Dear Friends;
I hope that you’ll enjoy the following Parasha summary followed by a Dvar Torah;
” The Parshah in a Nutshell ”
Sarah dies at age 127 and is buried in the Machpeilah Cave in
Hebron, which Avraham purchases from Ephron the Hittite for 400 shekels of
silver.
Avraham’s servant, Eliezer, is sent with gifts to Charan,
Avraham’s hometown, to find a wife for Isaac. At the village well, Eliezer asks
G-d for a sign: when the maidens come to the well, he will ask for some water to
drink; the woman who will offer to give his camels to drink as well, shall be
the one destined for his master’s son.
Rebecca, the daughter of Avraham’s
nephew, appears at the well and passes the “test”. Rebecca returns with Eliezer
to the land of Canaan, where they encounter Isaac. Isaac marries Rebecca, loves
her, and is comforted over the loss of his mother.
Avraham takes a new wife, Keturah (Hagar) and fathers six additional sons, but Isaac is designated as his only heir. Avraham dies at age 175 and is buried beside Sarah by his two
eldest sons, Isaac and Ishmael.
” Dvar Torah ”
Parashat Chayei Sarah recounts the death of Sarah, the purchase of a cemetery plot for her, and the marriage of her son, Isaac. The parsha starts off by saying that Sarah’s
lifetime was 127 years, and Sarah “dies” in Hebron in the land of Canaan……
Yet, the parsha is called “Chayei Sarah”, the Life of Sarah. Usually the name of
the parsha is related to the topic discussed in the Parsha. For example,
Parashat Bereshit talks about the beginning and the creation; Parashat Noach is
about Noach; Parashat Yitro talks about Yitro; Parashat Balak is about a king
called Balak, and so on. So why is the parsha called “the life of Sarah”, where
in fact, the Parsha is about the death of Sarah?! What’s the connection between
Sarah’s death and Sarah’s life?!
Rabbi Wizman from Orthodox Union has an
interesting explanation to this dilemma. He says that a person’s life can be
viewed through his or her achievements. And Sarah’s greatest achievement in life
was to bear Isaac. Sarah, raised a son who would continue going in the path of
G-d, and would willfully sacrifice his life for the sake of G-d. Sarah did not
just raise a child, she raised a future Patriarch for the Jewish nation. The
story of Isaac’s life is, in essence, the story of Sarah’s life. And that’s why
Parashat Chayei Sarah talks about Sarah’s death rather than her life, because
Sarah’s death reflects the accomplishments of her life! Now we can understand
why the main topic of discussion in the parsha is about Isaac, and not about
Sarah. Because Sarah’s legacy lives through Isaac.
Some Chachamim go as far as to say that Sarah even achieved a greater level of prophecy than Avraham did. Sarah’s determination to raise a future Patriarch of the Jewish nation
explains her concern over Ishmael’s influence. She knew that Ishmael’s behavior
could corrupt Isaac and pull him from the path of G-d. But Avraham,
unfortunately, did not see that. That’s why when Sarah asked Avraham to send
away Ishmael and his mother, Avraham got upset. But Hashem told him that Sarah
is right and he should listen to her. In raising Isaac to be a G-d fearing
person, Sarah played a more important role than Avraham did. Sarah merits to
have a Parsha named after her, because she raised her only son, in the best
possible way she could!
Yes my friends, our greatest achievements in life are our children! We all live a short period of time in this world and then we kiss this world goodbye. Our legacy, however, lives through our children. How we raise them and present them to the society is the reflection of our own beliefs and behaviors. And in raising the children, mothers play a much more
important role than the fathers.
But you may ask yourself, why did Hashem give such an important task to women rather than to men?! Well, the answer is quite simple. Not to our surprise, the Chachamim say that women have more patience and understanding. They are better decision makers in difficult situations. Believe it or not, they are more spiritual than men. They are more
caring and although not proven scientifically, but the Torah thinks that they
are more intelligent too! If the Torah showed so much appreciation for Sarah’s
uprising of Isaac by naming a Parsha after her, then how much more we should
have respect for our wives for raising our children! Raising children is one of
the most difficult tasks that anyone can do, and Hashem has put women in charge
of them. We raise our hats to them all!
So, the leason of this week’s Parsha is that the greatest accomplishment in our lives are our children, and the greatest gift given to us by G-d, is our wife. May G-d bless them all!
Shabbat Shalom & Regards;
Martin