Chayei Sarah – Once Upon a Week

Read the transcript below, or watch a video of the teaching by Yehuda Bachana.

This week Sarah, the mother of our nation, moves on to the next world. It is a sad moment, nevertheless Sarah will continue to influence all the generations of Jewish women until this day, and every Shabbat, we bless our daughters with the famous blessing: “May God make you like Sarah.”

Last week we read about the binding of Isaac, a challenging story that can traumatize an entire family. We read that Abraham travels with Isaac and two boys, probably servants or helpers; that Abraham orders them to wait at the foot of the mountain, and ascends alone with his son Isaac.

In Genesis 22:6 we read that they “both went together”. However, the Bible does not use the word “together”, when it describes Abraham’s return back to his servants.

Generations of rabbis and Bible commentators continue to wonder about it. Did Abraham return alone? If so, where did Isaac go?

Abraham went back to Beersheba, but the next Torah portion begins with Sarah’s passing in Kiryat Arbah, in Hebron, and with Abraham morning her loss. Commentators are asking a very hard question: is it possible that Abraham and Sarah split up after the binding of Isaac?

I am not certain that Sarah and Abraham split up. Possibly Abraham continued to move from place to place, along with his family, and they lived a happy life, befitting the ancestors of our nation.

However, the discussion about family breakups related to religion, leadership, or social status is important and worthy of mentioning. Deep down I am convinced that the sons and daughters of secular or religious leaders are more vulnerable and hurt than other children. Because the leader’s complete devotion to a vision or an ideal usually comes at the expense of his family.

An additional element that can cause hurt or disappointment in the family of religious leaders is the fact that religious leaders are supposed to be an example of the desirable ethics, and direct our moral compass. We look up to our leaders, wish to imitate them.

A religious leader is greatly honored. He demands a lot from others, he teaches the Word of God and shows people the will of God. But at home, behind the closed doors, is he the same “leadership figure”, the same “man of God”, that he appears to others?

Now, I am not bring this up as a criticism of religious leaders, not at all. I am bringing this up for discussion because we, as parents, are leading our families, we are our family spiritual leaders, and I want to discuss us — as parents.

It is not OK if, in the congregation, we pray to God, read His Word, look religious, look like a respectful family, full of faith, tradition and order; and at the same time at home, behind closed doors, we do not invest in our family and children. We raise our voice, we disrespect and hurt those closest to us.

In public we look religious, but at home we behave inappropriately. We may hurt our spouses, but for sure we are hurting our children. As parents, we are our children’s spiritual leaders, and it is our responsibility to show them how to apply the Word of God to our daily lives.

Which is: positive attitude, care, listening, and quality time. All of this has to be part of our family lives. We, the parents, need to be an example of kindness, forgiveness, patience, and love. Only then will we not lose our families and our children, but keep them close to the Word of God.

Teaching children is a major part of our Scriptures and of our faith, and an entire mechanism in the Bible is designed for the education of children. For example, let’s look at the story of the Exodus from Egypt. The Torah tells us:

And therefore, it is written in the Passover Haggadah:

When, during a Passover Seder, a person tells his family the story of Exodus, he should appear and feel as if he is sharing his own experience. As the Exodus is not just a liberation from the Egyptian slavery, but God has brought us into eternal freedom. He led us to the land of promise, as God told Abraham.

The Exodus is a prototype for the ultimate redemption, redemption given to us by the Messiah Yeshua. Yeshua took us out of slavery into freedom.

This is the most important point, a key point for us and our children, and thus God commands us to remember Exodus forever. And here we are, the descendants, the very far descendants of Abraham, and we still remember.

How? Because every Sabbath we remember the Exodus, alongside the creation of the world. As it written:

Back to our Torah Portion — we suddenly discover, or understand, that Abraham doesn’t have any estate or property. That Abraham does not own the land that God promised him.

Sarah passed away, and Abraham doesn’t have a plot of land to bury his wife. How is that possible? As Abraham received the promise:

In light of this, and similar verses, Abraham could’ve acted as if he owns the land.But by choosing to purchase the plot of land, Abraham chose to act orderly and legally.

He is not using his military strength, described to us in Genesis 14. I will briefly remind you that Lot, Abraham’s nephew, was taken hostage in a local war. Abraham organized his servants and his allies, and launched a military operation in order to free Lot.

Abraham was successful in this task, he freed Lot, his property, and everything he had. Abraham had power and capability, including a military one, but Abraham did not use that power.

As Abraham talks to the Hittites in Hebron, he calls himself “a foreigner and stranger among you”. Abraham talks like someone who, up to this moment, did not have the right of ownership, and he is asking to buy a plot of land:

The Hittites are telling Abraham that they will allow him to bury his wife wherever he wishes, but they politely refuse Abraham’s offer of purchase. And since Abraham is interested in buying a plot of land as a burial site, Abraham asks the Hittites to mediate between him and Ephron, who owns the desired cave and field:

Abraham is willing to also buy the field that surrounds the cave. He repeatedly asks to pay the full price for the land. Four hundred shekels changed hands, finalizing the deal.

So, why till this moment, was Abraham wandering around as a stranger in a foreign land? The New Testament tells us about Abraham that:

The author of Hebrews is telling us that Abraham moved through the land as a nomad, because he understood that our life here is temporary, and that he was waiting for the world to come. For the city built and prepared by God. And actually, until the day of Sarah’s passing away and the need to bury her, Abraham had no need in a estate registered to his name.

Chapter 11 in the book of Hebrews is dedicated to faith, to the power of faith and to heroes of faith, and the most important of whom is Abraham. Faith has a tremendous importance in our lives, it gives us strength; faith gives us victory over hardships.

As believers we can overcome difficulties with the power of faith. As we know a God that is in control, God controls history — believing this gives me hope.

I believe in the forgiveness of sins through Yeshua the Messiah. I believe that through my faith, through Yeshua, I will be acquitted and justified by God, and knowing this fills me with hope.

Faith is the source of hope and the source of strength, but faith can’t just float in the air. It has to be based on something.

I believe in the Bible, and my faith is based on true findings, it is grounded in facts, like the bullae (the clay seal) signed by Gemaryahu ben Shafan, that was found in the City of David excavations. This seal proves that this fellow, Gemaryahu, whom we read about it the book of Jeremiah, and who was the king’s scribe, was a real living person.

Or the excavations of the city of She’arayim, above the valley of Elah, the valley where David met Goliath for battle. The discovery of this city proves that there was a kingdom in Judea, and that the kingdom of David is historically possible.

I do believe that David was a real person, and his kingdom was real. In that very city, She’arayim, or as archaeologists call it, Khirbet Qeiyafa, they found several small replicas of the temple, similar to the Temple of Solomon. Additionally, an ancient Hebrew inscription was found there. It may be the oldest Hebrew text yet found.

My faith in the Bible is founded and routed in real historical findings. Yeshua is a true figure, He was Jewish, and even His greatest opponents accept the fact that Yeshua was a true historical figure.

The big question is the identity of that “Yeshua”. Was He a rabbi? A teacher? A Messiah? A fraud? A liar? I believe that Yeshua is the Messiah promised through Israel to the whole world.

Today we are living in a reality that the disciples of Yeshua, in their time, could not even imagine. When two days before His crucifixion, a woman poured oil on His head, Yeshua prophesied that her act would be told and remembered all over the world (Matthew 26).

People who heard His words may have thought Him crazy. But we know what happened at the end of this “madness”: Yeshua changed our world. And yes, today all over the world people read and study the story of this woman. Yeshua was right.

The Bible has been translated into a thousand languages. It exists only in one version, that starts with Genesis and ends with Revelation.

And every single Bible copy in the world, from Kamchatka to Africa and to Antarctica, contains the part called the “New Testament”. With the exception of the Bible held by a Jew or an Israeli.

All these are undeniable facts, as thousands of witnesses speak about the unique place this Jew, Yeshua, has in history. The purpose of the Messiah’s mission is to establish the Kingdom of God throughout the world, to bring those far away to the knowledge of God and to His word.

The current situation leaves no room for a future Messiah to do what was already done. Thus, when we read:

We ought to remember who turned these prophetic words into an historical truth.

Shabbat Shalom.