Shavuah Tov!!! Wishing everyone a blessed and very successful week.
This week’s Parasha “Chayai Sarah” (The Life Of Sarah) begins with Sarah passing away. Why would a Parasha in which someone dies is called in such a way? In our logic and understanding it should’ve been named “The Death of Sarah.”
The Torah portion begins saying: “And the life of Sarah was one hundred years, and twenty years, and seven years. These were the years of Sarah’s life. (Genesis 23:1)
If you notice the wording it doesn’t say “The life of Sarah was one hundred and twenty seven years.”
Rashi comments that all the years of Sarah’s life were equally good. How can this be said since she seems to have suffered very much through her life. She was childless for many years, was kidnapped twice by two kings, experienced famine and exile and she thought her only and beloved son had been sacrificed.
The success of Sarah’s life is that she saw her life as always being good. She was very much aware that everything came from G-d and saw it as positive.
The quality of ones life is not dependent on external situations. The Torah ideal is to be aware that the purpose of life is to perfect our character in every life situation and in this way reveal G-d in this world.
So the Torah divides her age:at 100 she was free of sin as at 20 and at 20 she was beautiful and pure as at 7. Or it could be read as: she was beautiful at 100 as 20, and sinless at 20 as at 7.
The way she lived was so grandiose that thousands of years later Jewish women still have her as one of their matriarchs and emulate her ways. This is why the Parasha is called “Chayei Sarah” because after her passing she still lives inside of us.
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