Q:
Recently the Titanic has been in the news again because they found the wreck and there are now pictures of it from the bottom of the sea. What lesson can we learn from the sinking of the Titanic?
A:
Many lessons. I’ll say one though. כי לא ידע האדם את עתו – A man doesn’t know when his time will come (Koheles 9:12). Even the most successful people sometimes are surprised. They’re suddenly summoned out of this world.
The Titanic was the most luxurious ocean liner ever made and everybody was confident that it was the most secure of all ships that they’ve ever built; it was unsinkable. And so Isidor Straus – he started Macy’s; he was a millionaire, a multimillionaire – was on board with this wife. And of course, they had the most palatial reservations on board. They were traveling in great style. Did they know that soon they’ll be at the bottom of the Atlantic? They didn’t dream. And the Titanic suddenly hit an iceberg over Nova Scotia, and it split and it went down into the sea. He was standing on the deck with his wife and watching the boat go down; and they went down together. They drowned.
That’s just a little mashal, a mashal for us to learn from. No matter how powerful you are, and you’re full of ambition, don’t put off anything and say “Not now. I’ll do it later.” Because כי לא ידע האדם את עתו – a man doesn’t know his time.
TAPE # E-156
