By Daphne Anson
Brevity of Life
“The days of our years are threescore and ten” – Psalms xc, 10
“Three score and ten,” the youth replies,
“How far off seems the day.”
“Three score and ten,” the old man cries,
“How quickly passed away”….
Those are the opening lines of a poem penned in Victorian times by a British Jew, Philip Abraham (Jewish Chronicle, 2 December 1864).
He was, of course, thinking in terms of end of life, but as we all know, and he could not, 70 epitomises a beginning of life, the period in which the State of Israel has been in existence, and miraculously flourished in so many ways.
On that note, here’s Mark Regev, giving a terrific address at Bnei Akiva’s Yom Ha’atzmaut 5778 service at London’s Kinloss Synagogue.
In Jewish tradition “seventy is a symbol of perfection, of completion” explains Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis at the same event, after paying tribute to Regev, Bnei Akiva, and before giving a stirring encomium to Medinat Israel.
More videos can be seen on Bnei Akiva’s YouTube channel, including a Yom Ha’atzmaut tribute to Israel by Secretary of State for Defence Gavin Williamson MP. (Read snippets here)
Seems there’s always a party pooper, though:
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