Parashat Chayei Sarah

Parashat Chayei Sarah
Cheshvan 22, 5772 ~ November 19, 2011
by Sid Miller

Parashas Chayei Sarah addresses the contribution of two significant women, Sarah and Rebecca. Their contribution to Judaism occurred through their unending pursuit of demonstrating and articulating targeted values and behaviors. The communities’ goals included the delineating and defining our behaviors as individuals and our collective actions toward strangers and those in need who enter our midst.

Sarah represented the obligation to extract from our experiences knowledge, new insights and strategies and apply them to one’s life through the pursuit of individual and community interests. Abraham, the warrior, adventurer, and the one with an “uplink” to Hashem, tended to be focused on abstract ideas and goals, while Sarah tested, challenged and applied abstract notions through intuition and application.

Sarah also provided Abraham a stable mooring from which he was able to communicate with Hashem and pursue the goals he and Hashem had set out. She became the embodiment of three separate acts which have endured: the lighting of the Sabbath lights, transforming dough into challah, and establishing the criteria for intimacy.

While many of Sarah’s contributions may have seemed to have short shelf-lives, each can be rekneaded and rekindled through personal and community commitment, demonstrating again that faltering pledges and efforts can be renewed and restored.

Althoug the acts can be described as simple and functional, they represent aesthetic contributions that enrich and nourish the home, assure individual respect among family members, and provide a beacon to strangers.

Rebecca demonstrated a unique faith and essential contribution that is an underlying principle of the Beth Jacob community, the welcoming and embracing of strangers who seek inclusion, guidance, assistance, and the offers of rewards and challenges. Rebecca welcomed Eliezer, the servant of Abraham, and offered him and his camels water that she had personally shlepted to address her family’s needs.

Rebecca’s behaviors and responses reflected that which she had learned: that strangers are individuals who can be embraced and can enrich and reward an individual and community with their unique insights, experiences and values. Judaism has assured the principle of welcoming by imbedding it into its beliefs and practices.

Among the expectations included:

• Singling out strangers for special treatment;

• Provide fair treatment for the debtor, the laborer, and the stranger, and

• Offering the widow and orphan special consideration care.

The simple and profound acts performed by both Sarah and Rebecca demonstrated and established some essential principles of civility and respect that have not only ushered in community hospitality, they have also enabled Jews to wonder the globe and meet welcoming brothers and sisters. These principles have established an expectation of courtesy and respect, with the opportunity to learn new ways and build bonds that can produce larger, more diverse and inclusive communities.

This Drash was edit by the author’s wife. Clarity, fluidity, and insightful judgements can be attributed to her. All misspellings, grammatical errors, and convoluted ideas are the sole responsibility of the author.