This week’s Parasha is called “Chayei Sarah” (the life of Sarah).
The interesting thing to note is that the weekly portion begins with the “death of Sarah.”
Why does it call it the life of Sarah?
The introductory verse stated: “Sarah’s lifetime was a total of one hundred years, twenty years and seven years. The years of Sarah’s life were perfect.” (Bereshit 23:1)
Why would the verse say that Sarah’s years were perfect? When we read her life story it would seem that it is anything but perfect.
She had to leave her home and go to a place she didn’t know, when they got there they encountered famine, she was kidnapped twice – once by the Pharaoh of Egypt and a second time by Avimelech- she was barren until she gave birth at an old age and had to share her husband with her maidservant, and so on.
The Midrash brings two interpretations of her entire lifetime.
1. Perfection in every detail; each day of her life was perfect.
2. Her life as a whole was perfect; an overall perfection.
Approach # 1 talks about a person who makes his days count, every moment of his life is dedicated to sanctifying H”S, this is the approach of a Tzadik, a person who is constantly growing exponentially.
The #2 approach represents the Baal Teshuvah-the returnee- a person who’s every detail of his life is not perfect, but his life as a whole is perfect because every effort he made, every stepping stone he took upward is what makes him great.
The Midrash seemed it appropriate to attribute this two types of perfection to Sarah because she made every second of her life count but at the same time she also took every opportunity to grow and make it better.
The name of the Parasha teaches us that when a person lives in this way he is more alive when he dies than when he lives, for his or her influence in the world continues in the next generations and so on and on.
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