不同的生日方略Different Birthday Approaches

（ChatGPT was applied for translation from Chinese. 中文在后面）

Chinese people eat longevity noodles on birthdays and avoid saying unlucky words.

Westerners eat cake on birthdays, light candles, make a wish while blowing out the candles, and everyone sings “Happy Birthday” for them.

However, in the Bible, none of the “good people” celebrate birthdays. Only “Gentiles” such as Pharaoh (Genesis 40:20), or “bad people” such as King Herod (Mark 6:21), hold birthday banquets. The birthdays of “good people” are not recorded in the Bible, but sometimes the day of their death is recorded—for example, the death day of the high priest Aaron (Numbers 33:38) was on the first day of the fifth month of the sacred calendar (which was July 10 in the solar calendar of 2021). Ecclesiastes 7:1 even says, “A good name is better than fine ointment, and the day of death is better than the day of birth.”

But in real life, if Jewish children are told not to celebrate birthdays in order to follow the Bible, won’t they envy when they see children of other peoples celebrating birthdays? It doesn’t matter—adults also have many things to teach Jewish children to do on their birthdays.
A Jewish-style birthday can include:

On the birthday, when saying the daily routine prayers, one should be especially focused, speaking to the Creator who granted him life, using the mouth that He created.
Study the Bible and spiritual books, listening to the words spoken by the Creator who granted him life, using the ears and brain that He created.
Read Psalm number X + 1, where X is one’s age (so X + 1 is the numbering of one’s current birthday—the day of birth counts as the first birthday).
Give charity, do housework, help others, clean the environment, recycle waste, plant a tree, or do other good deeds, because on one’s birthday one should remind oneself that the Lord sent him into the world and also granted him the ability to bring about changes—whether small or great—in the world. He should use this ability to make the world better, not worse.
Eat newly ripened seasonal fruits, and say two prayers:First: “Blessed are You, Creator, our God, King of the universe, who created the fruit of the tree.”Second: “Blessed are You, Creator, our God, King of the universe, who has given us life, preserved us, and brought us to this season.”

What impresses us is the contrast in point 4: ordinary people’s birthdays are for enjoying others’ congratulations and treats (and if family members don’t prepare well enough, they may even get angry), but a Jewish birthday is for helping others and improving the world. Thinking carefully, indeed this is the true purpose of human life in this world. Enjoyment should not be the purpose of life. Speaking of enjoyment, won’t returning to the heavenly home be far more enjoyable than being in this world? Of course, as seen in point 5, the enjoyments of this world are also good, because they are good opportunities to bless the Creator. May we also seize the opportunity of life in this world to make it more beautiful, and seize the opportunities of enjoyment in life to praise the gracious Creator!

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不同的生日方略

中国人生日吃长寿面，不说不吉利的话。

西方人生日吃蛋糕，点上蜡烛，吹灭蜡烛时许个愿，大家为他唱歌“祝你生日快乐”。

可是，圣经里的“好人”们没有一个庆祝生日的，只有“外邦人”如法老王（创40：20）, 或“坏人”如希律王（可6：21），才摆设生日宴席。“好人”们的生日圣经里也都没有记载，倒是去世日却有时记载，如大祭司亚伦的去世日（民33：38）是圣历五月初一（2021年的阳历是7月10日）。传道书 7:1甚至说，“名誉强如美好的膏油。人死的日子，胜过人生的日子。”

可是，现实生活中的犹太儿童，如果让他们为了遵循圣经而不过生日，那么当他们看到外族儿童庆祝生日，难道不会羡慕吗？不要紧，大人们也会有很多事教犹太儿童们在生日做的。一个犹太风格的生日可以包括：

1. 在生日这天作每日例行祷告时，要特别专心，向赐他生命的造物主说话，使用祂所造的嘴巴。

2. 学习圣经和属灵书籍，聆听赐他生命的造物主所说的话，使用祂所造的耳朵和大脑。

3. 阅读诗篇第X+1篇，X是自己的年龄。（所以X+1就是自己的第几个生日，出生的那天算第1个生日。）

4. 捐献，做家务，帮助别人，清理环境，废物回收，种一颗树，或做其他的好事，因为生日这天要提醒自己，主差他来到人间，也赐他能力可以使世界可以发生或小或大的改变。他应该使用这能力使世界变得更好，而不是使之变得更坏。

5. 吃新上市的季节性的水果，作两句祷告：

第一句：“称颂祢，造物主，我们的神，宇宙的王，祂创造了树上的果子。”

第二句：“称颂祢，造物主，我们的神，宇宙的王，祂赐予我们生命，保存我们活着，带领我们到达这个季节。”

令我们印象深刻的对比是第4条，一般人生日是要享受别人祝贺款待的（亲人准备得不合意还要发脾气），而犹太人生日却是要帮助别人改善人间的，仔细想想，确实这才是人生在世的目的。享受应该不是人生的目的。论享受, 回天家后比在人间时不是享受得更好吗？当然，从第5条来看，在人间的享受也是很好的，因为这应该是为之称颂造物主的好机会。愿我们也抓住人生在世的机会，努力使人间变得更美好，也抓住享受人生的机会赞美施恩惠的造物主！

参见

https://judaism.stackexchange.com/questions/59074/things-to-do-on-ones-hebrew-birthday

（本文原型笔者曾刊登于以马内利社区。）