אם רצונך לעבוד את ד׳ ולהעלות את עצמך מעלה, ולא תעמוד בשנת השבעים לחייך כביום הבר־מצוה שלך. עשה זאת איפא. בכל שנה עשה לך מטרה, צייר בעצמך, אם שמך ראובן למשל, איזה ראובן תהי׳ בשנה הבאה, מה יהיו השגותיו עבודתו מדותיו וכל תוכנו. והראובן הדמיוני יהי׳ לך למדה למדוד את עצמך בו, כמה חסר לך עוד להראובן הדמיוני, האם עבודתך ותקון מעשיך, של יום יום יספיקו להשלים את הראובן של השנה הבאה. ואם הגיעה שנה הבאה ומדדת את עצמך ולא הגעת אפילו לקרסולי הראובן של שנה החדשה, יהי׳ בעיניך שח״ו ח״ו לא הארכת ימים. כי רק הראובן אשר לפני שנה או אשר לפני עשר שנים חי, ולא הראובן של שנה זו. ואברהם זקן בא בימים, אברהם של היום, הי׳ של היום, ולא האברהם של אתמול.
VISUALIZE YOUR RENEWAL TO BE HERE NOW: If you wish to serve God and to elevate yourself in divine service such that you will not still be [hovering at the same spiritual rung] in your seventieth year as you were at your [adolescent rite de passage known as the] bar-mitzvah, then here is some practical advice: every single year set the goal for yourself of visualizing in your mind’s eye [what version of yourself you wish to grow into before your next birthday]. For example, if your name is Reuben, then visualize yourself as the Reuben you wish to become and in the coming year let that visualization serve as a yardstick against which to measure yourself by. And do so in terms of your spiritual insights, your daily devotions, your interpersonal qualities, and your constitution of self. This envisioned self should be the benchmark against which you measure yourself, thus requiring you to undertake specific efforts in the proper direction to reach that point, and also to reflect daily on what you will need to do in terms of your deeper devotion and inner polishing to reach that benchmark. Furthermore, engaging the work in this way will enable you to come to a deeper sense of self-realization in this coming year. On the other hand, if you do not reach what you were aiming for in terms of self-realization, possibly not even rising up to the ankles of that envisioned self, then, perish the thought, you will have to accept that you have not really grown because last year’s self will still be hanging around and the newly envisioned version of yourself for this year will not have come to be, so [alas you will have to accept that as] a real missed opportunity. And that is the deeper meaning of the verse: “Abraham was old, advancing in years” (Genesis 24:1)—[the point of the verse is] not merely to note that Abraham was old, but rather that the Abraham of this last year was not same self as that of the previous one [because he constantly renewed himself, year in and year out, by visualizing an ideal self to grow into and then was able to have a benchmark to attain].
אם רצונך לעבוד את ד׳ ולהעלות את עצמך מעלה, ולא תעמוד בשנת השבעים לחייך כביום הבר־מצוה שלך. עשה זאת איפא. בכל שנה עשה לך מטרה, צייר בעצמך, אם שמך ראובן למשל, איזה ראובן תהי׳ בשנה הבאה, מה יהיו השגותיו עבודתו מדותיו וכל תוכנו. והראובן הדמיוני יהי׳ לך למדה למדוד את עצמך בו, כמה חסר לך עוד להראובן הדמיוני, האם עבודתך ותקון מעשיך, של יום יום יספיקו להשלים את הראובן של השנה הבאה. ואם הגיעה שנה הבאה ומדדת את עצמך ולא הגעת אפילו לקרסולי הראובן של שנה החדשה, יהי׳ בעיניך שח״ו ח״ו לא הארכת ימים. כי רק הראובן אשר לפני שנה או אשר לפני עשר שנים חי, ולא הראובן של שנה זו. ואברהם זקן בא בימים, אברהם של היום, הי׳ של היום, ולא האברהם של אתמול.
VISUALIZE YOUR RENEWAL TO BE HERE NOW:
If you wish to serve God and to elevate yourself in divine service such that you will not still be [hovering at the same spiritual rung] in your seventieth year as you were at your [adolescent rite de passage known as the] bar-mitzvah, then here is some practical advice: every single year set the goal for yourself of visualizing in your mind’s eye [what version of yourself you wish to grow into before your next birthday]. For example, if your name is Reuben, then visualize yourself as the Reuben you wish to become and in the coming year let that visualization serve as a yardstick against which to measure yourself by. And do so in terms of your spiritual insights, your daily devotions, your interpersonal qualities, and your constitution of self. This envisioned self should be the benchmark against which you measure yourself, thus requiring you to undertake specific efforts in the proper direction to reach that point, and also to reflect daily on what you will need to do in terms of your deeper devotion and inner polishing to reach that benchmark. Furthermore, engaging the work in this way will enable you to come to a deeper sense of self-realization in this coming year. On the other hand, if you do not reach what you were aiming for in terms of self-realization, possibly not even rising up to the ankles of that envisioned self, then, perish the thought, you will have to accept that you have not really grown because last year’s self will still be hanging around and the newly envisioned version of yourself for this year will not have come to be, so [alas you will have to accept that as] a real missed opportunity. And that is the deeper meaning of the verse: “Abraham was old, advancing in years” (Genesis 24:1)—[the point of the verse is] not merely to note that Abraham was old, but rather that the Abraham of this last year was not same self as that of the previous one [because he constantly renewed himself, year in and year out, by visualizing an ideal self to grow into and then was able to have a benchmark to attain].