Chayei Sara, The Life of Sarah

✦  All insights are drawn from articles by Karen Berg, Rav Berg, and Miriam Ashkenazi published by the Kabbalah Centre.

There's something startling about the name of this portion. Chayei Sara opens with Sarah's death (Bereshit 23:1–2), and yet the Torah calls it "the life of Sarah." Kabbalists read this as intentional: a great soul's true life is not measured only by the years it breathed, but by what continues after. In the original text, the word "wept", when Abraham weeps for Sarah, is written with one letter smaller than the rest: the letter kaf. Miriam Ashkenazi teaches: Sarah and Abraham were soulmates, the kind of love any couple would dream of. So why would Abraham weep only a little? Rav Berg taught: "that which is infinite and eternal is real, and that which is finite, including this world and all that is a part of it, is illusion." The small letter is a clue: Abraham's grief was real, and, at the same time, he understood that death is not the final door.

The Zohar teaches something remarkable about this same portion: "every time that the righteous depart this world, there is likewise annulled from this world all the harsh decrees, and the death of the righteous brings forgiveness for the sins of the generation" (Zohar, Acharei Mot 1:9). A great soul's passing is not only loss, it also releases something for everyone still here.

After burying Sarah, Abraham sends his servant to find a wife for Isaac. The servant meets Rebecca at a well and brings her home. The Torah tells us what happens: "And Isaac brought her into the tent of his mother, Sarah, and took Rebecca, and she became his wife, and he loved her; and Isaac was comforted after his mother's death" (Bereshit 24:67). Tradition teaches that three miracles surrounded Sarah's tent while she lived: her Shabbat candles stayed lit from one week to the next, a cloud of the Creator's presence hovered above it, and blessing filled her bread dough. When Sarah died, these signs stopped. When Rebecca entered that same tent, they returned. Karen Berg writes: "we never really say goodbye to anything, we merely move through a new door." And: "energy does not ever cease to exist but finds a new vessel in which to dwell." Isaac wasn't comforted because he forgot his mother, he was comforted because, in a very real way, her Light had returned, now carried by Rebecca.

The portion also describes Abraham as someone who "came with his days", not one day of his life was wasted. Karen Berg builds her whole teaching around this phrase: Abraham endured ten major trials and never fell into "victim consciousness." He never asked "why is this happening to me", he simply met each morning ready to transform whatever it brought. She writes: "this portion reminds us… to find the window that is open when all doors become closed." And: "there is always a path towards overcoming." This is Chayei Sara's final teaching: death is not the final door, energy transforms into a new vessel, and the practical work, every day, is to meet the darkness already certain the Light is there.

1 · Phrases for Contemplation

2 · Takeaways

3 · Action Plan · 7 Days