Kohelet (the Book of Ecclesiastes)frequently bemoans the worker who never stops working, and calls for a person to set aside labor to enjoy life with food and drink. In accordance with the literal meaning, moderate enjoyment of whatever gives you pleasure in life is called for. Indeed, the Sages have a sharp warning for ascetics: “In the future, a person will be held accountable for all that his eyes saw yet he didn’t eat.”[i]
But on a deeper level, the Sages interpret the terms “eating” and “drinking” throughout Kohelet as a metaphor for Torah and good deeds.[ii] Our retirement, really, should be a “re-Torahment” – a rededication to the good deeds and Torah learning that the demands of raising and supporting a family perforce scaled down.
This approach, based on the Talmud and the Rambam, provides a sure path toward success based on substance and personal discipline. The Western approach, apart from being increasingly unrealistic, always promoted fun while masking the downsides of a life without purpose. Studies have linked early retirements to higher rates of cognitive decline,[iii] memory decline,[iv] and illnesses such as dementia,[v] for example. How much better it would be to progress towards a stage where one can spend more time in the beit midrash (study hall) or in mentoring grandchildren while giving adult children some much-needed time off and more reliable babysitting resources. In so doing, a couple can also build a solid legacy through family and by playing a role in one’s community which, historically, was both the privilege and responsibility of a generation’s elders.
[i] Talmud Yerushalmi, Kiddushin 4:12.
[ii] Kohelet Rabbah 2:24.
[iii] Jo Mhairi Hale, Maarten J. Bijlsma, and Angelo Lorentib, “Does postponing retirement affect cognitive function? A counterfactual experiment to disentangle life course risk factors,” SSM – Population Health 15, September 2021.
[iv] Sara Carmel and Aviad Tur-Sinai, “Cognitive decline among European retirees: impact of early retirement, nation-related and personal characteristics,” Ageing & Society, 2021.
[v] Anna Sundström, Michael Rönnlund and Maria Josefsson, “A nationwide Swedish study of age at retirement and dementia risk,” International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 35, no. 10, October 2020.