GABY’S FOURTH VIDEO—JACOB’S MOTTO

Hey. Everyone okay out there? I have a story to tell you—about one of your favorite people. Jacob.

Last week he and I were having dinner together, and he reminded me that I’d never heard him give a sermon. I said that he’d never invited me to his temple. And the next thing you know it was Saturday morning, and there I was in the fifth row.

I saw a Jacob I’d never seen before. What an incredible person he is—even better than I had thought.

The cantor stopped singing. The congregation sat down. Jacob walked to the front of the altar and faced us.

He wore a long black robe, almost like an old-fashioned college professor’s gown, a yarmulke, and a tallis. Maybe I’m being sacrilegious, but I’ve got to say Jacob looked great—with his jet-black hair, his scruffy two-day beard and—okay, let me get to the sermon.

Jacob grabbed everybody with his opening line and powerfully understated delivery:

“In case you didn’t know this already, let me be the first to tell you:

“Nobody in this temple is going to live forever, nobody on this earth is going to live forever.”

A few in the congregation laughed. But more of us looked a little surprised.

He went on to talk about how each of us has a life that has to be lived. How it makes no difference if you’re CEO of a huge company or the guy who slices cold cuts at the deli. Jacob said he was amazed at how parents became obsessed about colleges, but it doesn’t make much difference to God if your daughter goes to Harvard or the Springfield School of Beauty.

For me the surprise was that Jacob was so passionate. His voice got deeper and the rhythms got faster. I could feel my hands sweating. It was a good thing.

He came to the end and started talking about seizing the life we were given. Jacob didn’t say “Seize the day,” he said “Seize what’s been handed you.” Make smart decisions. Make decisions because—he said it again—life is a temporary situation.

He ended with a prayer usually said on Yom Kippur. I had never heard it before. It was beautiful, and he gave me a copy afterward.

Jacob looked exhausted after the service. His face was shiny with sweat. He said he needed to unwind and asked if I would join him.

He took me out to his garage. The door opened, and there was the coolest old Mustang. Navy blue, a ’65 convertible, and the top was already down.

Next thing, Jacob and I were speeding along Under Mountain Road. He was going seventy, seventy-five miles an hour. And he was very intense, very focused. He looked like a French movie star, like Jean-Paul Belmondo or Romain Duris. He drove faster. I looked at the speedometer, and it was reading ninety. I realized Jacob was driving the same way he gave his sermon. He started small and casual, then he built up speed, and eventually he was flying…ninety…ninety-five…a hundred.

Between the passionate sermon, and the beautiful car, and the high-speed drive on a country road, I saw that a man I liked immensely had turned into a man I…I…well, I think I’ve told everyone enough to get their imaginations churning.

Before I stop this tape, let me just read a few lines from the prayer Jacob gave me.

Listen, I’ve got to go. All of you remember what Jacob said: We’re not going to live forever. So, kids, please do yourselves a favor: Seize life!

I’m going to. And so, I suspect, is Jacob.