Inspiring others after you're gone
More than one commentary that I read about this Parashat deals with the fact that it is called Chayei Sarah, or the Life of Sarah. However, the opening sentence paradoxically begins with her death.

Vayehoo chayay sarah may-ah, shana, v'esreem shana, vishehva shaneem.

Sarah's lifetime came to one hundred years, twenty years, seven years. (23:1)

In fact, her life is not really discussed at all. You can pretty much capture the facts of these ten verses in four quick sentences. It reads like a young child's essay:

(Use your fingers to count to four)
1. Sarah lived.
2. Sarah died.
3. Abraham, her husband, secured a place to bury her.
4. The end.

That's it. Just like America's favorite Jewish situation comedy, Seinfeld, it's a Dvar Torah about nothing.

Not so fast.

Everything we learn about Sarah here lies buried deep beneath the surface. And there is a lot. Perhaps that's an intended pun. After all, she dies and gets buried during this portion.

What messages were the original writers wishing to convey and why didn't they just come right out and tell us instead of making us study it all?

Take a look at the first verse. Her age when she died was described in three parts:
may-ah, shana, v'esreem shana, vishehva shaneem
one hundred years, twenty years and seven years.

Many commentaries believe the reason for splitting up her age into three parts is to encourage us to explore each of these different periods of her life. In other words, what can we glean from her life? How can that influence us today in ou own actions and behaviors? Rashi says that her age was split up that way to let us know that she was the same throughout her life -- constantly good, sinless and full of beauty. At 100, her life represented wisdom; at 20, it represented strength and limitless potential -- perhaps signifying the birth of the concept of tikkun olam; and at 7, it represented innocence and the absence of cynicism.

In the second verse, one word referring to her death, v'tamah, contains the root tahm which means innocent, honest, complete, perfect, pure, harmless. Yet, the actual sentence in this portion merely states that Sarah died in Qiriat Arba, which today is Hebron in the land of Canaan.

Vitamah, Sarah b'Qiriat Arba, heev, chevron, bieretz kinaan.

So you see, from exploring the first two verses alone, we now have a better idea of what Sarah's life represented and what the writers want us to know and remember about her.

Several commentators reveal that Sarah died as a result of Abraham taking their son Isaac to be sacrificed at God's command. It is said that she sheds six tears over this act of betrayal and that it is repeated at the beginning of every new year with six mournful blasts of the shofar, or Shevarim perhaps as homage to Sarah and to remind us of her deeds. (Sound the shofar. Shevarim.)

So, it is clear that everybody feels that Sarah was a very special woman --- the matriarch of the Jewish people who professed a continued faith in God through much hardship, pain, and sadness., at least up to the time God commanded Abraham to sacrifice her son.

In modern times, Rose Kennedy comes to mind - another woman who was the matriarch of an amazing and important family of contributors, people who also believed in tikkun olam. She, too, endured great pain in her life

In the verses three through ten , we learn a great deal about Sarah's life through Abraham's own actions of mourning, weeping and securing a burial plot after her death: You can imagine Abraham finally coming clean about the life she accompanied him through:

"She wandered from land to land with me. She went hungry with me. She spent most of her life childless (she gave birth to Isaac at age 90, just like God promised her) and struggled with my need for an heir. And in her last days, she had to confront the fact that I would bring her son up to Moriah as a sacrifice to God. " Sounds like someone is feeling just a bit guilty.

So what does this all mean? Why say so little about Sarah but imply so much?

Donald Rossoff refers to the concept of "the immortality of influence." "We live on in the lives we have created and/or shaped, in the students we have taught, in the institutions we have helped build, and in the people we have touched."

In sum, he says, "As we strive for righteousness, our life becomes the 'Life of Sarah.'"

Simeon Maslin says: "The life of Sarah" teaches us that "the righteous are called living even after death, And so Sarah, the righteous mother of Israel, still lives because her example continues to inspire acts of goodness among her descendants. The clues throughout this portion are there merely to tease us into digging deeper into who Sarah was and represented so we could learn that being like Sarah, would make us better people.

Paying for what you get
There's a famous Seinfeld episode titled “The Pen.” For you Seinfeld fanatics, “The Pen” is episode 20 and was originally aired October 2, 1991.

Jerry and Elaine are visiting his parents in Florida, at their condo. ''Jerry's father's friend, Jack Klompus comes over. Jerry notices Jack's pen. Jack tells Jerry that the pen can write upside down and that astronauts use it in space and offers Jerry the pen. Jerry initially refuses to accept the present, but Jack persists and Jerry finally gives in. Helen Seinfeld, Jerry's mother, asks Jerry “why'd you take that pen, he loves that pen!” “You should give it back because Doris Klompus will tell everyone in the condo that you made Jack give it to you.” Sure enough, rumors begin to spread around the community that Jerry forced Jack to give him the pen. In the end, Jerry returns the pen. The point is, Jack really didn't want to give Jerry his pen and Jerry should have realized this and not accepted it. Look at all the bad things that happened by accepting it. But, he did the right thing in the end, by returning it and all was good.

Abraham is a stranger in these parts. He and Sarah were living in Canaan amidst the Hittites. Abraham wishes to bury Sarah there and respectfully asks for the Hittite elders to assist him in finding a suitable place. They like Abraham, and willingly do so. He is offered a cave and land belonging to Ephron for free.

But Abraham, although possibly tempted to accept the offer, like Jerry, thinks carefully about the implications of accepting the land for free. Perhaps he heard Helen Seinfeld's voice in the back of his head telling Jerry that he should never have accepted the pen from Jack Klompus. Abraham decides that he must pay a fair price for the land, which he does. One of the things he might have considered is that Ephron, like Jack Klompus, really didn't want to give Abraham the land for free at all. That this was simply part of the custom at the time to offer it for free, especially since the Hittite elders were there observing all of this. Sort of like saving face. I wonder if Larry David was thinking about this Parashat when he wrote that episode.

Being willing to pay a fair sum for something you receive of value is a good thing. It's a way of keeping the peace so to speak. My son Jasper's maternal great-grandfather, Bill Marschall, who passed away this year at the age of 92 was known for his colorful language and stories of his long life as a real-life Texas businessman. He didn't have many people around him in his family who were business-oriented so he used to enjoy talking to me, his jewish grandson-in-law about some of his philosophies in business. He was very proud his granddaughter married a Jew, because he felt Jews had a good business sense. Of course, that was before I left the corporate world and became a massage therapist.

One of his philosophies that really stuck with me was, every time he did business with anybody, he always tried to make sure they were satisfied that it was a good deal for them. In a sense, this was a very spiritual way of conducting business not to mention practical and intelligent. He did not want any headaches later on. He didn't want anyone to have anything bad to say about him that might affect his business reputation, so he always emphasized fairness in his business dealings. It also showed a respect for others and a willingness to be satisfied with what he had. Among his many faults, he had a true interest in peace among people.

Strangers in a strange land
Abraham displayed a great deal of humility throughout this transaction of land to bury Sarah. After all, God had already told him that all of this land already belonged to him. But, he did not approach the situation in that way. He began by asking the Hittite elders for assistance and then insisted on paying a fair price. He showed respect of the fact that he was a guest in their land. He did not make demands. Perhaps Sarah's influence was already taking hold in her own husband Abraham, so shortly after her death.

This goes directly to the question of how should strangers be treated and how should strangers behave in a foreign land?

In respect to modern-day Israel, there are those that believe that the west bank belongs to the Jews regardless of people living and working there for many generations. These people even justify forcibly taking or blockading these lands without adequate compensation from the current inhabitants as direction from the Torah. Others disagree citing other text that states we must treat our neighbors and citizens with respect, fairness, goodness and compassion.

In the United States, the issue of illegal immigrants is frequently in the news. Our country has gone to great lengths to prevent these people from coming here. There are very strong views on both sides. Some believe that the illegal immigrants are taking jobs from Americans and taking advantage of our system of benefits thus being a drain on our economy. Others claim that they are doing the work that Americans don't want to do, cooking and serving our food, building our homes, caring for our children and contributing to our economy.

How well do we uphold the values and attitudes of Abraham and Sarah then in regards to these two modern-day issues? Can we allow hateful rhetoric and draconian rules and unfair regulations both in Israel and this country?

This Parashat about the Life of Sarah is wide-ranging and touches on many issues of which we have only discussed a small portion. It is open to interpretation, but one thing is certain, goodness and compassion are universal truths. We can all conduct ourselves better: being more understanding and helpful, being fair to those we engage in business with, not allowing demagoguery to influence our actions or to cause injustice, and making this a better world, for everybody.

Shabbat Shalom.

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