Yogi Berra is supposed to have said, “You had better go to your friends’ funerals… or they won’t come to yours.” Most of us want to be remembered for the good we did in our lives and for the loving relationships we nurtured over time. Even when we hurt someone or did harm, did we try to make it right? Did we change and grow and become better people?
This week’s Torah portion is Chayei Sarah, The Life of Sarah, and it begins with Sarah’s death, with these words, “Sarah’s lifetime—the span of Sarah’s life—came to one hundred and twenty-seven years.” (Genesis 23:1) The Hebrew reads differently than the English translation, however, “Sarah’s lifespan was one hundred years, and twenty years, and seven years. These were the years of Sarah’s life.” Our sages believed that every word in the Torah is intentional so they wondered, why was the word year repeated after each grouping of years and what might it mean? Rabbi Levi Yitzhak of Berditchev (one of the great Chassidic masters of the 18th Century) wrote in his Torah Commentary, Kidushat Levi, “When the Torah refers to her “life” as being 127 years long, this means nothing less than that she had spent all these years accumulating merits for the good deeds she performed. Expressed somewhat differently, the Torah states that it was Sarah, who with her good deeds gave “life” to her years.”
In other words, the repetition of the word years teaches us that Sarah, through her consistent striving to be a good and caring person, made each year equally important and equally valuable. Thus she endowed her lifetime with goodness and sanctity. As we remember during the Days of Awe, each day of life is a gift and our capacity for change is always present. We choose how to live our lives and the choices we make are how we will be remembered. Just as Sarah shows us in this week’s Torah portion.
Chayei Sara, Genesis 23:1-25:18 – Torah Reading for Shabbat, November 23, 2024
November 22, 2024 by Dean Kertesz • Drashot
Yogi Berra is supposed to have said, “You had better go to your friends’ funerals… or they won’t come to yours.” Most of us want to be remembered for the good we did in our lives and for the loving relationships we nurtured over time. Even when we hurt someone or did harm, did we try to make it right? Did we change and grow and become better people?
This week’s Torah portion is Chayei Sarah, The Life of Sarah, and it begins with Sarah’s death, with these words, “Sarah’s lifetime—the span of Sarah’s life—came to one hundred and twenty-seven years.” (Genesis 23:1) The Hebrew reads differently than the English translation, however, “Sarah’s lifespan was one hundred years, and twenty years, and seven years. These were the years of Sarah’s life.” Our sages believed that every word in the Torah is intentional so they wondered, why was the word year repeated after each grouping of years and what might it mean? Rabbi Levi Yitzhak of Berditchev (one of the great Chassidic masters of the 18th Century) wrote in his Torah Commentary, Kidushat Levi, “When the Torah refers to her “life” as being 127 years long, this means nothing less than that she had spent all these years accumulating merits for the good deeds she performed. Expressed somewhat differently, the Torah states that it was Sarah, who with her good deeds gave “life” to her years.”
In other words, the repetition of the word years teaches us that Sarah, through her consistent striving to be a good and caring person, made each year equally important and equally valuable. Thus she endowed her lifetime with goodness and sanctity. As we remember during the Days of Awe, each day of life is a gift and our capacity for change is always present. We choose how to live our lives and the choices we make are how we will be remembered. Just as Sarah shows us in this week’s Torah portion.