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ten times (Numbers 14:22). In praying on behalf of the people on this
occasion, Moses supplicates: “And now may the power of my Lord be chayei sarah ה ָר ָׂש יֵּי ַח
strengthened” (Numbers 14:17). Perhaps Abraham’s merit in passing
his ten tests gave God, as it were, the strength – the patience and
the compassion – to endure his descendants’ tests. Notably, Moses
explicitly mentions the merit of the forefathers when he pleads for
££Sarah’s Two Lifetimes:
the nation of Israel after the sin of the Golden Calf (Exodus 32:13; £Sarah’s Two Lifetimes: Sarah’s Two Lifetimes:
Deuteronomy 9:27).
This World and the World to Comeorld and the World to Come
This W
This World and the World to Come
The importance of Abraham as a source of merit for not only the
Jewish people but for the entire world is discussed in several sources.
One Talmudic discussion records a heavenly debate over whether
God should create man or not (Sanhedrin 38). One group of angels The Torah portion begins with the following verse: “The lifetime of
claimed that man should not be created as he would be full of lies and Sarah was one hundred years, twenty years, and seven years; the
deceit. The other felt that man was worth creating because despite years of Sarah’s life” (Genesis 23:1). The concluding words, “the
his substantial flaws he would act charitably and kindly. God of years of Sarah’s life,” seem redundant, for the verse opens with the
course agreed with the latter group, but, why? One possible answer words “the lifetime of Sarah”; yet, it is just such redundancies that
is that God knew that in the future Abraham would be born: a man alert us to deeper meanings in the text. In this case, the fact that
so full of loving-kindness that the very creation of humankind could the Hebrew word for “the years” (shenei) can also be read as “two”
be justified. reveals an important truth, for it suggests that Sarah had two sets
of years, or “two lifetimes.” In this allusion to the afterlife or World
Support for this notion can be found in a verse summarizing the to Come, as well as in the rest of this portion, the Torah reveals deep
creation of the world (which was discussed above in “Abraham the secrets concerning life and death themselves. In the subsequent story
Hebrew”): “These are the generations of the heaven and earth when recounting how Sarah was buried and where, the Torah teaches much
they were created, in the day that God God [Hashem Elokim] made about Jewish burial and mourning practices that is still relevant
earth and heaven” (Genesis 2:4). The Sages, as we learned, note today.
that the Hebrew word םארבהב (“when they were created”) contains
the same letters as the word םהרבאב (“in [or through] Abraham”). While the oral tradition makes many references to an afterlife,
God could create humankind knowing that there would be such a the Written Torah never explicitly mentions one. This makes the
person as Abraham – a man capable of true charity, a man capable allusion in our verse all the more important. Indeed, perhaps an even
of overcoming his inherent nature and passing God’s ten tests. more obvious allusion to the notion of an afterlife in this portion
Knowing that Abraham would take the responsibility for the entire is the simple fact that even though the portion speaks exclusively
world upon his shoulders, God was given the strength, as it were, to about Sarah’s death it is called Chayei Sarah – a phrase which can
go beyond the letter of the law, creating humanity and forgiving the be translated literally as “the lifetimes of Sarah.” That Sarah’s
Jewish people despite their testing Him ten times. “two lifetimes” are both defined as “living” makes sense in light of a
rabbinic teaching: “The righteous in death are called alive, while evil
ones in life are called dead” (Berachot 18a-b).

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