"And the life of Sarah was one hundred years and twenty years and seven years; these were the years of the life of Sarah. And Sarah died in Kiryat Arba, which is Hebron" (Genesis 23:1-2)
Abraham & Sarah were quite the incredible couple. The modern world as we know it would've been completely different without them. These 2 people embarked on a journey - defying all odds and braving nearly impossible hurdles - to spread the concept of one G-d to the pagan world around them. In this week's Torah portion, Chayei Sarah ("The Life of Sarah"), the Torah opens, ironically, by recounting Sarah's death! We learned about the life of Sarah in the past Torah portions; yet the name of those portions have no mention of Sarah. Yet now that we read about Sarah's passing, the title of the portion is "The life of Sarah"! What's going on?
Many of us see commercials of all kinds. Some of the most glaringly ironic commercials, are those for cigarettes. Two beautiful people, smiling with bright white teeth, hold cigarettes. On the bottom corner is a large warning that smoking this is hazardous, can harm pregnancies and could lead to death. The title on the top says: "Living life with pleasure." But what does it mean to really be alive? Is it simply biological; breathing, walking, talking, doing business? Many people who can do these things will tell you they feel dead. They don't feel emotionally alive, intellectually alive, spiritually alive. To live, to be happy, comes when one makes a difference in the world around them for the good. This is what the Torah is teaching us with these opening words, the title of this week's Torah portion. Some people impact the world, but in undesirable ways, with the effect that people are happy when they are gone. Others however, live such positively impactful lives, that even when they're not around physically, they still influence us. Sarah lived thousands of years ago, yet we still speak about her. Her impact on her husband, her son, and the world around her was such, that it didn't die with her. The Torah is teaching us that if you want to truly see one's life, you have to look at their spiritual life. The Talmud states: The wicked even in their lifetimes are called dead, and the righteous, even in death, are called alive. So if we want to really know about the life of Sarah, we have to begin at her passing. Then we can see the knowledge & wisdom she passed on to her son, the impact her life had on the world around her.
May we work to emulate our amazing mother Sarah, living our lives in a meaningful way and impacting the world around us for the good, in a way that our lives can be felt as really living. (Based on a talk by Rabbi Simon Jacobson)
Shabbat Shalom!
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