To Live Life

The possuk (24:1) says ואברהם זקן בא בימים.  The midrash and commentators are bothered that it was already stated in last week's parsha that Avrohom was old, so why the repetition now?  The Rebbe (Likutay Sichos volume 35) explains that the additional chiddush here is in the words bah bayamim.  What does it mean bah bayamim?  (See Ramban and Even Ezra and the Sicha inside for why Rashi must have learnt differently.)  The Rebbe explains that literally it means to come into the days like bah el habayis, means to enter the house.  It means that the person put all his/her capabilities and strength into every day of their life.  Every day was a new experience that left a lasting imprint on the person.  Generally, as a person grows older they become agnostic to their surroundings, they don't care about what happens around them.  They life days of emptiness.  As they retire, they in essence retire from living meaningful life.  The possuk is stressing that Avrohom even as he grew older and older didn't just let time pass, he lived life to its fullest and every day left its mark.  Just as this was true in the daily activities of life, so too in terms of spirituality Avrohom used every minute to its fullest as the Zohar says on this possuk.  According to Rav Hirsch that is part of the meaning of chayeh sarah, all her years were full of life, each moment was meaningful and precious.  

The following paragraph is from The Jewish Times vol.9 no.6 -April 24, 2015, a recording of Rav Menachem Genack's memories of Rav Aharon Lichtenstein.  "I remember in the summer of 1967, Rav Aharon, who was already a Rosh Kollel, playing a game of full-court basketball with other students of the Rav in Onset, Massachusetts. At one point in the game, Rav Aharon turned to me and said, “It is not ethical to play just offense and not defense.” Although his comment was tongue-in-cheek, it reflected his forethought and seriousness with which he undertook his every action" (from http://www.mesora.org/jewishtimes477.pdf.)  This is an example of someone who was bah bayamim.  Everything he did, he put in 100%
Getting older shouldn't be an excuse for not doing things properly.  Just because a person is not in yeshiva as he was in his youth doesn't mean that he's too old to daven or learn with the same intensity as he used too, truncated because of lack of time, yes, to not live with the same intensity, no.  This isn't just a lesson for those that are growing older in years, it is a lesson for everyone.  Too often as we run through our daily lives with all its "bustling activity" we are just walking through life, not 'living life'.