he thanks more deeply now, with more insight, as he prepares for the greater pleasure that awaits him in the next world.

There’s no doubt that youth is a happy time. When we’re young, we have all our teeth. Our bones are bathed in that lubricating synovial fluid that makes it easy to bend and twist. Not too much calcium yet has been deposited in our joints to interfere with our easy motions. When you’re older, it’s more difficult to experience the joys of life. No question about that. But we turn to Shlomo Hamelech again, our trusted adviser who says, “Umasok ha’or — How sweet is the light, v’tov la’einayim liros es hashemesh — and how good it is for the eyes to look at the sunshine” (Koheles 11:7). Rabbeinu Yonah in Sha’arei Teshuvah (2:9) explains these words. Shlomo is talking to the old man and tells him, “Don’t let your last years be wasted!” But how can a man accomplish anything if he’s not in a happy mood? If you don’t have happiness, there won’t be any accomplishment. Happiness acts as the lubrication for all our spiritual machinery. An unhappy man is not going to achieve!

Therefore, Shlomo says there’s no reason an old man cannot be happy. Let him enjoy the light of day. You think the light of day isn’t happiness? You know when you discover how happy the light of day can make you? When a man is lying on a hospital bed in his last hours, he knows his hours are numbered, so he looks out the window and realizes for the first time how sweet daylight is — what a pleasure it is! Even on a dingy Brooklyn street where the hospital is situated, even if it happens to be a gray cloudy day, the street is so sweet to him now that he has to say farewell to it forever. And the truth is, life is the greatest form of enjoyment there is. We don’t need other things. Life itself is fun. Life itself is a joy.

The Lomza mashgiach once saw a sad-faced student in the yeshivah. The boy was sitting and moping in a corner, so he called him outside, grabbed him by his lapels and said, “Mazel tov! You know how fortunate you are? There are millions who envy you!” The boy looked up. It was the first time in his life he had heard that. The mashgiach kept on telling him how fortunate he was. He worked him up until the boy couldn’t wait any longer to hear the secret. What was this great fortune he possessed? Finally, after this lengthy exhortation, the mashgiach said to him, “You’re alive!” It’s as true as could be.

So Shlomo said, “You, old man, it’s true you don’t have some of the trimmings any longer. But you have the main dish!” Shlomo grabs an old fellow by the lapels and tells him, “Umasok ha’or — How sweet is the sunlight!” Maybe it’s the first time this man heard that daylight is sweet. He thinks other things are sweet, but now he’s too old for those other things. So now is the time to discover what he overlooked all his life — the pleasure of being alive. If he discovers that, he’s discovered the secret to being happy even with all his aches and pains, and even if his suffering is more than just aches and pains. He’s discovered real merchandise that will accompany him the rest of his life in this world, and be with him eternally in the next.