Sarah – שרה

art by Laya Crust

Vayeira- Genesis 18 – 22

Haftarah- Kings II, ch. 4: 1-37

This week’s parsha is an incredible series of stories and events. There are at least five incredible narratives, each worthy of detailed study. Sarah, Avraham’s wife, figures throughout the parsha, and I’d like to look at her personality this week.

Avraham is the major character in these stories of Bereshit.  Gd told Avraham to leave his homeland and that he would become the father of a great people. Avraham left, taking his wife Sarai and his nephew Lot with him. As I read about Sarai- whose name was changed to Sarah- I am struck by her strength, her wisdom, and her relationship with Avraham. She was 75 years old when she and her husband left their home for unknown reaches. She was described as beautiful- so beautiful that King Avimelech took her to his harem. We may wonder how a woman of 75 can be that appealing, but some have an ageless beauty that is enhanced by grace and wisdom.

drawing by Laya Crust

I think Sarah also had a spark of humour and joy of life that contributed to being timelessly attractive. Her sense of humour?- she heard the angels speak and laughed within herself- laughing at herself and the thought of becoming a mother in her nineties. Her joie de vivre? She enjoyed her relationship with Avraham, “sporting” with him (AKA fooling around) in a field!

The readings suggest that Sarah and Avraham had a strong  partnership. They traveled together and discussed the strategy for entering Avimelech’s kingdom. Recognizing her infertility she offered her handmaid Hagar to her husband, hoping that way he would become a father. Recognizing Hagar’s behaviour Sarah handled the situation as she thought she had to. When the three angels appeared at their tent in the desert Avraham and Sarah worked as a team to create a feast for them. It appears that Sarah ran her community with wisdom and level headedness.

The situation surrounding “akeidat Yitzhak”, the binding of Isaac, doesn’t fit the picture of a strong relationship. It doesn’t seem that Avraham told Sarah that he had been commanded to sacrifice their beloved son.  A midrash (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midrash) says that Sarah heard a rumour that Isaac had been sacrificed by Avraham. According to that midrash Sarah died, never knowing that her son was alive. We don’t know what really happened, or why Avraham didn’t tell Sarah what he had been commanded to do. Maybe Avraham was trying to protect her. Maybe Avraham trusted that Gd would make things “right” and there would be no sense in alarming her. We just don’t know.

The illustration at the top of the page is from the haftarah of VaYeira. It shows the prophet Elisha with the Shunammite woman who had a room built for him for when he visited Shunem. This woman, like Sarah, was childless for many years. Her son, like Isaac, almost died. Unlike Sarah, she was able to watch her son grow to adulthood.

It is tragic that Sarah seemed to have died not knowing her son was alive, not knowing that she would be venerated as the mother of the Jewish nation.

She is a wonderful model for all women, and her strengths should never be overlooked.

Have a Shabbat Shalom,

Laya

Count the Stars

art by Laya Crust

Lech Lecha- Genesis 12 – 17

We meet Avraham and Sarah after the world was created, destroyed, and then re created. Living in the fertile crescent of Mesopotamia they were asked to leave their home and the world as they knew it to establish a new legacy. According to midrash (biblical legend) Avraham was the son of an idol maker. He must have been an intelligent man and a strategic thinker. Instead of following in his father’s footsteps he amassed a great deal of wealth as a shepherd and also successfully led campaigns against enemy forces. Sarah was his partner and equal. She navigated soci0-political waters.  She was able to “read” people and was recognized for her beauty. (Read the amazing adventure of how she left Pharaoh’s palace with her modesty and Avram’s dignity intact- Genesis ch 12 v 11-20).

Avraham was already in his eighties when God told him that they would begin a new nation. “He (God) brought him outside and said, “Look now toward heaven, and count the stars, if you are able to number them. And He said to him, “So shall your seed be.” (ch. 15  v.5)   If you have ever been in the desert or in countryside on a cloudless night the sky is unbelievable. The sky is so crowded with stars one wonders how many diamonds can fit up there. And that was God’s promise to this man and woman who traveled the land together and were our first leaders.

Avraham and Sarah were told they would not be able to number their descendants, and look at us now. There are millions of Jews living in Israel and around the world. We have never disappeared. God kept His promise. Our history hasn’t been an easy or pleasant one, but we’re still here! And we have our homeland, Israel.

Rabbi Jonathan Sacks wrote a wonderful essay for this difficult time. Here is the link:  https://www.facebook.com/rabbisacks/posts/999081956809626

Let us hope for peace and honesty in the very near future.

Have a Shabbat Shalom,

Laya

Chayei Sarah- this land is our land

Chayeih Sarah

Bereshit 23 – 25: 18

Haftarah- I Kings 1: 1-31

This week’s parsha begins with the news that Sara Imeinu (our matriarch) has died in Qiryat Arba at the age of 127. Abraham came to mourn and weep for her and to find a fitting burial place for his beloved wife.  He insisted on paying for the cave of Machpela even though it had been offered to him as a gift.  The text reads, “And the field of Efron, which was in Machpela,which was before Mamre, the field, and the cave which was in it,  and all the trees that were in the field, that were in all the borders round about, were made over to Avraham for a possession in the presence of the children of Chet,…before Mamre: the same is Hevron in the land of Canaan.” ( Ch. 23 v 17 -19)

Avraham paid full price for this small piece of property, also known as Hebron, in front of witnesses so that there would never be a question of ownership.

              The cave of Machpela by Vincent Van Gogh

These days Israel is constantly on my mind. The situation is tragic. The loss of innocent life, the fear, the rioting in Israeli streets and shelling of Israeli homes and communities is horrifying. Many so-called intellectuals and human rights activists question the right of Israelis and Jews to live in Israel which is historic Canaan with a modern name. The fact is that we Jews have lived in that land longer than any other people.  Jews have owned and lived in the land- Canaan, Palestine, the Turkish Empire, Israel- call it what you will-ever since Abraham bought and owned that parcel 5,000 years ago.

At the end of this week’s reading Abraham died and his two sons- Isaac and Ishmael-came together as brothers to bury their father. The two men mourned together. Isaac and Ishmael buried their father in the cave of Machpela, where Sara his wife had been buried. The two brothers met in peace and acted cooperatively. They recognized and remembered that the land belonged to Abraham, and we have to remember that too.

 

Over the past week there have been outstanding speeches in Toronto by  Melanie Phillips ( journalist),  Nitsana Darshan-Leitner (lawyer), and Caroline Glick (activist). All three women reminded their audiences that the Jews owned Israel before 1967, before 1948, before the Balfour Declaration, and before the Zionist movement under Herzl. We owned the land all the way back to the time of Abraham. We must remember that and not be apologetic or embarrassed.  I pray that we will see peace and cooperation in Israel very soon.

 

Shabbat Shalom,   Laya