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Life After Death

A

t first glance, the name of this
parshah appears to be anom-
alous. It is called “The Life of
Sarah,” but Sarah, the wife of Abraham,
dies in the second verse. The rest of the
first aliyah deals with Abraham’s buying
her a burial site, followed by Eliezer’s
journey to find a wife for Isaac. Why not
water to him and his camels will be
find a more appropriate heading for this
Isaac’s intended. What a strange request!
weekly sedrah? Maybe “Journeys” or
Perhaps the solution lies in the fact
“Generations.”
The easiest answer is that parshiot are that Eliezer brought 10 camels with him.
We are told that a camel can
usually named after the first
drink up to 20 gallons of water.
significant word in the first
If Rebecca’s jug could hold one
verse of the parshah. Instead, I
gallon of water and it took her
suggest that “Chayei Sarah” is
two minutes to get from the well
aptly named and the details of
to the trough and back, it would
its passages are indeed related
take her more than six hours to
to the life of Abraham’s wife.
provide water for all the camels.
Chapter 23 and the parshah
This was a serious test.
begin with the verse “Sarah’s
Dr. Mitch
But what kind of test was it?
lifetime — the span of Sarah’s
Parker
I suggest that Eliezer had asked
life — came to 127 years.”
God to find someone who had the same
Several Torah columns later, near the
end of the parshah, Chapter 24 ends with characteristics as did Sarah. Just as Sarah
“Isaac then brought her into the tent of his exhibited the strength and stamina to
mother, Sarah, and he took Rebecca as his cross the desert and live in a new land,
so must the wife of Isaac. Just as Sarah
wife. Isaac loved her and found comfort
graciously offered food and nourishment
after his mother’s death.”
The fact that Sarah’s name is mentioned to strangers, so must Isaac’s wife. Finally,
just as Sarah showed initiative and inde-
at the beginning of this selection and is
pendence, so must the wife of Isaac.
repeated at the end represents a textual
The story and its aftermath are repeat-
demand to find the connection between
ed three times. Once as it happened,
Sarah and the intervening events.
once as Rebecca tells her family and
What exactly happens between Sarah’s
once as Eliezer tells the family. Each time
death and the marriage of Isaac to
with some small variations. Why? The
Rebecca? As mentioned above, the first
first possible reason is to demonstrate
event is Abraham’s search for an appro-
to us definitively that Rebecca really is a
priate burial place for his wife. Abraham
held his wife in great esteem. She was his worthy successor of her mother-in-law,
adviser, co-conspirator and partner. Sarah Sarah, and the second is to show us that
a woman (and probably a man) can con-
could not be buried anywhere; Abraham
tinue to influence the lives of the people
searched carefully. Ultimately, Abraham’s
wife was buried in the first piece of prop- around her well after the moment of
physical death.
erty in the Holy Land that was bought,
I urge you to read the rest of this par-
deeded and paid for. Even in death, Sarah
shah carefully to learn what other char-
affected the fate of her people.
acteristics these two amazing women
The second event listed in this par-
shared.
shah is Abraham’s request of his servant
Eliezer to find a wife for his son, Isaac.
Dr. Mitch Parker is the spiritual leader of B’nai
Why Isaac couldn’t do this himself is
Israel Synagogue in West Bloomfield, a commu-
another discussion. After arriving in the
nity educator and a child psychologist working
family homestead in Haran, Eliezer asks
God for assistance. He prays that the first with the families of children with developmental
and behavioral challenges.
girl who arrives at the well and offers

Parshat Chayei
Sarah: Genesis 23:1-
5:18; I Kings 1:1-1:31.

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November 24 • 2016

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