SLEEPY SERMON: PARSHAT CHAYEI SARAH
Shira Smiles shiur – 2016/5777
Summary by Channie Koplowitz Stein
Once when Rabbi Akiva was teaching his students, they appeared to be lethargic,
almost as if dozing. Rabbi Akiva roused his students by referring to Parshat
Chayei Sarah which begins by relating that Sarah Imeinu lived one
hundred years and twenty years and seven years. He then said that Queen Esther
merited later ruling over 127 lands of the Persian Empire because of her
ancestress Sarah. Aside from the bloodline, what other connection can we
establish that would explain why Esther merited such greatness?
First we must understand that these students were not ordinary students prone
to boredom. Among these were the great Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, Rabbi Meir,
Rabbi Yehudah – giant figures whose work enabled Judaism to continue after the
destruction of the Temple, reminds us Rabbi Druck in Dorash Mordechai.
However, that was exactly the point. The period of Rabbi Akiva was a period of
destruction and devastation for the Jewish people. Rabbi Pincus notes that both
Sarah ad Esther were in essence founders of a new nation, Sarah at the point of
our inception, and Esther at our rebirth from possible total annihilation, and
each maintained their temimus, their wholeness and purity at every stage
of their lives.
Rabbi Menachem Zion Sacks, a Holocaust survivor adds another dimension to our
discussion by citing a complementary source from Shir Hashirim Rabba.
Here too a great Rabbi’s students needed to be roused from their lethargy.
Rabbi Yehudah told them that in Egypt one woman gave birth to 600,000 at once.
Who was this woman? Yocheved, who gave birth to Moshe who, because of his role
is saving the Jewish nation, is valued as equivalent to all 600,000 whom Hashem
took out of Egypt under his leadership. Both Rabbi Akiva and Rabbi Yehudah were
dealing with the sense of despondency and hopelessness of their generation
after the destruction of the Temple. By citing these models, Sarah Moshe and
Esther, they were trying to infuse hope in their disciples and rouse them to
rebuild, to fire up their brothers and bring the assimilated Jews back to
Torah. That was their mission, and that is what they accomplished, as did our
great post Holocaust Rabbis of the previous generation.
Rashi says that the Torah adds “these were the years of Sarah” to tell us that
all the years were equally good. Why were they all equal and good? Rabbi Sacks
continues by saying that in spite of her very difficult challenges, even
imprisonment in a foreign king’s palace, Sarah never lost hope to do good.
Similarly, Esther also went through challenges and trials, even being in a
foreign king’s palace (albeit as queen), but she always remained as steadfast
in her faith as she had been as a ward in the home of Mordechai. Rabbi Akiva
could easily have given up, but by citing the examples of Esther and Sarah, he
bolstered his own faith and spurred his disciples to action.
While Queen Esther ruled over 127 lands, Rabbi Alpert maintains that the
connection between Esther and Sarah is stronger than external sovereignty, for
Sarah, as her name suggests, also ruled. Both maintained mastery over
themselves and over their faith, in whatever circumstances they found
themselves. They always believed that they were where Hashem wanted them to be
at the moment and that Hashem was with them. In fact, the Netziv writes
in Haamek Davar that although Hashem may have spoken to Sarah only once
whereas He spoke to Avraham many times, more of the Divine Spirit rested on
Sarah than on Avraham. While Avraham was out in the public domain, Hashem’s
spirit could not rest upon him, but Sarah, alone in her tent, found many
opportunities to interact with Hashem’s presence on a deep level.
The righteous ones are temimim, whole, complete, with integrity to their
entire being. Hashem knows this integrity as it is intertwined with time. Time
is itself a product of God’s creation, and just as each of us is recreated each
day, so is time. Therefore, each moment is unique and must be used appropriately.
Each moment needs to be integrated into one’s life toward fulfilling his
spiritual potential. Otherwise one is in effect killing time rather than
letting it live on to eternity. Both Sarah Imeinu and Queen Esther used
their time fully, whether creating souls in Charan or maintaining Jewish
identity during a time when Hashem hid His face from us, writes Rabbi
Weinberger in Shemen Hatov. This was Rabbi Akiva’s message to his
disciples. Just as Sarah Imeinu affected so many lives in her generation,
so can you affect lives in this generation. Wake up from your lethargic
despondency and make your time count.
Rabbi Reiss breaks the idea of the meaning of time down for us very nicely in Meirosh
Tzurim. He offers that ruling over 127 different states must be extremely
difficult. Each one is unique, with different needs and different cultures.
Then, within each state there are multiple cities, again each with its own
personality. Each city has different neighborhoods, and even each street can
present a challenge. For each year Sarah, and subsequently Esther, maintained
her truth, Esther ruled over one state effectively. For each month, she
maintained proper control over each city. For each week, each day and each hour
she was given the appropriate sovereignty over another segment of the overall
empire. The years and days Sarah lived with integrity gave Esther the merit to
be queen over a diverse empire with integrity. As Sarah was mindful of each
moment, she could imbue Esther with the spirit to be mindful of each city and
town.
It’s not easy to utilize each moment appropriately. The yetzer horo is
extremely clever in manipulating us to waste and kill time. He sometimes makes
us feel too lazy and at other times makes us too busy to use our time for
spiritual and other proper pursuits, continues Rabbi Reiss. But Avraham
Avinu,, like Sarah Imeinu, knew the value of time and came with all
his years.
Rabbi Asher Weiss gives us further insight into the value of time, the uniqueness
of each moment, and the importance of integrating all our time into one fabric
of service to Hakodosh Boruch Hu. Rabbi Akiva spent a continuous 24 years in
the pursuit of Torah learning instead of breaking it up into two twelve year
periods. David Hamelech asked in the past and continues to ask in the
future only one thing, “To dwell in the House of Hashem all the days of my life
… and to visit His sanctuary.” Although his needs may change from one stage of
life to another, David wanted all his days to devote himself to serve Hashem.
And although he wanted to dwell in Hashem’s House always, David wanted to feel
each moment as if it were a fresh experience, as if he had just come for a
visit.
Sarah and Esther each had the ability to be masters of time, as their names
imply. Rabbi Akiva was telling his students it’s time to wake up, writes Rabbi
Mordechai Ezrachi. If you are sleeping, you lose control over yourself and over
time. Sarah’s mastery over self and over time was transmitted to Esther and
translated into mastery over 127 provinces.
But Royalty is not a given, notes Rabbi C. Y. Goldvicht in Asufat Maarachot.
It must be developed from within so you are master over yourself no matter what
circumstances you find yourself in. King Solomon retained mastery over himself
until he regained his monarchy even when he had lost everything else. Sarah is
the Mother of Monarchy, and kings and queens shall descend from her precisely
because she has maintained mastery over herself. She has kept her soul
connected to Hakodosh Boruch Hu at all times and was rejuvenated each day in
that relationship.
Humans have a constant drive for newness and change, unlike the animal world,
writes the Tallelei Chaim. From children wanting a new toy and being
bored with the old in a short time to adults eagerly awaiting the newest
technology, we seek renewal and excitement in the material because we don’t
feel it in our spiritual lives. Our souls are looking for connection and
newness. While we are awake, our neshama is always giving. During sleep,
the neshama is open to receiving; it is when we give our spirits over to
Hashem, as we say in Adon Olam before sleeping. The Tallelei Chaim
continues, the students of Rabbi Akiva wanted to sleep to receive new spiritual
energy. But Rabbi Akiva was telling them that waking life offers continuous
moments of connection to Hakodosh Boruch Hu. They must create newness and
satisfaction during the wakeful moments of life. They must fill their days with
meaning as Sarah Imeinu did.
Rav Dessler understands that perhaps Rabbi Akiva was teaching very difficult
concepts and his students were tuning out. But he was telling them that they
have to look for role models to elevate themselves, as Queen Esther did in
emulating our Matriarch Sarah. When we bless our daughters to be like our
Matriarchs, we are providing them with role models to emulate. The Matriarchs
did not sleep through life, but made every moment count in striving to reach
wholeness and perfection in their service of Hakodosh Boruch Hu. When we wake
up every morning and thank Hashem for returning our souls revitalized and
refreshed, we should breathe that energy in deeply so that we can go forth and
fill the gift of that day Hashem has given us with holiness.