Chayei Sarah, חַיֵּי שָׂרָה  "The Life of Sarah"  Genesis 23:1-25:18

Chayei Sarah / Hebron and Heaven

Poetic notes on parashat Chayei Sarah*

Sarah, Abraham's rose   

Deep within  

one hundred and twenty-seven years of life,

Sarah gave birth to Isaac

And with Isaac she gave birth to all

All was her daughter,

all of the blessings of Abraham

with which God blessed him

All the living blessings of Abraham as one

were Sarah's spiritual daughter,

Isaac’s spiritual twin sister 

The Egyptian and the Philistine coveted to steal

Abraham's rose

They said, "I will repent of my idolatry!

And I will claim for myself what Abraham knows"

A mixed multitude of the nations

also desired this

and clung to Abraham's clothes   

The nations feared All would be one day lost forever    

But they suspected Abraham and Sarah   

Had been given All as a daughter    

And the secret daughter    

was still with Abraham’s rose,  

Or perhaps he had concealed her in his clothes  

But God adopted Sarah's daughter

as His own

How the earth dances!

How the tents of the stars

sway with the music of God!

It is the day of the Divine espousal

The day of Machpelah

The day when Sarah's soul

and Sarah's body

become the claim laid by God

upon the Land of Israel

and upon her people

Having made All

in the intimacy of Adam and Eve

and having lost her,

HaShem made All over again

in the intimacy of Abraham and Sarah,

He gave Abraham and Sarah a daughter

And then He adopted her

And then he called her His bride

He called her Jerusalem

And made her the eternal Mother of All Living

Why live your life in bondage

through the fear of death?

Your Creator is a redeemer

He loves all the creatures that He made

Listen to me you who pursue justice,

even if with feet of fear,

who seek HaShem, even if with frail hope,

Pay attention to Abraham,

the rock from which you were cut

Consider Sarah,

the quarry from which you were dug

For Abraham and Sarah were one complete soul

It was the first complete soul since Adam met Eve

But Adam and Eve were then deceived

and believed they could each alone be a god

Follow the advice of Rebecca

Follow the lead of Leah and Rachel

Marry your soul to the promise of God

There is no math to measure the path

past the double-edged sword,

the way back in

through the Gate of Eden

There is no back door

into the presence of God

Adam's testimony failed,

the testimony that one God of love

created the heavens and the earth

The testimony of darkness demons and serpents

injected corrosive doubts

into the mind of Adam,    

suggesting that others could be gods

Then the greatest disciple of Noah came,

Abraham came

and nothing was ever again the same

The student surpassed the master    

How did Abraham's testimony,

that God is one, crush the serpent's head?

Abraham and Sarah's testimony itself

had to be rectified in Isaac and in Jacob

Already, before his testimony had been rectified

Abraham spoke to Adam

What did Abraham say to Adam?

Remember the good commandment,

the word of God that infused your heart and mind

with the wisdom of faith

The commandment that kept you in your right mind

Could Abraham's words alone remind Adam

of living as one with the mind of God? 

Sarah listened to what Abraham said to Adam

But Sarah knew that only through Isaac

could Adam be restored to his right mind 

From the moment Isaac was conceived in her faith,

Sarah knew that Ishmael

would have to leave her house

She waited for Ishmael to himself

demonstrate this necessity 

Sarah knew and Abraham learned

and Abraham’s All

he left to Isaac 

And then Abraham again spoke to Adam

and he said,

It is time now

to talk about God's great mercy

It is time now

to make you, Adam and Eve,

a grandfather and grandmother,

to be cared for in the house

of a son and daughter

Shem and Keturah remained alongside Abraham

in order to testify that Abraham’s repentance

had been the one chosen by God

to be redeemed,

to be made a father’s repentance for all nations

Abraham knew that his house

would be made the house of repentance 

for Adam’s failure,

the house of redemption

for all families and nations of the earth,

the house of re-creation

for all the stars and angels of the heavens

Abraham knew that his house

would be made a house of new creation, 

through the grace and mercy of God,

when he gave his daughter in marriage

This is the testimony of Shem and Keturah:

It is necessary for us to enter as guests

and be treated as family members by the hosts

in the house of salvation,

If the hosts will be so gracious

We will be saved

through the hospitality of God and Abraham,

like the world that was saved in Noah's ark

For we will bless ourselves in Abraham

and rejoice with Israel in his children,

God’s people, His witnesses,

on the eternal day

when God Anoints David His king in Israel

and sits him upon his throne in Jerusalem

*Being a meditation on the parashah, with reflections from a Torah class on the parashah delivered by Rabbi Baitelman of ChaBaD Richmond, B.C., based on the series, Torah Studies, by Rohr Jewish Learning Institute. Neither Rabbi Baitelman nor the JLI have reviewed or approved of the content of this post.