The Vital Question

A friend posted on Facebook this morning, "The difference between try and triumph is a little umph."

Food for thought 

I started reading Cyril Harris's "For Heaven's Sake" and was struck by a passage in the foreword of the book.

"There is an old Rabbinic teaching, a beautiful one, that just before a person dies, an angel comes to him from heaven and asks the vital question: 'Tell me, is the world a better place because of your life which is about to end? Is the world a better place because of the efforts you exerted? Is the world a better place because you were around?'"

It's something to think about as we enter Chodesh Elul, a time for reflection and introspection, with thoughts of teshuva occupying our minds with the days leading to Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur.