Kevin Bemel ·
The Solution to Your Problem Exists – Here’s the Key
Parsha Nugget Chayei Sarah – Genesis 23:1-25:18
Have you noticed how much easier it is to endure a tough situation when you know an end point exists? Sometimes in the midst of truly vexing circumstances I begin to feel hopeless. Fortunately, my optimism fights back. Not blind faith, my belief I will find a solution is supported by the juxtaposition at the end of last week’s parsha and the beginning of Parshas Chayei Sarah:
“And Sarah dies in Kirias Arba, it is Hebron in the Land of Canaan . . .” (Bereshis/Genesis 23:2).
Following the death of his beloved wife Abraham devotedly mourns her. He purchases a burial site for her and his family. Then he orders his servant to find a wife for Isaac. Next, Abraham marries again. The narrative concludes with his death and the death of Ishmael.
Preceding Sarah’s death, toward the end of Parsha Vayeira the Torah narrates the Akeidas Yitzchak or binding of Isaac followed by the birth of Rebecca. The order of these three events is not accidental.
Abraham’s near sacrifice of Isaac is the archetype demonstration of service to G-d. The Sages discuss its effect on Sarah. True to character, Satan told Sarah her son had actually been slaughtered, causing her to cry out in grief and die.
But Sarah did not die before her time. Rather her time had come anyway but the news of the Akeidah was the rational reason for her death. Possibility instead of it being a shock, Sarah was comforted knowing she raised a son with such a deep commitment to G-d. Feeling her life’s work was complete, she could leave this world peacefully.
But why is Rebecca’s birth interposed between Isaac almost being sacrificed and Sarah dying?
G-d does not permit a righteous person to leave the world before his or her successor is born. As Matriarchal heir, Rebecca’s spirit had to inhabit this world before Sarah’s could pass to the World to Come. As great as this is for the world, the lesson for your life becomes apparent toward the end of the parsha.
Isaac marries Rebecca and is consoled after his mother. Aside from the beauty of a husband’s grief being assuaged by his new wife, another principle of the Torah is revealed:
G-d Creates the Solution Prior to Presenting You with a Challenge
Take comfort from knowing that whatever befalls you, resolution already exists. G-d asks only that you persevere until you find it.
Question – How to you stave off hopelessness?
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Every year beginning on Simchas Torah, the cycle of reading the Torah, the first five books of the Bible, ends and begins again. Each Sabbath a portion known as a sedra or parsha is read. Its name comes from the first significant word or two with which this weekly reading begins.
Do you have a question about the Old Testament? Ask it here and I will answer it in a future Parsha Nugget!
