Rav-Elations: May You Live To Be 120

By RABBI DAVID GERBER

When someone is celebrating a birthday, it is customary for Jews to give them the following blessing: Ad me’ah v’esrim, which means, “may you live to be 120.”

In this week’s Torah portion Moses is giving his final words to the people of Israel as they prepare to enter the Promised Land. Moses knows that he will not be joining his people in Israel and the portion notes that he is now 120 years old. Moses dies shortly thereafter and we are told that never again has there arisen a prophet like him. 

When we say to someone “May you live to be 120,” we are really offering them a blessing. We hope that, like Moses, they fulfill their years on this earth with righteousness. We hope they are blessed with a deep connection with God, an unbreakable connection with their community, and plentiful days of blessing on this earth. 

So if you’re celebrating a birthday…Ad me’ah v’esrim…may you live to be 120, fulfilling your years in righteousness like Moses!

Rabbi David Gerber is the senior rabbi of the URJ’s Congregation Gates of Prayer (Sha’arai Tefillah) in Metairie.