AL TASHLICHEINU K'E ZIKNA - DO NOT THROW US OFF IN OLD AGE.
This statement taken from the Shma Kolenu we say on Yom Kippur and
> during Selichos has much wisdom to it yet seems to be exaggerated. We all
> strive for... a long, healthy and active life. Who among us wouldn't
> it. Why... Al Tashlichenu L'Eis Ziknah...?
Unfortunately, the answer is all too obvious to me. The key phrase is
"Kichlos Kochenu". But... you may ask, isn't it just the natural process
to weaken when we get older? It is to be expected. Of course the old grow weaker but that is not contrary to enjoying the golden years.
R. Chaim Boruch Faskowitz Z'L explained that when the
elderly go down, they sometimes detriorate very rapidly. It is common that an
independant, healthy elderly person fals and breaks a hip and within
a month is incapacitated, ill, unalbe to live alone and begins to
lose mental capacity. That's "al tashlikheinu" - a rapid process of
detrioration. We ask that, if such is the decree above, even our old age should be "k'chlos kocheinu", a slower process of weakening so we, and those dear to us, can adjust to it.
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