B"H

Monday, Mar-Cheshvan 22, 5781 / November 9, 2020

This week’s Parsha, Chayei Sarah, begins with Sarah's passing at the age of 127.

Her husband, Abraham, purchases the Me’arat Hamachpeila (double cave), in the city of Hebron from Ephron.  When Ephron declares that he will give it to Abraham as a gift, Abraham refuses to accept.  Abraham ends up paying the large sum of four hundred pure silver shekel for the plot and buries his beloved wife, Sarah, in the Me’arat Hamachpeila.

To this day, the Me’arat Hamachpeila, the burial place of our Patriarchs and Matriarchs, in Hebron is visited by Jews to pray at this holy site.

The Parsha begins, "And the life of Sarah was a hundred years, and twenty years and seven years; these were the years of the life of Sarah."

Q. The Torah says that Sarah lived, “A hundred years, and twenty years and seven years.” Why doesn’t the Torah say, “One hundred and twenty seven years?”  

A. Our sages say, “This is to teach us that each of these numbers identifies a special quality in Sarah. At the age of 100 she was like age 20 in her piety; and at 20 she was like age seven in beauty.”  Sarah’s piety and beauty were to the very last day of her life at 127.

Q. "These were the years of the life of Sarah." These words seem to be repetitious.

A. The Torah commentator Ohr Hachayim explains: The fact that the Parsha begins with the passing of Sarah immediately after the story of Abraham bringing Yitzchak to the altar, tells us that Sarah's death at 127 resulted from her great shock when she heard that G-d commanded her husband to bring their only son Yitzchak as a sacrifice. Although in the end it was only a test, nevertheless, the initial shock that it may happen and then the great joy that it didn’t happen, brought about her passing.

For this reason, says the Ohr Hachayim, the Torah adds, "These were the years of the life of Sarah." Although it may seem that she didn't live as long as she could have, the Torah tells us that, in truth, these were the years that were allocated to her in the first place.

There is an important lesson here.  When a loved one, G-d forbid, passes away, the reaction of the family may be, "Had we seen another doctor or done something else, it wouldn't have happened."  There is a feeling that perhaps we could have changed the results.  Or in the case of an accident, G-d forbid, one may think that had they chosen to be elsewhere, the person would still be alive, etc.” Thus, the Torah teaches us, A person must not think this way. One should accept G-d's ways. For in the end, "These were the years of the life of Sarah." This is the way G-d planned it all along.

HAVE A VERY GOOD, HAPPY, HEALTHY AND SUCCESSFUL DAY