We continue in Chapter 119, with the letter Gimel. The three verses before us - "Deal bountifully with Your servant," "Open my eyes," and "I am a stranger in the land" - form a single unit: King David asks for life, and immediately explains what he is asking it for; he asks that his eyes be opened to perceive the wonders of the Torah; and he asks that his status as a sojourner in this world should not prevent him from fulfilling the mitzvos. The common denominator among them all: every material request here is solely an instrument for the service of Hashem.
גְּמֹל עַל עַבְדְּךָ אֶחְיֶה וְאֶשְׁמְרָה דְבָרֶךָ׃ (יז) - Deal bountifully with Your servant, that I may live and observe Your word. (17)
Rashi explains: "Deal bountifully with Your servant" - bestow upon me that through which I may live, through the bounty of Your lovingkindness. That is to say, deal kindly with me and grant me sustenance to give me life, out of the chessed You bestow upon me. And the Radak adds: do an act of chessed with me that I may live - not with the intent of "having a good time" or merely enjoying life, but rather "that I may live and observe Your word." The request for vitality is so that I may have another day in the service of Hashem, another day in yiras Shamayim (awe of Heaven), another day in the fulfillment of His mitzvos.
The holy Alshich makes a keen observation: it is natural for a master to desire the life of his servant. Seemingly, the master's desire and the servant's desire are aligned - both want the servant to live. The difference, however, lies in the objective: the servant desires life for the sake of life itself, while the master desires the work. The master does not plead, "Please Hashem, grant life to my servant," but rather, "Please Hashem, let me have a worker." And if he were offered another worker in his place, he would have no objection - the main thing is that the work gets done. King David comes and says: I am not like other servants, who desire life and do not desire work. I ask, "Deal bountifully with Your servant, that I may live" - solely so that "I may observe Your word." I desire life in order to serve You through it, not a life in which I can cast off the work.
The Alshich further adds: "David, King of Israel, is alive and enduring" - even after his death, David is called alive. Seemingly, one could have said to him: Why do you ask, "that I may live"? You are alive anyway, as the righteous even in their death are called living! To this David says: I am not asking for "life" in its homiletical sense, but in its literal sense. And why? Because in that spiritual realm, I am no longer connected to the fulfillment of Hashem's mitzvos. Therefore, "that I may live" means in its literal sense, here in this world, physical life. And what is the sign of this? "And observe Your word" - so that I can still fulfill the mitzvos of Hashem.
It is famously told of the Vilna Gaon that in his final moments, he wept. They asked him: Is it not said of the master, "And she laughs at the last day"? He replied to them: I am leaving a world where for a few pennies one can acquire eternal life, and a person can merit thousands of servants to attend him. Tzitzis - a person buys for mere coins, and through them one can perceive the Divine Presence, as it is written, "and you shall look upon it." Whereas up there, "If a man were to give all the wealth of his house for love, he would be utterly scorned" - it is over; one can no longer invest, one can no longer give, one can no longer do anything. This is precisely David's prayer: lengthen my days, let me live in the literal sense - so that "I may observe Your word," which is something that can only be done here.
It is related in the name of the Chofetz Chaim that the soul descends into the world against its will, as the Mishnah states: against your will you were born, against your will you live, against your will you die, and against your will you are destined to give an account and a reckoning. Even so, it is clear that it is somehow appeased so that it agrees to descend. Thus it is brought in the writings of the Mekubalim: the soul does not descend into the world until it is reconciled to do so. It knows in advance into which body it will be placed, in what form it will arrive, what its tikkun (rectification) is, and what it must undergo. Sometimes Heaven wishes to send it down in a state of wealth, but it objects and says: Master of the Universe, did not my entire downfall in my previous gilgul stem from wealth - "Yeshurun grew fat and kicked" - I do not want to descend into wealth again! And it asks of its own accord to descend under a destiny of poverty, knowing that this itself will bring it to the fear of Hashem, to deveikus, and to a constant longing for the hand of Hashem. Afterwards, the person even complains, or simply forgets that he himself requested this.
And with what is it persuaded? The Chofetz Chaim explains: It is told - know that here beneath the Throne of Glory is indeed the most sublime place, there is nothing higher; but to be an eved Hashem (servant of Hashem) is only possible down below. The soul hears this and is appeased. Up here, what am I? Basking in the radiance of the Shechinah, in the manner of "bread of shame" (nahama d'chisufa), where the Holy One, blessed be He, bestows bounty upon me. But to be an eved Hashem - that is possible only in the lower world: to descend, to do Hashem's will, to overcome the yetzer hara, to struggle. This itself is what David is saying: Master of the Universe, I desire physical life here - not to "have a good time," but so that "I may observe Your word," for I can only truly be a servant of Hashem during my lifetime.
The Alshich adds: As long as the Torah scholar is in this world, "the rain will hold him back" (ya’atzrenu hageshem). This is a play on the verse concerning Eliyahu, who told Achav to run "lest the rain stop you" (beterem ya’atzorcheh hageshem), following the miracle on Mount Carmel and the prayer for rain after the drought years. Here the meaning is: materiality (gashmiyut, playing on geshem, rain) holds man back from advancing in spirituality. What can he do when he possesses a physical body? What can he do when he has physical needs - he must eat, he must sleep - and these impede him from grasping wonders from Hashem's Torah? Only when his spirit ascends to God, stripped of matter, will it attain comprehension, and then it is "the joy of his way": joy and perception unhindered by the body's obstacles. This is what Chazal meant when they said: Torah scholars have no rest, neither in this world nor in the World to Come, as it is stated, "They go from strength to strength" - for there he can truly advance in spirituality without interruption.
A question thus arises: Dovid desires life in order to keep Hashem's word, yet on the other hand, life in a physical body blocks him from comprehending Hashem's wonders. Therefore, the verse continues: "Open my eyes, that I may perceive wonders from Your Torah" - I ask that You remove the material veil from me; not that I become an angel, but that physicality should not bar me from seeing the wonders of the Torah, and that I should not lose out precisely on account of my longevity here.
The Vilna Gaon explains the underlying reason for sleep (as discussed in Mishnat HaGilgulim): Because man is bound to matter, and while confined within a physical body he is prevented from perceiving spirituality, the Holy One, blessed be He, created a state in which man sleeps - the soul detaches from its material bonds, ascends on high, and receives Torah, with the physical body posing no hindrance. As is well known, the prophecy of all prophets except Moshe Rabbeinu occurred in a dream, for this very reason: when a person is immersed in his physical reality, earthly and corporeal, how could he receive the word of God? But when the soul detaches from material ties, it is spiritual and able to connect to spirituality. It turns out that there is indeed a reality here in this world where one can be in a physical body and yet detach and connect to the spiritual realm.
It is told of the Vilna Gaon that he awoke one morning and remarked that he had seen in his dream two thousand four hundred explanations of the verse "Go up this way into the south" - in a single night. He reviewed them in his mind before reciting Birkat HaTorah, but when he came to pray he forgot them entirely. When they surfaced in his mind again during the prayer, he immediately stopped himself and said: No, I am praying now. Once he concluded his prayer, he was privileged to have all the explanations return to his memory. Consider what it means for a person to attain two thousand four hundred explanations in a single night's sleep! Similarly, the holy Arizal once took an afternoon nap, and his disciple Rabbi Avraham HaLevi drew close to listen, hearing him murmur. The Arizal's spirit sensed a disturbance in the surroundings and he awoke, rebuking him: "Why did you disturb me?" He replied: "I heard the Master speaking words of Torah and wished to hear." The Arizal said to him: "Even if I had eighty years, I could not teach you what I received just now in my dream." That is to say, during sleep a person is, as it were, detached, attaining spiritual insights that are not subject to the constraints of time. In a physical body we are bound by time - hence eighty years - whereas in the spiritual realm, everything can occur in a single moment.
So too, it is related that the Baba Sali woke up one morning and asked: "Who is Rabbi Yaakov Yisrael from Bnei Brak?" They told him: "There is the Steipler, Rabbi Yaakov Yisrael Kanievsky, who lives in Bnei Brak." When they asked why he inquired, he said: "When my soul was descending from the Heavenly Academy at night, I heard a proclamation declaring, 'Make way for the soul of Rabbi Yaakov Yisrael of Bnei Brak!' and I wanted to know who this soul was that ascends to receive Torah in the Heavenly Academy just as I am descending." Great men and tzaddikim can achieve divestment of the body (hitpashtut hagashmiyut) even while still within the body - during sleep - and receive divine secrets.
It was told of Rav Ovadia Yosef that he would occasionally be seen waking in the middle of the night, getting up, writing something down, and returning to sleep; when asked, he explained that a resolution to a difficulty had come to him in a dream, or a question, or an explanation. And of Rav Chaim Kanievsky it is related that one morning he asked his grandson to bring wine for a siyum. The grandson said: "Grandfather, you haven't finished yet" - for his study schedule was extraordinarily fixed, and they knew precisely on which day he would finish. He told him: "The last seven pages I completed in a dream, so the wine can already be brought." Great individuals merit profound insights in dreams. As noted in Mishnat HaChalomot, entire books have been composed based on dreams: Resisei Lailah by Rav Tzadok HaKohen of Lublin, which is based on secrets revealed to him in a dream; and Rabbeinu Yaakov of Marvège would perform a dream inquiry (she'elat chalom) and receive answers from Heaven - this is the Shut Min HaShamayim. Incidentally, Halachah is not ruled according to it, for "it is not in Heaven" and Halachah is determined by what is established on earth; yet through it one sees how matters are viewed in Heaven.
The Malbim explains: Many obstacles burden man and prevent him from attaining perfection. These are: the brevity of life; the limitation of the perceiver - our limited intellect; the depth of the concept - the fact that the matters we must comprehend are profound, not every mind can bear them, and they require immense contemplation; and the extensive prerequisites (rov hahotza'ot) - which in the Malbim's terminology means background premises, as there are subjects that cannot even begin to be understood without numerous preliminary introductions. In the wisdom of Kabbalah this is well known: first one must master the foundational concepts, and only then can one discuss how one sefirah influences another; someone who does not know the basic concepts of the sefirot cannot understand how a sefirah channels influence or what the unifications of supernal attributes mean. Furthermore, there are the worldly preoccupations of securing one's needs, as the Rambam writes in Moreh Nevuchim - one must go to work, marry off children, buy them an apartment, deal with this matter and that. Another obstacle is what we observe in the world regarding the apparent injustice of providence, where the wicked prosper and the righteous are degraded - "Why does the way of the wicked prosper?" - a question posed by the greatest tzaddikim, including Moshe Rabbeinu: why the righteous suffer while the wicked prosper.
Against the brevity of life, Dovid asks, "Deal bountifully (gemol) with Your servant, that I may live." The Malbim explains in several places that the term gemul always refers to an act performed out of an outpouring of deep emotion, whether love or hate - not an indifferent, routine action. Out of great love I bestow good upon you, or out of intense hatred I retaliate, as in the modern Hebrew expression for a reprisal (pe'ulat tagmul). Here, too: since my soul yearns to walk in Your Torah, it is fitting that You bestow upon it in Your love, so that death does not cut me short.
Let us also recall the Malbim's words on chapter 90 regarding the verse, "So teach us to number our days, that we may acquire a heart of wisdom": Because of the brevity of our days we understand nothing, neither the power of Your anger nor Your wrath, and we die without attaining perfection; therefore, it is fitting that You make known to us how to number our days so that we bring into them a heart of wisdom - venavi (we shall acquire/bring) is an expression of bringing, so that our days are not in vain and futile, unlike "their pride is but labor and sorrow." Since our days are short, deal bountifully with us with life, that we may fill them with the attainment of wisdom. And once again, he does not ask for life for its own sake, but rather "and I will keep Your word" - so that by virtue of life I may grasp the word of God.
In Ruach Chaim, Rabbi Chaim of Volozhin explains that King David is asking here to receive his reward specifically in this world. At first glance, this is perplexing: doesn't every person want their reward preserved intact for the World to Come? And what is the reward he asks for? "That I may keep Your word" - that I may live in this world and be privileged to keep the word of Hashem. And he says something wonderful: it is more precious to me than all the rewards of the rivers of Gan Eden and its promises that You leave me here for one more day to serve You. There is tremendous devotion here: I am willing to forego all that immense, eternal future reward, as long as I remain here one more day to fulfill Your mitzvot. And this is what Chazal said: "Better is one hour of repentance and good deeds in this world than all the life of the World to Come." "Deal bountifully with Your servant, that I may live" - Master of the Universe, grant me my reward here in this life, so that I may be privileged to keep Your word; there it is no longer possible to be a servant of Hashem, it is impossible to fulfill mitzvot, it is impossible to sacrifice one's life for Hashem's Torah - that is possible only here.
From here we see that if a person understands the purpose of life, he realizes that what people today call "life" is not life at all. People ask: he may live long, but what quality of life will he have? But we must clarify: what do they consider quality of life, and what do we consider quality of life? For them, "living it up" means having fun, parties and clubs, and if that is missing - what is the point? But we know what real life is: another day of putting on tefillin, another day of reciting a berachah and saying words of holiness, another day of prayer and fulfilling the will of Hashem - and a person has no idea what immense spiritual attainment he has acquired for himself in the upper world and what reward he has brought upon himself.
And certainly, when suffering purifies and atones, one day of suffering here in this world outweighs many long months of suffering there. It is written that the currency of suffering here is worth far more than suffering Above, and therefore, even if it seems to a person that there is no purpose in such a life - know that this suffering possesses immense power of atonement. Therefore, regarding anyone who thinks of disconnecting a person from life support to spare him from his suffering: we already related the story of that professor who used to walk through the ward, see terminally ill patients, and seek to deliver them and their families from grief. He would disconnect them from the machines and later reconnect them, and when the staff arrived and saw everything in order, they assumed his time had simply come. One night, one of those deceased patients appeared to him in a dream and told him that he did not forgive him. Rattled, he went to ask Rav Wolbe what this meant. Rav Wolbe told him: it may well be that what you were told is true - he had one more day left to live, and had he lived that one additional day with that suffering, he would have arrived Above pure and cleansed; now that you deprived him of that suffering, he must undergo suffering Above. That man realized the magnitude of the damage he had caused, and today he is a baal teshuvah.
It turns out, then, that what they call life is not what we call life, because the purpose of life is not what they perceive as its purpose. And this is what King David says: what is the greatest reward You can give me, Master of the Universe? Another day of life. For in it I have another day of spiritual attainment and of drawing close to You - and that is something I can do only here.
גַּל עֵינַי וְאַבִּיטָה נִפְלָאוֹת מִתּוֹרָתֶךָ׃ (יח) - Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things from Your Torah. (18)
Rashi explains: "Wondrous things from Your Torah" - matters concealed within it that are not explicitly stated. That is, uncover my eyes so that I may merit to perceive the hidden dimensions of the Torah. Radak explains that this refers to the chukim whose rationales have not been revealed, and to Maaseh Bereishit, the esoteric secrets of Creation - matters that are the hidden depths of the Torah: unveil my eyes so that I may merit to understand them.
The Malbim aligns this verse with the second obstacle: the profundity of the concept. The Torah is exceedingly deep, and this prevents us from properly comprehending it. To counter this, he requests "Open my eyes" - that I may grasp matters beyond my natural human capability through ruach hakodesh and elevated spiritual perception, until I am able to gaze upon the wonders within the Torah. One should realize that the concept of nifla'ot does not mean "miracles", as in the colloquial phrase "miracles and wonders." Peli means separated, distinct, something beyond human comprehension - as in, "Why do you ask about my name, seeing it is hidden (peli)?" and "I am awesomely, wonderfully made (nifle'eti)", meaning that it is far beyond my grasp. So too, "When a man shall clearly utter (yafli) a vow of a Nazirite to Hashem" - there is no miracle there; rather, yafli comes from the connotation of separating or setting apart. If so, the prayer is: uncover my eyes so that I may comprehend those matters that are beyond me, separated and distanced from me, concealed and sealed tight.
In Ruach Chaim, it is explained: all of Creation cascaded and descended from above to below, and as it descended into the physical world, it became corporeal. Everything that exists here physically has a spiritual root - a table, a tree, every blade of grass which has an angel striking it and saying "grow!" - and in descending into the material realm, it assumed a material existence. Except for one thing: the holy Torah. It alone descended from the upper realms down to this world and remained entirely in its spirituality without becoming material at all. It descended from its sublime root from level to level and from world to world, and yet its original holiness stands intact as before - even in this world, it is entirely sacred, and one is forbidden to treat it casually. And this is what is taught in the Zohar: the Holy One, blessed be He, and the Torah are one. For the descent of the worlds is only from our vantage point; from the vantage point of the Creator, blessed be He, there is no distinction or change of location whatsoever.
And this is what we learned at length in Nefesh HaChaim: everything we perceive as distinctions here - tamei and tahor, permitted and forbidden, holy and mundane - is entirely from our perspective; according to our perception, there is a holy place and a holier place. But within Hashem Himself, Who is the place of the world, no changes apply at all, for one cannot say that there is a higher or lower concentration of the Holy One, blessed be He, and "no place is devoid of Him." In absolute truth, there is no greater resting of the Shechinah in the Holy of Holies than, with all due respect, in a lavatory. Immediately one must ask: if so, can one pray there? Heaven forbid! For all that we explained is from His perspective, so to speak; but from our vantage point, from our corporeal perspective, there are ten gradations of holiness, and the Land of Israel is holier than all other lands, and Jerusalem holier than the rest of the Land of Israel, and the Beit HaMikdash, and the Holy of Holies. This is the difference between memaleh kol almin (filling all worlds) - where everything is in complete equality, for the Holy One, blessed be He, is present everywhere in the exact same manner, "I, Hashem, do not change" - and sovev kol almin (encompassing all worlds), where there is a dimension of "worlds" and He encompasses, as it were, from without. This latter view is the human perspective through which we must relate to reality, and one must navigate this in a dynamic of ratzo v'shov (running and returning), and this is not the place to elaborate.
To our point: the holy Torah has not changed at all, remaining just as it was at its source. Thus, the fact that we do not perceive it as it is truly grasped in the Upper World is not due to the Torah, but due to us - our eyes are smeared over from seeing. Something changed within us; our eyes were sealed because they were placed inside a physical body, and due to physicality we cannot see clearly. But the Torah itself shines as brilliantly as ever. And if the entire impediment is on my part, what remains to ask for? "Unveil my eyes, that I may perceive wonders from Your Torah."
The Ruach Chaim adds further: Sometimes a person toils over a certain matter in the Torah, and after laboring and exerting himself, by Hashem's kindness he merits to understand it. He then wonders to himself: "Is this not so simple? How did I fail to grasp it from the start?" The explanation is that at times a person is struck with blindness; he has a blockage and therefore cannot understand. One who studies Torah for its own sake merits that many secrets are revealed to him. Therefore he asks: Master of the Universe, unveil my eyes - regarding those matters that are inherently revealed and only my own eyes are closed - so that I may immediately merit to understand the secrets of the Torah, and not need to toil so intensely over things that are completely clear, which I initially failed to see only because of the barrier within me.
גֵּר אָנֹכִי בָאָרֶץ אַל תַּסְתֵּר מִמֶּנִּי מִצְוֺתֶיךָ׃ (יט) - I am a stranger in the land; do not hide Your commandments from me. (19)
This dividing screen forms a barrier against spiritual perceptions. My soul is like a stranger - existing in a place that is not natural to it, inside a coarse body that prevents it from perceiving. This is "the limitation of the perceiver."
Rabbeinu Bachya explains the comparison to a stranger: Just as a stranger has no tzevet - meaning company, companionship, or companions - so too a person is ultimately alone. True, it seems he has possessions, loved ones, household members, and family; yet in the end they will leave him in his grave and depart. They accompany him up to a certain point, and from there they part ways. He has no true companion other than the Holy One, blessed be He, and no one to show him mercy other than Hashem's lovingkindness. I am like a stranger - alone, with only the Holy One, blessed be He, by my side.
The holy Shelah finds an allusion here: "A stranger (ger) am I (Anochi)" - even the souls of converts (gerim) were present at the Giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai and heard the "Anochi": "I (Anochi) am the Lord your God," "You shall have no other gods before Me." "A stranger am I in the land" - the souls of those destined to convert descended, and the convert too heard the "Anochi." The Vilna Gaon explains who they are: When the Holy One, blessed be He, went around to the nations - "Hashem came from Sinai and shone upon them from Seir; He appeared from Mount Paran..." - offering them the Torah, the nations refused, asking what was written in it: "You shall not steal," "You shall not murder," "You shall not commit adultery." Says the Vilna Gaon: It is impossible that among all those nations there were not individuals who said, "This does suit us; we are indeed interested." And what became of those individuals? They are the souls of the converts who embrace Judaism in every generation - those unique individuals among the nations who were indeed willing to accept the Torah.
The sefer Tehillot Maharitza explains this based on the Gemara's statement that man was created at the very end of Creation so that he might enter immediately into the banquet with everything prepared before him. For if a person were preoccupied with his sustenance, when would he engage in Torah? If he is consumed with earning a livelihood all day, how could he occupy himself with Torah? What did the Holy One, blessed be He, do? He arranged everything for him in advance: man arrives and there are already animals, beasts, trees, and everything ready - come, sit and eat, sit and learn.
Furthermore, the Sages said in the Gemara: This world is comparable to a market day. If a person spends market day wandering around admiring the scenery, the merchandise will be sold, others will make their purchases, and he will end up with nothing. A fair is taking place, a business opportunity exists, but instead of trading, he strolls around taking in the city views; surely he cannot earn a living this way. In the same way, this world is like a corridor, and David says: I am like a stranger in the land, my time here is temporary, this is the market day, and every moment must be utilized for the pursuit of Torah and mitzvot. If I must spend my days chasing after a livelihood from morning to evening, how much Torah will I acquire? What spiritual attainments will I reach? Therefore he pleads: "Do not hide Your commandments from me" - do not consume me with material burdens. Let me not be blocked by the constant pursuit of my sustenance, which would leave me no time for the fear of Heaven, the study of mussar, and sanctification. Since I am a stranger in the land, grant me livelihood in abundance, and thereby I will be free to immerse myself in Torah and mitzvot.
Rav Mazuz explains "I am a stranger in the land" in light of the teachings of the Kabbalists: The holy Ari states that in order to rectify his soul, a person must fulfill all 613 mitzvot. Since no single individual can fulfill every one of them in one lifetime, this is the purpose of reincarnation (gilgul): one is reincarnated at times as this person and at times as another, over numerous opportunities, until completing them all. This is what David means by saying: "I am a stranger in the land" - my time here is temporary, here today and in the grave tomorrow. Therefore, "do not hide Your commandments from me" - do not bring about a circumstance where I fail to fulfill all the mitzvot and must return in a gilgul to fulfill them; rather, reveal the mitzvot to me so that during my brief sojourn here I may fulfill all that is required of me.
And if you ask: Are there not, in any case, mitzvot that are beyond a person's reach - such as the mitzvah of giving a get (bill of divorce) to a wife, which is indeed a positive Torah commandment, yet not one we pursue; or mitzvot that pertain only to a Kohen, while he is not a Kohen? To this, the holy Ari explains, as discussed in Mishnat HaGilgulim, that for this purpose there is the concept of ibur (spiritual impregnation): he does not need to return in a full reincarnation (gilgul); rather, his soul descends and attaches itself to another living person during his lifetime, entering him in the midst of his life - and a person can bear, it seems, up to four souls simultaneously - and during that time, it shares in the merit of the mitzvot he performs. If that person goes to give a get to his wife, at that exact moment the soul lacking this mitzvah joins him, merits it alongside him, and if it wishes it may leave, or if it wishes it may remain and gain merit with him in further mitzvot. And when does it leave? When the person commits a sin, for it is uncomfortable for the soul to remain in a body that transgresses. However, all this applies only to circumstantial or non-obligatory mitzvot; but with obligatory mitzvot, such as tefillin, Shabbat, and the like, ibur will not suffice, and for these one must return in a gilgul to complete them - for you were able to fulfill them, so why did you not fulfill them?
The three verses before us form one precise prayer. "Deal bountifully with Your servant, that I may live" corresponds to the shortness of life: I ask for natural life here, not to indulge in it, but so that "I may keep Your word," for one can be a servant of Hashem only in this world. As the Ruach Chaim writes, one more day of divine service is more precious than all the rewards of the rivers of Gan Eden. "Open my eyes, that I may behold wonders from Your Torah" corresponds to the depth of the concept: the Torah did not change at all when it descended into this world; rather, our eyes became clouded by physical matter. Therefore, the entire plea is that the veil be removed and that I may merit to perceive the hidden wonders. "I am a stranger in the land" corresponds to the limitations of the perceiver and the distractions of the times: I am temporary here, alone, on market day; therefore, do not hide Your commandments from me, neither through the anxieties of earning a livelihood nor through the concealment of the opportunity to fulfill them. From here we derive a profound lesson regarding the value of a single day in the Almighty's world: better is one hour of repentance and good deeds in this world than all the life of the World to Come.