Tyler’s Torah Thoughts for 21 Cheshvan, 5784
Parsha Hayyei Sarah: (Genesis 23:1 -25:18) 
First Portion: Genesis 23:1 – 23:16

Good morning! It’s a new week and new portion. We have Hayyei Sarah – the Life of Sarah.  Judaism is often seen as a Patriarchal religion.  There is a TON of deference to women though – and they are valued in the Torah from what I see.  Let’s dig in!

1And the life of Sarah was one hundred years and twenty years and seven years; [these were] the years of the life of Sarah.

2And Sarah died in Kiriath arba, which is Hebron, in the land of Canaan, and Abraham came to eulogize Sarah and to bewail her.

Straight out of a Quentin Tarantino movie – we start the Life of Sarah with the end. To be fair, we already know a TON about Sarah’s life in the Torah. It is interesting we get this portion now.

3And Abraham arose from before his dead, and he spoke to the sons of Heth, saying,

4″I am a stranger and an inhabitant with you. Give me burial property with you, so that I may bury my dead from before me.”

5And the sons of Heth answered Abraham, saying to him,

6″Listen to us, my lord; you are a prince of God in our midst; in the choicest of our graves bury your dead. None of us will withhold his grave from you to bury your dead.”

7And Abraham arose and prostrated himself to the people of the land, to the sons of Heth.

8And he spoke with them, saying, “If it is your will that I bury my dead from before me, listen to me and entreat for me to Ephron the son of Zohar.

9That he may give me the Machpelah (double) Cave, which belongs to him, which is at the end of his field; for a full price let him give it to me in your midst for burial property.”

Here’s what I notice here. Abraham is about to get into an argument with the people. On the value of the grave of Sarah.  Abraham wants to pay full price. The people want to gift it to him. I am reminded of the story on Friday of Abraham purchasing the well from Abimelech.  Some things are just worth paying for. Sarah’s body was one of them in Abraham’s mind. This is crucial. Abraham valued Sarah’s life. He valued her death. He wasn’t going to accept a free plot.  Was he?  Let’s keep reading:

10Now Ephron was sitting in the midst of the sons of Heth, and Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham in the hearing of the sons of Heth, of all those who had come into the gate of his city, saying,

11″No, my lord, listen to me. I have given you the field, and the cave that is in it, I have given it to you. Before the eyes of the sons of my people, I have given it to you; bury your dead.”

12And Abraham prostrated himself before the people of the land.

13And he spoke to Ephron in the hearing of the people of the land, saying, “But, if only you would listen to me. I am giving the money for the field; take [it] from me, and I will bury my dead there.”

14And Ephron replied to Abraham, saying to him,

15″My lord, listen to me; a [piece of] land worth four hundred shekels of silver, what is it between me and you? Bury your dead.”

16And Abraham listened to Ephron, and Abraham weighed out to Ephron the silver that he had named in the hearing of the sons of Heth, four hundred shekels of silver, accepted by the merchant.

This first portion of “The Life of Sarah?”  All about how much her death was worth paying for. Abraham was unwilling to bury her for free. He paid the price. She was worth it.  That is how this begins.

And I reflect. What is the takeaway for us? For me? It’s thinking ahead.  At the end of my life – would someone say “his life is worth paying to bury?”  Have I impacted anyone to pay to bury me?

And it isn’t about how I impact anyone else -it’s really how I’ve impacted myself, isn’t it?  Would I get to the end of my life and believe I would pay the price to bury myself?  Or would I accept a free plot of land to be buried in? What is MY worth? What provides me the data to determine my worth?

These are the questions to ask ourselves as we begin this new week! I’d love your thoughts!

Here is my commentary from the past two years:

Tyler’s Torah Thoughts for 19 Cheshvan, 5783

A new portion!

It is interesting to reflect on this passage. I’ve moved into a new place in life, and the idea of “efforting” vs “ease” has come into play. I think I see a year ago how I was struggling with the concept of “ease” and “effort.” The sabbath is supposed to be “easy” it’s supposed to be “rest.”

I think like all things in life, there is a balance. When we are asked to take action, and we want things for free, we are not fulfilling our purpose.

Likewise when we are asked to receive things as gifts, and reject them BECAUSE they are free or easy, we are ALSO not living out our purpose.

Effort = action. And there are times we are called to take action in a moment.

Ease = rest. And there are times we are called to rest in a moment.

And the moment changes: and our role changes. We need to be aware of the moment – and what it is calling for.

What are your thoughts?

Torah Thoughts for Heshvan 18, 5782

We have a new Parsha this week! Hayyei Sarah which means “the life of Sarah.” The interesting thing to note is most of the events of this weeks Parsha occur AFTER Sarah’s death.

In the Tanakh I am reading it says; “it is called ’the life of Sarah’ for her purpose in life now unfolded – her son married, the land of Israel began to be acquired. You are truly ‘alive’ when your achievements are immortalized.

It’s something interesting to note for sure.

Today’s portion starts with the death of Sarah. She lived 127 years – good years according to the Torah!

It’s hard to reconcile her years being “good years” given what we’ve learned. Rabbi Aaron Lewin of Rzesow wrote in the 20th century; “Among Sarah’s misfortunes, she suffered exile, abduction, and ninety years of infertility – experiences that crush the spirit, making it hard to remain righteous. But Sarah did not allow these setbacks to ruffle her fine character and dedication to God; she always remained strong in her belief in God’s providence. In her eyes, all her years were ‘equally good.’”

Hmmmm. I’m chewing on that. I’ll confess; it’s start difficult to reconcile.

There is belief that the binding of Isaac is what caused Sarah’s death. Abraham was not with her when she died; but he came to eulogize and weep over her. He then left her and purchased a burial plot for his wife. This is really the first time we read about a burial ritual in the Torah.

Abraham was offered the burial plot for free, but instead insisted on paying full price. He insisted to the point he threw himself on the ground when the owner pushed giving it to Abraham for free. He told Abraham he would not accept his money. The owner still refused after Abraham threw himself on the ground, mentioning that the land was only worth 400 shekels of silver.

Abraham considered what the owner had to sell. He then weighed out 400 shekels of silver and the owner accepted it.

This is really interesting to me (because my motto has usually been “if it’s free, it’s me!”). Why did Abraham insist so much?!!

In reading the Tenakh I have, there is an explanation for this; mainly that the Zohar teaches that things which are “free” come from the sitra’ ‘ahara’, – the demonic realm. Everything that is connected with your true destiny is connected with effort, but the demonic forces try to derail you with countless “free” offers. So when Abraham acquired the holy cave of Machpelah he was careful to pay “it’s full price.”

I’m chewing on this notion. Cause I’ll confess; I like free stuff. There is a lot of conviction that there may be a problem with that.

So my takeaways today are this:

1. Are we living our lives to fulfill our purpose so that even in death our legacy lives on? Or are we living our life for some other purpose?
2. What have we accepted “for free” that ends up costing us in the end?

I’m starting my list.

Hope you have a great first day of the week!