Life’s a journey. A cliché? Perhaps. But an apt metaphor, nevertheless. Especially the 42 journeys that the Jewish people traversed from Egypt to Israel. Which happens to be the concluding section of this week’s Torah reading – Massei. The mystics tell us that each one of us travels through life experiencing 42 distinct journeys.  Have you kept count? Since you are reading this, your last journey is still to come! May it take place at the end of your 120 years – biz hundredt un tzvontzig.

Which of your journeys have been the most meaningful? Has there been a truly meaningful journey?  I am often surprised when I ask people this question. They stop and think but find it hard to nominate one. It is as if we are passing through life sitting on a train, looking out at the landscape, and yet, nothing truly touches us. We are passive passengers just passing the time. At least nothing that readily comes to mind to say – yes! – this truly opened my eyes, and I became a different person because of it.

Isn’t it sad that for so many people a tipping-point-life-moment seems to have eluded them. The truth is it hasn’t. They simply missed it. They didn’t get off the train, but remained safely or lazily in the carriage their whole life, mere onlookers, too preoccupied with their own myopic vision, not noting the extraordinary meaningfulness that their life is replete with, but they missed it.

Living a superficial ‘horizontal’ life, blind to the many G-d-given moments of ‘sliding doors’, will end with a ho-hum and a yawn, and wondering: ‘what was it really all about’? Open your mind!  Live a ‘vertical’ life, watching, noticing, thinking, observing, and recognising the many signposts that fate (Hashgacha Pratit) places right before your eyes – if only you kept your eyes and mind alert and open.

But it’s not too late.  Every signpost, even at latter stages of life,  is a short cut to wonderful destinations. But the prerequisite is that you must commit to lead a meaningful life. How do you achieve this?

• Be grateful when you wake up – opportunity beckons. Recite Modeh Ani with feeling!   
• Commit to kindness and compassion for the whole day, to every person, in all circumstances. Practice Hessed. Begin by putting a coin into a Tzedaka box, right now.
• Eat breakfast consciously, knowing that you are borrowing the life of the plant or animal, gaining their energy, dedicating each word or act during the day as a testament to that plant or animal.  That is why we verbalise a Brachah even before allowing the spoon or fork to come close to the mouth.
• Look out for the many signposts that will inevitably appear during the day – if you live deeply and meaningfully. Inevitably they will appear through the people you meet, and so, express gratitude to the person for that encounter.

Live each of your 42 journeys meaningfully –  and you will live a life of wonderment, happiness and fulfilment.