The Game of Life

Some say that there are no real winners in the game of life. 

Really?! They’re wrong! There are winners in the game of life, but you have to know what game you are playing.  

What is the game of life? What’s the objective?  

According to the Ramchal in his masterpiece The Path of the Just, our purpose, our objective, in life is to gain merit for the next world.  

The meaning of life is summed up perfectly by the great Sage Rabbi Ya’akov in Ethics of the Fathers: 

This world is comparable to the antechamber before the World to Come. Prepare yourself in the antechamber, so that you may enter the banquet hall. (Pirkei Avot 4:16) 

Victory is a mitzvah. Triumph is Torah. Greatness is a good deed.  

Serving Hashem is the only thing in life you can do God’s way – and that way is the true path to victory.  

Serving Hashem is the only thing in life that you can do God’s way to ensure that you’re on the true path to victory. When you play by Hashem’s rules, you win the game of life.  

The Means and the End 

If you achieve something by deviating from God’s path to get it, then Hashem didn’t want you to have it. If you must lie and cheat along the way to get ahead in life, then you weren’t meant to be there.  

Conversely, if you are honest, don’t speak ill about others, and work hard while not neglecting your loved ones, then Hashem put you in this world to occupy this place.  

That’s emunah – believing that you will be exactly where He wants you to be in life by doing everything the way Hashem commands you in His Torah.  

Does that mean you will be subservient to evildoers and lose the game?  

The evildoers might begin the game of life with a head start and hold that lead late into the fourth quarter, but in the end, Hashem disqualifies them, and the evildoers lose the game.  

God tells us through His king David: 

Do not compete with the evildoers; do not envy those who commit injustice. (Psalm 37:1).  

He further instructs us in the same Psalm:  

Commit your way to the Lord, and trust in Him, and He will act. (Psalm 37: 5). 

It’s all summed up a few lines later: 

Wait for the Lord and hope for Him; do not compete with one whose way prospers; with a man who executes malicious plans. (Psalm 37:7) 

When the final score is announced, the righteous always win. 

The righteous do it by acquiring the only assets that carry on for eternity – mitzvot. The very concept of making a Will is that all the money, property, contacts, and businesses you’ve acquired in your lifetime are inevitably distributed to others. 

When you leave the antechamber, everything stays behind – except for your mitzvot.  

The Absolute Fairness of God 

If winning in life meant money, the game would be rigged towards those who know best how to make it. If winning in life meant strength, the game would be rigged towards those who were given bigger muscles. If winning in life meant fame, the game would be rigged towards those born into aristocracy.  

In God’s “game of life,” everybody can play, and everybody can win. A billionaire can give millions to charity and a pauper can put one of his remaining three coins in the tzedakah box – and receive more merit.  

A programmer can spend all night reading up on class inheritance software code while his co-worker can invest the night in the Code of Jewish Law and Gemara.  

A husband can invest the day earning a livelihood for his family while his wife manages the day-to-day tasks of every family member, and they both win. 

The man can say thank you to his wife and the wife can say I love you and they both win.  

The infinite opportunities to win where it counts are available for everyone – rich and poor, famous and unknown.  

The Ramchal warns us to be righteous because if we aren’t, and the person shining our shoes is, we will be their servants in the world of Eternity. That’s equal opportunity. That’s an even playing field.  

Hashem, in His infinite love and compassion for all His creatures, allows everyone to put as many points as possible on the board until the final buzzer.  

The truth is, in the game of life, everybody can be a winner! 

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David Ben Horin lives in Afula with his family, millions of sunflowers, and Matilda, our local camel. David‘s Israeli startup, Center Stage Marketing, is a lean marketing agency for startups and small businesses that creates and promotes SEO optimized ROI-driven to the right audience on LinkedIn to make your business the star of the show.