THE ADAM STORY

We’re sharing an excerpt from author Mitch Albom’s acclaimed book, “Have a Little Faith, a True Story.”

~This is a sermon from Rabbi Albert Lewis, whose daughter Rinah had recently passed away at the age of four.

"If you ask me, and you should, why this wonderful, beautiful child – who had so much to give – had to die, I can’t give you a rational answer. I don’t know.

But, in a commentary to the Bible, tradition tells us that Adam, our first man, was supposed to have lived longer than any man, a thousand years. He didn’t. Our sages, in quest of an answer, related the following:

“Adam begged God to let him see into the future. So the Lord said, ‘Come with me.’ he took him through the celestial chambers, where the souls that were to be born awaited their turn. Each soul was a flame. Adam saw some flames burn purely, some barely flicker.

Then he saw a beautiful flame, clear, strong, golden orange, and healing. Adam said, ‘Oh Lord, that will be a great human being. When shall it be born?’

The Lord replied, ‘I’m sorry, Adam, but that soul, as beautiful as it is, is destined not to be born. It has been preordained that it will commit sin and tarnish itself. I have chosen to spare it the indignity of being besmirched.’

Adam pleaded, ‘But Lord, man must have someone to teach and guide him. Please do not deprive my children.’

The Lord gently answered, ‘The decision has been made. I have no years left to allocate to him.’

Then Adam boldly said, ‘Lord, what if I am willing to bestow on that soul some years of my life?’

And God answered Adam saying, ‘If that is your wish, that I will grant.’

Adam, we are told, died not at 1,000 but at 930 years. And eons later, there was a child born in the town of Bethlehem.

He became a ruler of Jerusalem and a sweet singer of songs. After leading his people and inspiring them, he died. And the Bible concludes: ‘Behold, David the King was buried after having lived for 70 years.’

My friends, when we are sometimes asked why someone perishes, someone so young in age, I can only fall back on the wisdom of our tradition. It is true that David did not live long for his day. 

But while he lived, David taught, inspired, and left us a great spiritual legacy, including the Book of Psalms. One of those Psalms, the Twenty-Third, is sometimes read at funerals.

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

He maketh me to lie down in green pastures:

He leadeth me beside the still waters.

He restoreth my soul…

Is it not better to have known Rinah, my daughter, for four years than not to have known her at all?”