This week's parsha pays tribute to Sarah - the role model extraordinaire for Jewish womanhood. Beautiful, kind, forceful, sensitive; she blazed the Jewish path no less than her illustrious husband, Avraham.
We know Rashi's famous comment on the verse "The life of Sarah was 100 years, and 20 years, and 7 years." Why repeat the word "years?" To tell us that at 100 she was as sinless as at 20; and at 20, as naturally beautiful as at 7.
There are some people who, rather than accept the stage of life at which they presently find themselves, try to either recapture an earlier era, or fast-forward into a later stage. Sarah's approach was to make the most out of each and every period of her existence, be it as a young child or as a "senior citizen." She suffered from neither the anxious impetuosity of youth, nor from mid-life crisis.
There was much to be enjoyed, experienced and accomplished at each and every point on life's ladder.
Perhaps that is why Sarah seemed to transcend time, to triumph over it. She enjoyed unsurpassed beauty all her years. She had a child even when Time dictated it was impossible to do so. And her demise is referred to as "the life of Sarah," for even in death she managed to go on.
The Midrash comments on the pasuk in Kohelet: "The sun rises and the sun sets." Well, that's obvious to all! But the deeper meaning is that for the righteous, who blaze like the sun and live life to the fullest, the sun never sets unless another "sun" rises in his place. So when Rabbi Akiba died, Rabbi Yehuda haNasi was born; and when Rebbe died, Rabbi Ada was born. And when Sarah died, Rivka had already been born, and her sun would soon rise, too.
Apparently, even in death, Sarah had affected a new leadership in Israel, and so she lived on and on.
Last week - the anniversary of the Bar Mitzvah parsha our dear Ari, z.l. - Vayera - I had the chance to experience this phenomenon first-hand. On Shabbat, I had the great pleasure and merit of playing with my godson Yehuda Ari, who was born 90 minutes before Ari was killed al kidush Hashem. And on Sunday, I attended the brit of the son of the soldier who Ari relieved on guard that fateful day, a sweet child whose Bar Mitzvah parsha, in 13 years, G-d willing, will be - yes, you guessed it - parshat Vayera.
The son also rises, does it not?
We know Rashi's famous comment on the verse "The life of Sarah was 100 years, and 20 years, and 7 years." Why repeat the word "years?" To tell us that at 100 she was as sinless as at 20; and at 20, as naturally beautiful as at 7.
There are some people who, rather than accept the stage of life at which they presently find themselves, try to either recapture an earlier era, or fast-forward into a later stage. Sarah's approach was to make the most out of each and every period of her existence, be it as a young child or as a "senior citizen." She suffered from neither the anxious impetuosity of youth, nor from mid-life crisis.
There was much to be enjoyed, experienced and accomplished at each and every point on life's ladder.
Perhaps that is why Sarah seemed to transcend time, to triumph over it. She enjoyed unsurpassed beauty all her years. She had a child even when Time dictated it was impossible to do so. And her demise is referred to as "the life of Sarah," for even in death she managed to go on.
The Midrash comments on the pasuk in Kohelet: "The sun rises and the sun sets." Well, that's obvious to all! But the deeper meaning is that for the righteous, who blaze like the sun and live life to the fullest, the sun never sets unless another "sun" rises in his place. So when Rabbi Akiba died, Rabbi Yehuda haNasi was born; and when Rebbe died, Rabbi Ada was born. And when Sarah died, Rivka had already been born, and her sun would soon rise, too.
Apparently, even in death, Sarah had affected a new leadership in Israel, and so she lived on and on.
Last week - the anniversary of the Bar Mitzvah parsha our dear Ari, z.l. - Vayera - I had the chance to experience this phenomenon first-hand. On Shabbat, I had the great pleasure and merit of playing with my godson Yehuda Ari, who was born 90 minutes before Ari was killed al kidush Hashem. And on Sunday, I attended the brit of the son of the soldier who Ari relieved on guard that fateful day, a sweet child whose Bar Mitzvah parsha, in 13 years, G-d willing, will be - yes, you guessed it - parshat Vayera.
The son also rises, does it not?