The Flight of a Lifetime
ושמחת בחגך
And you shall rejoice on your festival... (Devarim 16:14)
Looking to purchase some real estate, David finally found the land of his dreams in Australia for ten thousand dollars. A week later, however, he received a phone call. It was an oil company interested in the land David had purchased. “We will give you ten million dollars for this land,” they said. With his jaw dropping, David immediately agreed. "However, there is one condition, you must be here in Australia within twenty-four hours to sign the contract.” Hearing this, David immediately races to the airport. “I need a ticket to Australia now!" David says to the clerk politely yet anxiously. "I'm sorry sir, but all flights are booked.” “No, no,” says David, “you don't understand. I need to be in Australia within twenty-four hours. If need be, I will charter my own airline. I don't care if it costs me thousands of dollars.” “I'm sorry sir, but all our private planes are already taken.”
Now getting more nervous, David asks if he can see the head manager. Taking out fifty thousand dollars, David hands the stack of bills to the manager. “Here, please take it. I just need to get me on a plane to Australia right now!” Sure enough, David gets on the next plane.
The only catch is that the restroom is where David will spend the next long stretch of several hours. There is simply no other space.
There is also another man on this plane. A multi-millionaire, he has traveled around the world and lived a life of luxury ever since he knew. But with his children negligently spending all the money he has given them, they break off all contact and relationship with their father. And then the man's wife leaves him. Now depressed and all alone without any family, he decides he needs to get away and buys a first-class ticket to Australia. Being served champagne and all sorts of other delicacies, he comfortably sits back and relaxes.
The stewardess then gets on the PA system with an announcement. “Who is the happiest man on this plane?” Everyone immediately turns their head in the direction of the wealthy man in first-class. “Now let me ask you, who is the saddest man on this plane?" Still standing cramped in the tiny bathroom is David.
Who in reality, however, is the happiest man on this plane? David. Although he is in the bathroom, he is looking at his watch and thinking, “Nine hours to go!" And who is the saddest man on this plane? The man in first-class. Without a relationship with his family and all alone, life is depressing.
What distinguishes David from this other man? Destiny. While the man in first-class may be enjoying a momentary comfortable ride, he knows that he is landing to a life of misery. David, however, although at the moment quarantined in an uncomfortable bathroom, knows that in just a matter of hours he will be ten million dollars richer.
The same is true of life. We are all on a plane. The airplane picked us up in the hospital as a baby and will drop us off after a hundred and twenty years. And while some people may get to sit in first-class, others will ride in business, coach or the cargo. And then there will be those who sit in the bathroom. But it does not make any real difference. What will determine one's happiness in life is where they are going and what their destination is. And every member of the Jewish people is on their way to Olam HaBah, as Chazal teach, “All of Yisrael has a share in the World to Come” (Sanhedrin 90a).
As we transition from the days of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur and enter the joyous days of Succos, we must wonder why in fact we are so happy. What has changed that engenders such festive rejoicing? The answer is that now, after more than an entire month of repentance and introspection, we finally have realized who we truly are. We finally have come to terms with our purpose in life and where we are heading. We are on a flight, a long flight, but we know that when we land we will be the happiest people around. And if that is so, we have all the reason to smile from ear to ear right now even during our flight. (Rabbi Chaim Rosenfeld)