The name of this week's Torah portion is Chayei Sarah, "Life of Sarah." This seems a strange title for a portion that tells of Sarah's demise and events connected with her passing.
The Torah portion speaks of three things: a) Avraham's purchase of the Me'aras HaMachpeilah and Sarah's internment there; b) Yitzchak's marriage; and c) Avraham's taking Keturah as his wife.
All these events are related to Sarah's passing:
Avraham purchased the Me'aras HaMachpeilah after Sarah's death so that she could be buried there; he made no effort to purchase the cave while his wife was alive.
Yitzchak's marriage came about as a result of the Akeidah, for it was then that Avraham realized that had anything untoward happened to the lad, he would have passed on without children.[1] And it was the Akeidah that precipitated Sarah's passing.[2] Avraham's marriage to Keturah was also connected to Sarah's demise.
Moreover, even the first verse of the portion - "Sarah lived 127 years..." - relates to her passing, as the years of one's life are counted after one has passed on.
Since all the events in the Torah portion are related to Sarah's demise, why is it titled "Chayei Sarah," "Life of Sarah"?
In Iggeres HaKodesh,[3] the Alter Rebbe quotes the Zohar:[4] "When a tzaddik departs from the world, he is to be found in all worlds more than in his lifetime." He explains that the life of a truly righteous individual is a life of the spirit; filled with faith, awe and love of G-d. These three aspects are to be found to an even greater degree after a tzaddik's demise, since the limitations of the physical are then lifted.
The three events that highlight this Torah portion thus reflect its title, since they allude to aspects of Sarah's service that reached their culmination only after her departure:
The Gemara[5] notes that a man brings only raw food into the house; it is his wife who transforms it into tasty meals. Thus the wife is called the "mainstay of the house," for she refines that which her husband brings home.
The same was so with regard to Avraham and Sarah. Avraham was removed from worldly matters, for which reason he felt that it would be possible for Yishmael to be his heir - he saw Yishmael's potential rather than his actual state.[6] It was Sarah who saw Yishmael for what he truly was. She was also able to convince Avraham that Yitzchak become his rightful heir.[7]
So too, the three events described in the Torah portion came about through the influence of Sarah and constituted her true life:
Although Avraham had the ability to use physicality for the sake of G-dliness, he limited his interaction with the physical either to that which was actually part of himself - the commandment of milah - or that which belonged to him. Through Sarah, however, sanctity was brought into a portion of the world that was external to her - it was because of Sarah that Avraham purchased (and thereby elevated[8]) the Me'aras HaMachpeilah.
The second tale in the Torah portion, that of Yitzchak's marriage, is also connected to Sarah, for it was she who convinced Avraham that Yishmael could not be his heir. In order for Yitzchak to be considered the Patriarch's rightful heir, it was of course necessary that he marry and have children.
Moreover, while Avraham fathered Yishmael, and had children from Keturah as well, Sarah had only Yitzchak. She therefore felt the need for Yitzchak to marry and carry on the lineage more acutely.
So too with regard to Avraham's marriage to Keturah and his fathering of children with her. It was because of Sarah that "Avraham gave all that he had to Yitzchak,"[9] while to the other children "he gave presents and sent them away from his son Yitzchak."[10]
Based on Likkutei Sichos, Vol. V, pp. 338-342.
Notes:
- (Back to text) See Rashi, Bereishis 22:20.
- (Back to text) Ibid., 23:2.
- (Back to text) Epistle XXVII.
- (Back to text) Vol. III, p. 71b.
- (Back to text) Yevamos 63a.
- (Back to text) See Bereishis 17:18 and commentary of Rashi. See also Or HaTorah, Chayei Sarah, discourse titled R. B'na'ah.
- (Back to text) See Bereishis 25:5 and commentaries of Rabboseinu Baalei HaTosafos and Kli Yakar. See also Bereishis Rabbah 61:6.
- (Back to text) See Bereishis 23:17 and commentary of Rashi; Bereishis Rabbah 13:17.
- (Back to text) Bereishis 25:5.
- (Back to text) Ibid., verse 6.
The Zohar
[1] on the verse
[2] "Sarah died in Kiryat Arba, which is Chevron, in the land of Canaan" comments that "Sarah" alludes to the body and "Avraham" alludes to the soul.
Accordingly, we must understand the meaning of the verse[3] in which G-d tells Avraham: "Listen to whatever Sarah tells you to do." Seemingly, it is the body that should obey the bidding of the soul, and not the other way round?
The Baal Shem Tov[4] made the following comment on the verse[5] "When you see a donkey of your enemy lying under its burden, you might want to refrain from helping it, [but instead] you must aid it:"
"When you see a donkey" (in Hebrew chamor, related to the word chomer, materialism) - means when you carefully examine your chomer, your material concerns, you will realize that they are your enemy. For at the outset of one's spiritual service and at the beginning of one's life, body and soul are enemies.
Moreover, the body "lies under its load." The "load" referred to is the "burden" of Torah and mitzvos. For notwithstanding the fact that it is "its own burden" - that Torah and mitzvos were given to the soul as it becomes clothed within a body so that the body may be refined - nevertheless the body regards Torah and mitzvos as a burden.
Aside from the fact that Torah and mitzvos were given specifically to souls clothed within bodies, the mitzvos as well are clad in physical garments.
This is so not only regarding the "action" commandments, but even those commandments that are classified as "duties of the mind and heart" - mitzvos such as belief in G-d, loving and fearing Him - are only fulfilled when actually felt in one's physical mind and heart.
An example would be love of G-d. Just as physical "glad tidings 'fattens the bone' "[6] as the Gemara relates[7] an incident where glad tidings brought about an actual physical change in the body, so too with regard to love of G-d. The feeling that "G-d's closeness to me is good"[8] should also be discerned in the body.
Thus we find that Rabbi Nochum of Chernobyl was physically large as a result of reciting "Amen, May His great Name be blessed forever and to all eternity." For when he pondered G-d's greatness, that He is to be found in all worlds, including this physical world, he was filled with such love of G-d and delight in Him that it caused his body to become stout.
The same is true with regard to fear and awe of G-d. Not only should it cause a spiritual constriction in mind and heart, it should be felt physically as well.
The Baal Shem Tov goes on to interpret the verse: "You will refrain from helping it" - You may think that since the body "lies under its load" you will occupy yourself with spiritual service that relates strictly to the soul, while you will break down the body through fasting and mortification. The person is therefore told: "You must aid it," i.e., purify the body, refine it, but do not break it.
The reason for making the body a full partner in one's spiritual service is as follows:
Even if a person were to have all the proper spiritual intentions associated with the performance of a mitzvah, if he fails to perform the actual deed, then he has not only failed to fulfill the mitzvah, but has actually transgressed.
But if the deed is done while the intention is lacking - whether because the person doesn't know the correct intention, or he knows it but didn't think of it - then, while he is held responsible for this lack of intent, he has nonetheless performed the commandment.
This then is the meaning of "Listen to whatever Sarah tells you to do," which according to the Zohar refers to the body. It means that the ultimate purpose of physical life resides in the physical body and its spiritual refinement.
Nowadays the superior spiritual aspect of the body is concealed, but with the speedy arrival of Moshiach this shall be revealed. So much so, that in the time to come the soul will derive its spiritual nourishment from the body.[9]
Based on Likkutei Sichos, Vol. I, pp. 31-34.
Notes:
- (Back to text) I, Midrash HaNe'elam 122b.
- (Back to text) Bereishis 23:2.
- (Back to text) Ibid., 21:12.
- (Back to text) Quoted in HaYom Yom p. 23 - entry 28 Shvat.
- (Back to text) Shmos 23:5.
- (Back to text) Mishlei 15:30.
- (Back to text) Gittin 56b.
- (Back to text) Tehillim 73:28.
- (Back to text) Lechal Tichlah 5659.
Vayeira