The story is told of a man named Harry whose business had fallen on hard times. He goes to shul and prays: God, I don’t often ask you for things, but my business is failing, and I need a miracle now. Please help me win the lottery. The lottery happens, and he doesn’t win. He is feeling the financial squeeze. If he doesn’t get help soon, he might lose his house. So off he goes to shul and prays: God, my business is going belly up, I don’t want to lose my house. Please help me win the lottery. The next week, the lottery happens again, and he doesn’t win. Off he goes to shul a third time and prays: God, my business has failed, it looks like we’re not going to keep our house, my health is deteriorating, my marriage is on the rocks. Please help me win the lottery. To his utter amazement, something happens right then and there that had never ever happened to Harry before: God answered back. From the heavens God thundered: Harry, I would like to help you win the lottery, I really would, but first you have to buy a ticket!

I thought about that old joke one day this summer when I read about a woman named

Louise Levy who died this summer in Greenwich, Connecticut at the age of 112. She enjoyed remarkably good health until almost the very end of her life. She got to be 111, with no high cholesterol. No heart disease. No diabetes. No Alzheimer’s. Louise Levy enjoyed such extraordinary health and longevity that she was selected to be part of a study on aging. Seven hundred Ashkenazi Jews, all 95 years or older, were studied to learn more about the reasons for their unusual health and longevity.

Was her secret how she ate, a particular kind of diet? No.

Was her secret regular exercise? No.

Was her secret that she had a glass of red wine every night at dinner, or that she never drank? No.

Was her secret that she was an active member of a faith community? It would have been fabulous if that had been her secret, but no.

What then was the secret to her longevity? The answer is genes, very lucky genes.