Chayei Sarah 2024 Plaut p. 162
Source Sheet by Yair Robinson
| Genesis 25:7-11
(7) This was the total span of Abraham’s life: one hundred and seventy-five years. (8) And Abraham breathed his last, dying at a good ripe age, old and contented; and he was gathered to his kin. (9) His sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah, in the field of Ephron son of Zohar the Hittite, facing Mamre, (10) the field that Abraham had bought from the Hittites; there Abraham was buried, and Sarah his wife. (11) After the death of Abraham, God blessed his son Isaac. And Isaac settled near Beer-lahai-roi. |
בראשית כ״ה:ז׳-י״א
(ז) וְאֵ֗לֶּה יְמֵ֛י שְׁנֵֽי־חַיֵּ֥י אַבְרָהָ֖ם אֲשֶׁר־חָ֑י מְאַ֥ת שָׁנָ֛ה וְשִׁבְעִ֥ים שָׁנָ֖ה וְחָמֵ֥שׁ שָׁנִֽים׃ (ח) וַיִּגְוַ֨ע וַיָּ֧מׇת אַבְרָהָ֛ם בְּשֵׂיבָ֥ה טוֹבָ֖ה זָקֵ֣ן וְשָׂבֵ֑עַ וַיֵּאָ֖סֶף אֶל־עַמָּֽיו׃ (ט) וַיִּקְבְּר֨וּ אֹת֜וֹ יִצְחָ֤ק וְיִשְׁמָעֵאל֙ בָּנָ֔יו אֶל־מְעָרַ֖ת הַמַּכְפֵּלָ֑ה אֶל־שְׂדֵ֞ה עֶפְרֹ֤ן בֶּן־צֹ֙חַר֙ הַֽחִתִּ֔י אֲשֶׁ֖ר עַל־פְּנֵ֥י מַמְרֵֽא׃ (י) הַשָּׂדֶ֛ה אֲשֶׁר־קָנָ֥ה אַבְרָהָ֖ם מֵאֵ֣ת בְּנֵי־חֵ֑ת שָׁ֛מָּה קֻבַּ֥ר אַבְרָהָ֖ם וְשָׂרָ֥ה אִשְׁתּֽוֹ׃ (יא) וַיְהִ֗י אַחֲרֵי֙ מ֣וֹת אַבְרָהָ֔ם וַיְבָ֥רֶךְ אֱלֹהִ֖ים אֶת־יִצְחָ֣ק בְּנ֑וֹ וַיֵּ֣שֶׁב יִצְחָ֔ק עִם־בְּאֵ֥ר לַחַ֖י רֹאִֽי׃ {פ} |
Often, I think we imagine that strength is some special wellspring within us, or comes from encouragement from the outside. That strength has to be loud, and that courage has to be big. But Mussar teaches us that ometz lev, that inner strength that our tradition lifts up, can, in fact, be the opposite. Yelling and screaming may not be a sign of strength, but of weakness, while the person who accepts what is happening in our world, without embracing it, can better resist the forces of darkness that we see.
In our parasha, Chayei Sarah, after Abraham’s death, his sons, Ishmael and Isaac come together and bury him, and God blesses Isaac. This could be a moment for the two half-brothers to rehash their old hurts and wounds, or to dwell on all the bad that has happened in Abraham’s life, all the loss and displacement he’s experienced, but it isn’t. It’s a moment of peace and acceptance, a celebration of long life, and a moment of blessing.
In Abraham’s death we read that he was ‘gathered unto his peoples’, plural, which the commentator Sforno explains means that he was counted among the righteous in every generation; even in the midst of whatever injustice they encountered. Likewise, we need to accept the reality of what is happening in our world. Only by accepting can we respond to the hate, the poverty, the inequality of the world, and do so with strength. So let us act with quiet strength, with ometz lev, as we do what must be done.