Parashas Chayei Sarah

Our Parsha this Shabbos is Parashas Chayei Sarah and starts off sadly with the passing of Sarah . The Haftorah for this Parsha is 1Kings 1 : 1 - 31. Both the Parsha and the Haftorah deal with the passing of Holy people , The Parsha with the succession of Sarah and Avraham's generation that would pass to Yitzchak and the Haftorah with the succession from David leading to his son Shlomo .
Our Parsha this week starts out mentioning the age of Sarah and it is referred to as the "Chayei " - " Life of " Sarah even though Torah is referring to her passing . This is very much the case with holy people , for though their time has come to pass on , that very passing on , is part of living , for the soul is ever on a journey , whether it is in a body or out of one , or in whatever spiritual or physical state it is in or within . Torah also puts it this way for Sarah and holy people live every day they live for HaShem and not for themselves , and this is True Living .
We note that Torah separates it into three different periods of years , where it gives the lifetime of Sarah , as One Hundred years and Twenty years and Seven years . The reason for this is that on the day of Sarah's passing , at 127 years , Sarah was as free of sin at 127 as she was at 100 years and Sarah was as free of sin at 100 years as she was at 20 years , which according to some sages , is the year a person is responsible for sins they do , though we know also it is at Bar and Bat Mitzvah age too . Also , Sarah was as innocent and free of sin at 20 years as a person who is an innocent and pure beautiful child of seven years .
But how did the death of Sarah come to be .
When Avraham took Yitzchak to the Akeidah , we are told that Satan came and told her that her husband was about to sacrifice their son . Sarah got up quickly and went to the three giants who lived in Kiriath-arba , which actually means the 'City of the Four ' ( in reference to the four Giants that lived there - Ahiman , Sheshai and Talmai ( Numbers 13:22 and their Father Arba ( the name of the place ) ( Midrash Says - Rabbi Weissman ) , and she asked them , seeing they were so tall , to look into the distance to see if they could see her husband and son , and they reported to her that they could see he was about to sacrifice his son . At that moment of fright , her soul left her body and she passed on and so does Torah say that she died in Kiriath -arba . But why Did HaShem Permit Satan to do this to her ? Here we link up with the Haforah , for Sarah was so Holy as was King David , that their souls couldn't be taken any usual way for they were constantly immersed in Torah , so Satan had to divert their attention from their studies of Torah contemplation so that their souls could be taken . This is what happened with Sarah and the same with David , who was also immersed in Torah and Satan had to divert his attention by rustling the trees outside his window , so when he put his head up to look , his soul could be taken . Sadly , their time had come . ( A link between the Parsha and the Haftorah ) . Only HaShem Knows Why and we trust Him , for He Does What He Does for the benefit of Creation and the person who passes on to the next stage of spiritual development .
And as the life of the Jew , that can not at this time enjoy full happiness till the Temple is Rebuilt , so must we go through suffering and cannot truly have full happiness till Moshiach comes , so must we remember the destruction of the Two Temples we lost . This is why we break a cup at the Simcha of a wedding , so as to remember the destruction of the Temples , even at a happy Simcha . So did Avraham return , elated after the Akeidah , happy that his son still lives only to find that his dearly beloved wife had passed on .
And so he needed to seek a burial place for his wife . In the previous Parsha , I mentioned how when Avraham had in trying to prepare for the angels meals , had ended up running into the Cave Of Machpelah near Mamre in Chevron and smelling the sweet holiness of fragrance of Gan Eiden in that cave and knew this was the place that Adam and Chava were buried and that this was the place of entry into Gan Eiden , so it was this Cave , on the plot owned by Ephron the Hittite that Avraham sought as a burial place for Sarah his wife and he managed to purchase this site for our people for all time , but at an exorbitant price .
It was there that Avraham buried Sarah his wife and at the same time , reburied Adam and Chava , who , till that time couldn't rest for feelings of what they had done in Gan Eiden and so , with the coming of Avraham and Sarah and when they were buried there , being such holy people , that had brought HaShem's Shechinah back to Earth , Adam and Chava could finally find rest and peace .
We note that in the Torah , the word used for " eulogize " is " Veliv'cotah , " where the " Caf ", letter is made smaller . This makes the word " Liv'cotah " look like two separate words " Lev " and " Tah ('ah ) " where Lev means " Heart " and " Tah'ah " means " Wonder , " as the heart of those who remain in mourning for the one passed think and wonder so very deeply at the loss of the one passed .
With Sarah's passing , the Shabbos Lights that miraculously burnt from one week to the next ( because Sarah always lit Shabbos Lights ) extinguished , as did the Cloud over her tent leave ( because of her modest Tznius ) and the dough baked by her ceased its sweetness and fragrant essence - the three Mitzvos of a Jewish Women encumbent on her specifically .
Avraham felt his years and so knew he had to continue the succession , and so called for his beloved steward , in charge of his house , Eliezer to sware by Abraham's Bris Mila to get a wife for Yitzchak from Avraham's kindred , a wife brought up with the family Chesed Kindness , and even though Eliezer hoped his own daughter might have an opportunity to marry Yitzchak , Eliezer hearing that this could not be , still faithfully did his master's bidding . He took ten camels and his master's bounty and traveled to Aram Naharaim to the city of Nahor , the home of Avrahan's kindred to find a wife for Yitzchak . The journey , that usually took 17 days , this time miraculously only took a few hours . And so Eliezer arrived at the well and asked HaShem that the woman who comes and offers him drink and the camles too , will be the one designated for Yitzchak . The Rabbis don't all agree with his action of testing HaShem , for anyone , might have come to the well , that wasn't from his master's kindred , but HaShem Made his mission successful , for on that moment that he was just finishing praying this request , did Rivka , the daughter of Bethuel , from his master's kindred , come to the well for the first time with a jug on her shoulder and he approached her and requested the drink to which she responded that she give him drink and his camels also.
To fully appreciate Rivka's Chesed , one has to realize the greatness of the action she did on her own as a female . A camel drinks vast amounts of water for they store water , so she had to , on her own , with no assistance , keep running back and forth to the well ( a place of holiness to meet one's intended , for a well is like the Wellsprings of Torah , just like at the first meeting place of Yaakov and Rachel ) for the camels for each of the ten camels to have their fill . This was truly an act of Chesed Kindness . Eliezer gave her the jewelry and asked about her family and when he heard that she was the daughter of Bethuel , he , Eliezer Blessed HaShem for HaShem's Kindness at making his mission successful . Rivka told him of lodging and straw for the camels . Rivka ran and told her family and Lavan , her brother , seeing the wealthy jewelry , ran out to Eliezer thinking it was Avraham and asked him to come inside . Eliezer waited outside , for he knew that Lavan was an idolworshipper who kept idols in the house , but Lavan told him he had cleared the house , but even the camels refused to enter .
Eliezer entered and Bethuel , Rivka's father thinking that this was Avraham , planned to kill him and take his bounty and so he poisoned his drink and food . Some say one or the other . But Eliezer refused to eat or drink till he had had his say for his master and so , did faithful Eliezer tell of his master and Yitzchak and his reason for coming . It was when he sat down and said that Avraham is his master that they realized this was not Avraham . During this time , HaShem Sent a Malach Angel , that changed around the food , so that Eliezer was saved and Bethuel , died that very day . Thus did they want Rivka to wait an extra year or ten months in mourning for her Father .
Eliezer proceeded to tell his story before that and the townspeople wondered would Bethuel do the same for his own daughter that he forced upon others , that when a maiden got married , he Bethuel would be the first to take that maiden and ruin her and so , the townspeople planned that very next day that if Bethuel doesn't do the same to his daughter they would once and for all attack him and his family , thus the demise of Bethuel actually saved the rest of the family . HaShem's Ways Are So Deep And All-Knowing And Beyond us and our limited intelligence .
They asked Rivka if she wants to go and she said yes and they escorted her and her nurse Devorah , who was like a close sister figure to her that she was always very close to and they gave her a parting curse in the appearance of a blessing saying that she must become thousands of myriads , and because of this , her pregnancy was delayed for many years , 20 years in total , so that no one could say it was because of Lavan's idol worshiping family that she had children , and so , after 20 years , all knew it was not because of her family's words that she was Blessed with children , but it was By HaShem Only .
And so did Rivka follow Eliezer back to his home . On the way , Yitzchak had gone to Daven Pray at Beer-lahai-roi . Our Rabbis tell us that he had gone there , knowing that Eliezer had gone to fetch him a wife and so he felt sad for his Father Avraham and so he went to the South Country to bring back Hagar for his Father . It was there that Yitzchak was first seen by Rivka and when she realized the holy man with a light around him , she covered her face out of Tznius . Yitzchak , married her and so was he consoled for his Mother , for when Rivka entered the Tent of Sarah , so did the same three miracles that happened for Sarah occur again , for Rivka was holy and to be the next Mother of our people . Avraham wasnt sure that Eliezer had been totally pure with Rivka on the way for Canaanites were known for immorality and so , HaShem rewarded Eliezer with entry into Gan Eiden alive when his time came , for Eliezer had remained totally modest and pure to Rivka and a very faithful servant of Avraham ..
We are then told that Avraham remarried a woman called Keturah , who the majority of our Sages tell us was Hagar with a changed name , for Keturah is like ' ketores ' - ' incense ' for her deeds were sweet smelling , beautiful and modest as incense , and also ' Keturah ' means ' Restrained ' for from the time she left Avraham , she never went near another man but remained restrained and so did Avraham have more children but Avraham gave all that he had to Yitzchak and Avraham sent these children away from Yitzchak , to the East .
Torah then tells us of Avraham's passing at the age of 175 . It was so Avraham would not see the blatancy of Eisav's idol worshiping ways , that Avraham passed away earlier .
The same format is metioned here for Avaham , where the years are split into three different formats of years , for the similar reasons that Sarah's years were split into periods , for Avraham lived every moment in holiness and Avraham was as Holy and sinless at 175 as he was at 100 , when he became the Father of Yitzchak . He was as holy then as he was sinless at 70 and he was as fresh and faithfully following of HaShem , at 70 , as Avraham was at five years , when he spoke to HaShem as a child , when Avraham had worked out and known at that tender age , that HaShem Is The One And Only G-D And Creator of Creation . Avraham was buried with Sarah in the Cave of Machpelah near Mamre in Chevron , the place where Adam and Chavah were resting . And so , could the first couple Adam ' and ' ' Ve ' Chava now truly be at rest . Both Yitzchak and Yishmael buried their Father and Yishmael gave honor to Yitzchak over himself .
In these later years , Yishmael respected Yitzchak's right from their Father and because of this , Yishmael too , had become repentant in his later years and repented of his sins and so is he credited and rewarded by also being mentioned at the end of the Parsha . But he was still not holy as was Sarah and Avraham , and so his years are not written in separate formats . His 12 children or princes are listed and so ends the Parsha . Yishmael died just before Eisav married Yishmael's firstborn son Nebaioth's sister , Mahalath . Here the Parsha ends .
The passing of one generation to come to the next , is not an end of that generation , but an advance for that generation that has passed , to go to the next level of climb to HaShem . As it mentions how Avraham " died at a good old age , mature and content , " it shows that Avraham had fulfilled his holy destiny in his life , making each moment of his life , a serving of HaShem , as did Sarah .
So should we too be the same , not living for ourselves , but only for HaShem . Our lives are not ours to waste , but we are to make every moment of it count and use every opportunity to rise spiritually to HaShem , keeping His Commandments and making this Olam Hazeh Present World a true preparation to work within it to enter Olam HaBah The World To Come At The End Of days , and so , truly " Live . ' Let us not waste a single moment of our lives with frivolity and physical desires and pursuits that have no value or future . Let us all focus on HaShem , every moment that He Gives us Life , and Work toward Him and truly Live Forever in His Loving Arms .
The very fact that such holy people that passed , are described as " Chayei " - " Life of " shows us how , even though they have passed , they are still with us , within every Jew , through the holy line from them , as they live within us , as long as we keep to the common thread that runs through every Jew , the common thread of Torah and Torah Mitzvos . Through Torah , we live and through Torah we live eternally , for it is Torah , that keeps our very selves connected to the Holiness Of HaShem , that runs within each and every Jew . To be an observant Jew , that strictly follows HaShem's Torah , is to truly link to Eternity , to link to HaShem and His Intended Direction for Creation . For all is one and we are all HaShem's Creation and The Living Torah Lives within us all , if we would only Grasp It and take hold of It , and be at one with Torah . For to be at one with Torah and our fellow Jew who follows HaShem's Words of Torah, is to bring Creation to Olam Habah , as one, and to Live Eternally in HaShem's Light and Love .
I wish HaShem With Forever Love , A Sweet and Beautiful Shabbos Kodesh with Love , and to all of Creation , a Sweet and Beautiful Shabbos Kodesh with Love .