By Frieda Greenthal

Although the title of the parashah, Chayei Sarah, meaning “Life of Sarah,” implies that it will be all about Sarah, little did the Torah know that life would still today be all about the man (Abraham) and love (Isaac and Rebekah’s marriage)! Like how the great play Julius Caesar is hardly about Julius Caesar. Basically, the parashah is about how Abraham pays the big sheks to bury his newly-late wife Sarah in Machpelah (a cave in Hebron that Abraham feels ancestral connection to). And then Abraham’s servant, Eliezer, finds Rebekah to marry Isaac, and they get married, and so does Abraham (again). So, as we can see, this parashah really does not seem to be about Sarah’s life at all. But I guess the whole point of digging deeper (grave pun not intended...maybe) into these parashot is to decipher the irony. Or is this parashah actually just secretly about Thanksgiving and Donald Trump so it would make sense for the week? Nah, jk I get that we find solace for our lives in our holy book.

So, my main question here is, “How is this parashah about Sarah’s life?”

Honestly, I don’t have that much background on her life, and I’m not going back to read, let’s be honest, so I’ll have to speculate and use my limited Sunday School knowledge. The whole deal of Abraham caring that Sarah was buried in Machpelah must have been bigger than his own connections. Or maybe he just sucks and it wasn’t. Assuming not though, Sarah must have cared about her family. Abraham wanted to honor Sarah’s life and her care by reconnecting her with her ancestors and in hopes that her living family would one day be reconnected with her. To be #relatable to us… how can you honor people you love even when they might not be around (not necessarily dead, but when you’re not physically with them)? I’d like to think that I honor the people I care about by carrying what they’ve taught and told me. I’m working on really internalizing what people who care about me tell me. Hopefully I’ll find ways to do this and honor them in this way.

So, Isaac and Rebekah got married… mozel tov to the happy couple. Would you like a nice set of china? No, I’m not going to get you china (say China again, I dare you. [darn, I wasn’t gonna talk about him..]), but I’m reading about your sons in Sunday School and it seems pretty messed up. Dear future couple, get your stuff together and don’t play favorites ya sick people. Maybe (probably) Sarah really cared about Isaac getting married, because Jewish mothers do. Oh how I’m sure Sarah would have loved to be at the wedding. Maybe she was watching. Maybe there was a special reason she died right before Isaac got married. Probably there was some tie (haven’t done my research, I’m sorry), but notice that I said special! Maybe she would have hated Rebekah! I guess I need some help in trying to figure that out.

Don’t have that much to say on that part of the story right now, but it still doesn’t explicitly talk about Sarah’s life. It still focuses on the new love & marriage! Why can’t they just love one woman for a little longer and forget about the man? Why does it all have to be about marriage? If they’re gonna take the liberty of making the whole parashah titled about Sarah, the least they could do is make it a little bit more about her (who is they? I do not know). With that, I guess I’m back to my question. So, we’ll read on and maybe see why Isaac and Rebekah’s marriage was worth the space that could have been designated to talking about Sarah. It had better be good….