Torah of Recovery: Hayyei Sarah

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Dr. Avivah Zornberg, The Beginning of Desire, p. 123, 125, 127, 128

Sarah is the true victim of the Akedah, her death is its unexplicated, inexplicable cost...Sarah's vision of her husband and of her life's mission [is destroyed]...She dies of the truth of that hair's breadth that separates death from life...On this view, Sarah dies of radical doubt. She suffers an attack of vertigo and, as the midrash concludes, lo hispika, she has not managed to finish her crying and wailing before she dies.

Louis Ginzberg, Legends of the Jews, p. 123

The death of Sarah was a loss not only for Abraham and his family, but for the whole country. So long as she was alive, all went well in the land. After her death confusion ensued. The weeping, lamenting, and wailing over her going hence was universal, and Abraham, instead of receiving consolation, had to offer consolation to others.

Dr. Avivah Zornberg, The Beginning of Desire, p. 134-135

The Sarah who could tell Abraham with such clinical decisiveness: 'Cast out that slave woman and her son...' - demonstrates not only inflexible will but an apparently lucid vision of reality that is hidden from the more entangles emotions of Abraham...[God] tells Abraham not merely to obey Sarah but to accept her vision of things - less confused and multifaceted than his...But this very acuity, the laser beam that disentangles complexity and cuts to the quick, makes Sarah vulnerable when all structures and certainty are undermined...pure thought can no longer help her. Unlike Abraham, whose tendrils of concern involve him with the complex life of those around him...Sarah aspires to an analytical purity that yields her no refuge at the end...Sarah dies of her life; or , to put it in Jung's terms, she cannot meet the challenge of later life, which demands reversals, the confrontation with counterpossibilities...she cannot realign herself to complete...the painfiul prize of a full humanity.

Midrash Tanhuma, Vayera 23

(8) Thereupon, the Holy One, blessed be He, opened the sky and the cloud (surrounding Him) and said: “By myself have I sworn,” saith the Lord (ibid., v. 16). “You have sworn.” Abraham replied, “and now I swear that I shall not descend from this altar until I say what I wish to say.” “Speak,” He answered. “Did You not tell me,” said Abraham, “Count all the stars, if thou be able to count them; so shall thy seed be (Gen. 15:5)?” “Yes,” He replied. “But from whom shall my seed descend?” queried Abraham. “From Isaac,” the Holy One answered. “It was in my heart, yesterday, to remind You that You told me that Isaac was my seed, when You said to me: Take him for a burnt-offering. But I restrained myself and did not challenge You. Therefore, when Isaac’s descendants sin and are being oppressed, recall the binding of Isaac, reckon it as if his ashes were piled upon the altar, and pardon them and release them from their anguish.”

Richard Elliott Friedman, Commentary on the Torah, p. 79

Here it is Abraham who is the alien in the land. This is ironic because one day this land will belong to his descendants, and so they are commanded some fifteen times in the Torah to treat aliens well. That is, the Israelites must be fair to. non-Israelites who live in Israel because once they were the aliens there, and because they were aliens in Egypt: 'You know the alien's soul, because you were aliens in the land of Egypt' (Exod 23:9, author's emphasis).

Howard Schwartz, The Tree of Souls: The Mythology of Judaism, p. 344

When the three angels, disguised as travelers, visited Abraham, we went outside to fetch a young goat to slaughter for them. But the kid ran away from him, and he had to chase it through the fields to the entrance of a cave that Abraham had never entered. The kid paused an instant and then disappeared inside the entrance and Abraham followed after it. At first the cave was low, so that Abraham had to bend down, but soon it opened into a beautiful chamber, illuminated by a mysterious light. There was a wonderful scent, like that of balsam. And there, in that chamber, Abraham found the bodies of Adam and Eve, lying on couches, with candles burning at their head and feet, and their bodies were perfectly preserved. Adam and Eve had chosen that Cave as their place of burial, for it was the closest site to the Garden of Eden, and the scent that pervaded it was that of Eden itself, which drifted from the Garden into that cave. When Abraham emerged, he knew that he had stumbled on a very holy place, and he decided then and there to purchase the cave from Ephron the Hittite, as a burial site for himself and his family. So too did he spare the kid that led him there. And that is the Cave of Machpelah in the city of Hebron...

Lord Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, Covenant and Conversation: Genesis, p. 125

The land in its length and breadth will be Abraham’s and his children’s as “an everlasting possession.”...What, though, is the reality at the time Sarah dies? Abraham owns no land and has only one son (he had another, Ishmael, but was told that he would not be the bearer of the covenant)....at last, Abraham owns part of the land. It is a small part: one field and a cave. A burial place, bought at great expense. That is as much of the divine promise of the land as Abraham will see in his lifetime.

Howard Schwartz, Legends of the Jews, p. 344

God blessed Abraham in all things (24:1). What does this mean? It means that in addition to wealth and length of years, God gave Abraham a daughter...But where did this daughter come from? After all, she was born after the death of Sarah, and before Abraham married Keturah. Some say that this daughter, whose name was Bakol ('In-all-things'), was a child of Hagar...others say that this daughter was actually an angel, who guarded Abraham so closely that everyone believed her to be his daughter...

Richard Elliott Friedman, Commentary on the Torah, p. 81

Even as a request, it is remarkable: the servant himself asks for a miraculous sign from God, and he himself names what that sign should be. No human thus far, including Abraham himself, has gone this far...it is noteworthy that it is one of a chain of steps that humans are taking toward increasing control of miracle in the Tanak.

Nehama Leibowitz, New Studies in Bereshit, p. 239

This plea of Eliezer, Abraham's servant poses a problem. There is surely a self-contradiction in him praying to God to engineer a coincidence...is it conceivable for one who believed in Divine Providence to accept the existence of such a thing as 'chance' and even go so far as to request the Almighty Himself to prepare such a situation?

Rabbi Dr. Bradley Shavit Artson, The Bedside Torah: Wisdom, Dreams, Visions, p. 36

The servant speaks to God with a directness borne of necessity. Filled with a sense of the uncertainty of his task, aware of his own limitations, he turns to the Source of Life and shares his fear...We too, are daily sent on missions that test our limits, which force us into territory we have not previously explored, and for which the stakes may be very high indeed...With as great an emotional burden as that faced by Abraham's servant, with no less need to cry out and to absorb the comfort of having been heard, many of us have nonetheless cut ourselves off from God's listening ear. Do we worry that speaking to God is superstitious? That God does not answer prayer? That God doesn't hear prayer? That there is no God? Yet discomfort with spontaneous prayer does a disservice to our sacred tradition, to our deepest needs, and to our relationship with God. Prayer is not philosophy; it need to justify itself at the bench of reason, consistency, or sophistication. Prayer is what the Talmud calls 'the labor of the heart.' It is answerable to the heart alone.

Louis Ginzberg, Legends of the Jews, p. 125

Eliezer noticed, too, how the water rose up to her of its own accord from the bottom of the well, so that she needed not to exert herself to draw it.

Rambam on Exodus 13:14, cited in Nehama Leibowitz, New Studies in Bereshit, p. 243

From a recognition of the large-scale historic miracles man is led to acknowledge the hidden ones which constitute the foundation of the whole Torah. For no man has any portion in the law of Moses our teacher until he is convinced that all our affairs and chance occurrences and the routine workings of the universe both in the private and public field are miracles and are not to be attributed merely to nature.

Rachel Brodie, 'When Gender Varies: A Curious Case of Kere and Ketiv,' in Torah Queeries, p. 34-35

Physically and socially, the person he has encountered at the well seems a perfect match for his master’s son, Isaac. Almost sacrificed like an animal by his own father, and grieving the recent loss of his mother, Isaac could benefit from Rebekah’s sensitivity and servility, as well as her physical strength and confidence. Of course, Rebekah is not a typical woman of the Bible, partly because of her “masculine” traits (physical strength, stamina, bold social behavior, and independence). Through the eyes of Eliezer the servant, the Biblical text itself seems to approve of the blending of stereotypically masculine and feminine traits. Might the character of Rebekah afford a more nuanced view of gender—one that extends beyond biological and social conventions?

Rabbi Shai Held, The Heart of Torah, vol. 1, location 1274

The Torah tells us that Rebekah “hurried” (va-temaher) (Gen. 24:18,20) and “ran” (va-tarotz) (24:20,28) to be of service to the servant. These words call to mind Abraham’s own generosity in welcoming strangers: He, too, “hurried” (va-yemaher) (18:6,7) and “ran” (va-yarotz) (18:2,7) to ensure that his guests were properly greeted and fed. Rebekah thus proves herself worthy not only of marrying into Abraham’s family but also of being of his ethical and spiritual heir: She, like him, is committed to a life of lovingkindness (hesed). Rebekah’s mirroring of Abraham runs even deeper. Asked whether she will delay or go to Canaan with Abraham’s servant right away, Rebekah answers simply, “I will go” (eilekh) (Gen. 24:58). Her terse response is a clear echo of God’s initial call to Abraham, “Go” (lekh) (12:1). Like Abraham—but unlike Isaac, who stays put in the land—Rebekah embarks on the long journey to the land of promise. Rebekah rather than Isaac parallels Abraham.

Rabbi Rebekah Stern, Congregation Beth El, Berkeley, newsletter to congregants Nov 9, 2023

Isaac, meanwhile, is absent from the narrative for nearly the entire portion until, towards the end, he reappears coming “...from the approach to Be’er LaChai Ro’i.” (Gen. 24:62). This well - be’er - is remarkable for a couple of reasons. The first is its name. As in the name of this Torah portion, chai means life. Ro’i means ‘sees.’ So this is a well of living witness, or, as translator Everett Fox renders it, ‘the Well of the Living-One Who-Sees-Me.’ The second reason that this well is noteworthy is that this is not the first time we’ve encountered it within the last 10 chapters of Genesis. At the beginning of chapter 16 we meet Hagar, Sarah’s slave, who soon has cause to run away from Sarah’s mistreatment. Pregnant Hagar flees into the wilderness where a messenger of God finds her by a spring of water and comforts her, giving her a blessing for the child she is carrying. In this encounter, Hagar refers to God as El Ro’i - God Who Sees me - and the narrator of this story explains that this is why the well is called Be’er LaChai Ro’i. In his grief, Isaac goes to this well of living witness. Perhaps he too goes to be seen, to be nourished, to connect with the difficult stories of his family. In our own collective time of trauma and grief, sometimes we need to engage as Abraham did - jumping into action - and sometimes we need to do as Isaac did: we need to go to the well.

Louis Ginzberg, Legends of the Jews, p. 126

[Isaac] was in the posture of praying when Rebekah first laid eyes upon him...She saw he was not an ordinary individual. She noticed the unusual beauty of Isaac, and also that an angel accompanied him.

Lord Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, Covenant and Conversation: Genesis, p. 129

As they arrive from Haran, Isaac is coming towards them, for he had “gone out into the field towards evening to meditate” (24:63). The Talmud identifies this moment as having historic and halakhic implications: Isaac’s “meditation” was a prayer; “Towards evening” means afternoon. If Isaac’s behaviour had normative implications, it meant that he instituted minĥa, the afternoon prayer.

Louis Ginzberg, Legends of the Jews, p. 125, 126

The journey to Haran took but a few hours, at evening of the same day he reached there, because the earth hastened to meet him in a wonderful way...Eliezer's return to Canaan was as wonderful as his going to Haran had been. A seventeen days' journey he accomplished in three hours. He left Haran at noon, and he arrived at Hebron at three o'clock in the afternoon, the time for the Minhah Prayer, which had been introduced by Isaac.

Midrash Ha-Gadol 24:67, per Dr. Avivah Zornberg, The Beginning of Desire, p. 139

Three years Isaac mourned for his mother. Every time he entered her tent, and saw it in darkness [dimmed], he would tear his hair. But when he married Rebecca, and brought her into the tent, the light returned to its place. 'And Isaac brought her into the ohel [the tent]': ohel means 'light,' as it is said, 'Til the moon will no longer shine' [Job 25:5]. He was comforted and saw it as through his mother were still in existence. That is why it says: 'Isaac was comforted after his mother.'

Rabbi Shefa Gold, Torah Journeys, p. 38

Isaac, Sarah's son, goes out from Be'er-lahai-roi, the place that is associated with Hagar, the stranger. Our grief makes us a stranger to life and we dwell in isolation and alienation until we are ready to love again. This preparation for love is described in Isaac's meeting with Rebecca. As a prelude to that meeting, Isaac goes out into the field to meditate. The word here for meditation is la-su'ach, which refers to the practice of 'conversation' with God. The field, a place of spacious natural beauty, is the setting. Here we engage iin holy conversation, pouring out our grief, anger, and despair, listening deeply for God's voice...The spaciousness that Isaac achieves in meditation allows him to lift his eyes and behold beauty and the possibility of love. In loving again we are comforted.

Rabbi Jennifer A. Gubitz, The Mussar Torah Commentary, p. 29

Rabbinic Sages teach that after the trauma of the Akeidah and then his mother Sarah’s death, Isaac took a long leave of absence from his family. In the Torah text, we hear about him, but we barely hear a word from him. Some commentators actually suggest this silence was a permanent and final departure—that the trauma was so painful that he died of fear.7 Others imagine he was blinded.8 Other commentaries envision that it was neither death nor illness, but rather that Isaac’s departure was a multifaceted journey of resilience and recovery. B’reishit Rabbah teaches that after the Akeidah, Isaac went to study in a beit midrash, a “house of learning.” Drowning his sorrows and his past in the books and traditions of our people, he immersed in a community of learners and seekers.

Bereshit Rabbah 61:4

(4) “And her name was Ketura” – Rav said: This is Hagar.

Richard Elliott Friedman, Commentary on the Torah, p. 85

Keturah. The most ignored significant person in the Torah. Rashi follows an old rabbinic idea that she is Hagar...Notably, the Midianites are among the children of Abraham and Keturah, and the influence of the Midianite priest Jethro on Moses, his son-in-law, is understood to be substantial. And the line of Levites who are descended from Moses thus - alone among the Israelites - derive from Abraham through both Sarah and Keturah [Keturah/Hagar].

Howard Schwartz, The Tree of Souls: The Mythology of Judaism, p. 347

A vision came to Abraham on the day of his death. The voice of the Lord came to him and said, 'Open your eyes, and see your reward."...At that instant Abraham was suddenly transformed into a happy child, and he saw a great many happy children coming toward him. Abraham played with them and ran with them to hear the wonderful songs of the angels. They walked among sweet-smelling trees and rested under the Tree of Life..."

Richard Elliott Friedman, Commentary on the Torah, p. 87

Isaac's life is different from his father Abraham and his son Jacob's. Unlike them: he never leaves the promised land. [He never goes to Egypt.] He never fights. He has only one wife. His name is not changed. He is pictured going to meditate. He lives the longest. There are fewer stories about him. He is a relatively passive figure, acted on by his father and his wife and his son. Why he is different? Presumably because he has once lain on an altar as a sacrifice to God. Even though the sacrifice is not consummated, his life is now consecrated, and his life is distinct after this. The actions that parents take regarding their children impact on their children's lives [and their grandchildren's lives] ever after.

Rabbi David Kasher, Parshanut, p. 36-37

Where did Ishmael, gone all these years, suddenly come from? Maybe, the text is hinting to us, Isaac brought him back. This is the gift he gave his father in his old age. Not finding him a wife, but reuniting him with his other son, his firstborn son, whom he had not seen for decades. If that is so, Isaac wasn't putting aside his mother's honor - he was putting aside his own. He, who had the place of privilege in the family lineage, brought back the older brother who was once seen as a threat to his birthright. And why? for his father's happiness, certainly...But also, perhaps, Isaac did it for himself. He had been raised an only child. But he had a brother, somewhere out there in the wilderness, estranged. And now, his mother was gone. His father would soon be gone. It was Isaac who would be alone in the world. Where was Isaac's family? At Be'er Lachai Ro'i.

Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer 30, 6, 7

(6)...Ishmael was seventeen years old (when) he went forth from the house of Abraham, and Isaac was forty years old... "And he dwelt in the wilderness of Paran" (Gen. 21:21). Ishmael sent for a wife from among the daughters of Moab, and 'Ayeshah was her name. After three years Abraham went to see Ishmael his son, having sworn to Sarah that he would not descend from the camel in the place where Ishmael dwelt. He arrived there at midday and found there the wife of Ishmael. He said to her: Where is Ishmael? She said to him: He has gone with his mother to fetch the fruit of the palms from the wilderness. He said to her: Give me a little bread and a little water, for my soul is faint after the journey in the desert. She said to him: I have neither bread nor water. He said to her: When Ishmael comes (home) tell him this || story, and say to him: A certain old man came from the land of Canaan to see thee, and he said, Exchange the threshold of thy house, for it is not good for thee. When Ishmael came (home) his wife told him the story. A son of a wise man is like half a wise man. Ishmael understood. His mother sent and took for him a wife from her father's house, and her name was Fatimah. (7) Again after three years Abraham went to see his son Ishmael, having sworn to Sarah as on the first occasion that he would not descend from the camel in the place where Ishmael dwelt. He came there at midday, and found there Ishmael's wife. He said to her: Where is Ishmael? She replied to him: He has gone with his mother to feed the camels in the desert. He said to her: Give me a little bread and water, for my soul is faint after the journey of the desert. She fetched it and gave it to him. Abraham arose and prayed before the Holy One, blessed be He, for his son, and (thereupon) Ishmael's house was filled with all good things of the various blessings. When Ishmael came (home) his wife told him what had happened, and Ishmael knew that his father's love was still extended to him, as it is said, || "Like as a father pitieth his sons" (Ps. 103:13).