summary

Chayei Sarah (Genesis 23:1 – 25:18) is an ironic title for this week’s portion as it literally means, ‘the life of Sarah,’ whilst the first thing it tersely records is her death and Abraham’s acquisition of the cave of Machpelah for her burial.

The majority of the portion relates Abraham’s instruction to his servant, Eliezer, to go back to Abraham’s native land to find a wife for Isaac. He finds Rebekah – the granddaughter of Abraham’s brother, Nahor and his wife, Milcah - by a well. Eliezer asks Rebekah’s father, Bethuel and brother, Laban whether he can take Rebekah for Isaac and they respond that as this has been ordained by God, they cannot say either way.

On the return journey, Rebekah sees Isaac in a field and she covers her face before Rebekah and Isaac enter Sarah’s tent to be married. Their first meeting and marriage is a short section that is very open to the questions of midrash and raises many interesting psychological questions.

The parasha concludes with reports of the deaths of Abraham who is buried by the reunited Isaac and Ishmael in the cave of Machpelah with Sarah, and then of Ishmael himself.

commentary

I was immensely proud to see that Daniel Vulkan, a regular tent attendee had written on this week’s http://www.limmud.org/tasteoflimmud and wanted to give him the credit due with an even wider audience. If you enjoy this then also join Daniel, me and loads others at all or some of Limmud this year. For more details and bookings see www.limmud.org.

The end of this week’s parsha sees the deaths of both Abraham (Gen 25:8) and Ishmael (Gen 25:17) and, in both cases, we are told “vayigva vayamot”. What is the significance of the apparently superfluous term vayigva, usually translated as “and he expired” or “and he breathed his last” – surely it would be sufficient just to say vayamot (“and he died”)?

The eleventh century commentator Rashi suggests that the expression vayigva is only used when referring to the deaths of those who are righteous. A quick (computer-assisted) skim through the Torah shows that vayigva is also used when recounting the deaths of Isaac and Jacob. It is not, however, used for other major characters such as Adam, Noah, Joseph, or Moses, nor for either of the matriarchs whose deaths are recorded in the Torah (Sarah, at the beginning of this week’s parasha, and Rachel). Should we understand from this that none of these people were considered righteous?

Abraham Ibn Ezra however, writing in the twelfth century, has another interpretation for vayigva, suggesting that it indicates a death which is instantaneous, without any delay or prolonged suffering (and, by implication, peaceful). If we accept the tradition that Sarah died (Gen 23:2) from the pain of learning about Isaac’s near-sacrifice, then it is perhaps no surprise that vatigva (the female equivalent of vayigva) is omitted.

tzedakah

I have just received the most gorgeous card from our tentnik, Cassie Williams, and the orphan boys she supports in Rwanda. The card is made by the boys and available through their website http://www.streetsaheadchildrenscentre.org/ and would make super Chanukah / Xmas cards. Nearer to home, we always have Fairtrade cards and products at the Montagu Centre stocked by my colleague Rabbi Janet Burden. Please think about the products you are buying this Chanukah / Xmas and know that you can make a difference with your purchases.

click here to contact us, or phone 07891 439 646