By Rabbi David Levin Kruss
Yesod Europe’s Jewish Learning Director 
Some of us complain about not having enough time, but just as important is using time wisely. Each of the following texts has a different attitude to time which will, in turn, lead to use using our time differently.
Kohelet (Ecclesiastes) 3:1-7
The writer, traditionally King Solomon, says that there is an appropriate time for everything, and all will unfold at the right moment.
| Everything has an appointed season, and there is a time for every matter under the heaven. A time to give birth and a time to die; a time to plant and a time to uproot that which is planted. A time to kill and a time to heal; a time to break and a time to build. A time to weep and a time to laugh; a time of wailing and a time of dancing. A time to cast stones and a time to gather stones; a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing. A time to seek and a time to lose; a time to keep and a time to cast away. A time to rend and a time to sew; a time to be silent and a time to speak. A time to love and a time to hate; a time for war and a time for peace. | לכֹּל, זְמָן; וְעֵת לְכָל-חֵפֶץ, תַּחַת הַשָּׁמָיִם. עֵת לָלֶדֶת, וְעֵת לָמוּת; עֵת לָטַעַת, וְעֵת לַעֲקוֹר נָטוּעַ. עֵת לַהֲרוֹג וְעֵת לִרְפּוֹא, עֵת לִפְרוֹץ וְעֵת לִבְנוֹת. עֵת לִבְכּוֹת וְעֵת לִשְׂחוֹק, עֵת סְפוֹד וְעֵת רְקוֹד. עֵת לְהַשְׁלִיךְ אֲבָנִים, וְעֵת כְּנוֹס אֲבָנִים; עֵת לַחֲבוֹק, וְעֵת לִרְחֹק מֵחַבֵּק. עֵת לְבַקֵּשׁ וְעֵת לְאַבֵּד, עֵת לִשְׁמוֹר וְעֵת לְהַשְׁלִיךְ. עֵת לִקְרוֹעַ וְעֵת לִתְפּוֹר,עֵת לַחֲשׁוֹת וְעֵת לְדַבֵּר. עֵת לֶאֱהֹב וְעֵת לִשְׂנֹא, עֵת מִלְחָמָה וְעֵת שָׁלוֹם. |
Turn! Turn! Turn!
This popular song from the 1960s is based on the bible passage above. Extra words and music are by Pete Seeger. The emphasis here is that it is time to stop war and this is a priority.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4ga_M5Zdn4
To everything – turn, turn, turn
There is a season – turn, turn, turn
And a time to every purpose under heaven
A time to be born, a time to die
A time to plant, a time to reap
A time to kill, a time to heal
A time to laugh, a time to weep
To everything – turn, turn, turn
There is a season – turn, turn, turn
And a time to every purpose under heaven
A time to build up, a time to break down
A time to dance, a time to mourn
A time to cast away stones
A time to gather stones together
To everything – turn, turn, turn
There is a season – turn, turn, turn
And a time to every purpose under heaven
A time of love, a time of hate
A time of war, a time of peace
A time you may embrace
A time to refrain from embracing
To everything – turn, turn, turn
There is a season – turn, turn, turn
And a time to every purpose under heaven
A time to gain, a time to lose
A time to rend, a time to sew
A time for love, a time for hate
A time for peace, I swear it’s not too late!
Yehuda Amichai, A Man in His Life
Israeli poet-laureate, Yehuda Amichai, undermines Kohelet by saying that there isn’t an appropriate time for everything, and we need to do the best we can.
| A man in his life doesn’t have time to have
a time for everything. He doesn’t have enough seasons to have a season for every purpose. Qohelet didn’t get it right when he said that.
A man needs to love and hate in the same instant, to laugh and cry with one and the same eyes, with one and the same hands to throw stones, and with one and the same hands to gather them, to make love in war and war in love.
To hate and forgive, to remember and forget, to arrange and confuse, to eat and digest what history elongates over a great many years.
A man in his life doesn’t have time. The moment he lets go, he seeks. The moment he finds, he forgets. The moment he forgets, he loves. The moment he loves, he begins to forget.
His soul is skilled, his soul is very efficient. Only his body remains an amateur forever. It tries and errs, it doesn’t learn, it gets confused, drunk and blind in its pleasures and its pains.
He will die as figs do, in autumn, shriveled and full of himself and sweet, leaves desiccating on the ground, bare branches already pointing to the place where there’s time for everything. |
אדם בחייו אין לו זמן שיהיה לו
זמן לכל. ואין לו עת שתהיה לו עת לכל חפץ. קהלת לא צדק כשאמר כך.
אדם צריך לשנא ולאהב בבת אחת באותן עיניים לבכות ובאותן עיניים לצחוק באותן ידים לזרוק אבנים ובאותן ידים לאסוף אותן, לעשות אהבה במלחמה ומלחמה באהבה.
ולשנוא ולסלוח ולזכור ולשכוח ולסדר ולבלבל ולאכל ולעכל את מה שהסטוריה ארכה עושה בשנים רבות מאד.
אדם בחייו אין לו זמן. כשהוא מאבד הוא מחפש כשהוא מוצא הוא שוכח, כשהוא שוכח הוא אוהב וכשהוא אוהב הוא מתחיל לשכוח.
ונפשו למודה, ונפשו מקצועית מאד רק גופו נשאר חובב תמיד. מנסה וטועה לא לומד ומתבלבל שכור ועור בתענוגיו ובמכאוביו.
מות תאנים ימות בסתו מצמק ומלא בעצמו ומתוק, העלים מתיבשים על האדמה, והענפים הערומים כבר מצביעים אל המקום שבו זמן לכל |
Questions to reflect upon
In a work setting Kohelet would be the patient one with an organized calendar. Amichai would be the multi-tasker. Pete Seeger would be crisis or project oriented.
- Do you agree with these statements? Why?
- Which of the three do you most identify with?
- Which of the three would you like to be more like?
Each of these texts has a darker side. Kohelet speaks of sad times. War looms behind Pete Seeger’s song. And Amichai speaks about when we are dead and have all the time we want. All of us have times when we are sad or stressed.
- How do you deal with these in a work situation?
- What would you do if you had more time?
- What would you stop doing if you had less time?