by RABBI AVI COHEN | November 7, 2023 8:00 pm
Chayei Sara תשפ”ד
This week’s portion begins with the passing of our Matriarch Sara at the age of 127 years (Genesis 23:1,2).
(א) וַיִּהְיוּ חַיֵּי שָׂרָה מֵאָה שָׁנָה וְעֶשְׂרִים שָׁנָה וְשֶׁבַע שָׁנִים שְׁנֵי חַיֵּי שָׂרָה:
(ב) וַתָּמָת שָׂרָה בְּקִרְיַת אַרְבַּע הִוא חֶבְרוֹן בְּאֶרֶץ כְּנָעַן וַיָּבֹא אַבְרָהָם לִסְפֹּד לְשָׂרָה וְלִבְכֹּתָהּ
1) Sarah’s lifetime was one hundred years, and twenty years, and seven years; the years of Sarah’s life. Sarah died in Kiryat Arba which is Hebron in the land of Canaan, and Avraham came to eulogize Sarah and to bewail her.
Avraham was now charged with the responsibility of burying her. It is remarkable to note the amount of press the Torah gives to Avraham’s finding and purchasing the plot for Sarah’s burial. Clearly, this is a very important matter.
The law of the High Priest illustrates this point.
Due to his holiness and his constant engagement in the Holy Temple service, a High Priest is not permitted to come in contact with a dead body. A regular Kohen is permitted to come in contact with the body of one of his seven close relatives; father, mother, wife, sister, brother, son and daughter, but not the High Priest. Yet, if even the High Priest were to find a dead body with no one to bury it, regardless of who it is, he would have to defile himself and bury it. So great is the honor of a dead body.
So, why is placing the deceased body of a person in the ground so important? And what is the difference where a person is buried? After all, they are dead.
The answer to this important question is steeped in the deepest foundations of the Torah. It goes back to the creation of man itself. We read in Genesis (2:7) how Hashem created Adam:
(ז) וַיִּיצֶר יְדֹוָד אֱלֹקים אֶת הָאָדָם עָפָר מִן הָאֲדָמָה וַיִּפַּח בְּאַפָּיו נִשְׁמַת חַיִּים וַיְהִי הָאָדָם לְנֶפֶשׁ חַיָּה:
7. And Hashem G-d formed the man of dust from the ground, and He blew into his nostrils the soul of life; and man became a living being.
A human being is the miraculous combination of an earthly body and a heavenly soul that comes from Hashem. That our body derives from the earth we understand; but what is the nature of the soul?
Our Sages describe the soul as a “piece” of Hashem – ,חלק אלוק ממעל deriving it from the Torah’s description of how Adam received his soul; “and He (Hashem) blew into his nostrils the soul of life.” Why does the Torah describe how Hashem inserted the soul into man, through breathing it in? Why not just say, “And Hashem gave man a soul?” The answer is that the Torah wanted to teach us that the soul comes from within Hashem Himself; for, when one exhales, the exhaled air comes from within him. מאן דנפח מדיליה נפח. Similarly, the soul that Hashem blew into Adam came from within Him.
The Talmud (Niddah 31a) teaches us:
תנו רבנן: שלשה שותפין יש באדם, הקדוש ברוך הוא ואביו ואמו אביו מזריע הלובן שממנו עצמות וגידים וצפרנים ומוח שבראשו ולובן שבעין אמו מזרעת אודם שממנו עור ובשר ושערות ושחור שבעין והקדוש ברוך הוא נותן בו רוח ונשמה וקלסתר פנים וראיית העין ושמיעת האוזן ודבור פה והלוך רגלים ובינה והשכל וכיון שהגיע זמנו להפטר מן העולם הקדוש ברוך הוא נוטל חלקו וחלק אביו ואמו מניח לפניהם
The Rabbis taught: There are three partners in every person. Hashem, his father, and his mother… The father and mother contribute the child’s physical components, and Hashem provides the soul. When it comes time for a person to leave the world, Hashem takes back His portion (the soul), and leaves the parents with their part of the partnership (the body).
This teaching seems to be metaphoric. The parents provide the child’s physical components, and Hashem provides the spiritual component. However, the commentary Sefas Emes (Parashat Noach 1884) provides a much deeper understanding.
Everything that exists came into being during the six days of creation. This includes all the souls that would eventually be placed in physical bodies during the 6,000 years of creation. Our Sages teach us that there is a repository of souls in heaven (גוף) where the soul resides until it is ready to be placed into a body to begin its life on earth as a person.
The Midrash (Tanchuma Pikuday:3) describes the process in detail.
When Hashem takes the soul from that repository to start life on this world, it protests, and wonders why it needs to leave its perfect situation in heaven.
מיד רומז הקב”ה למלאך הממונה על הרוחות ואומר לו הבא לי רוח פלוני שהיא בג”ע ששמו פלוני ותארו כך וכך לפי שכל הרוחות שעתידין להבראות כולן הן נבראות מיום שברא העולם עד שיכלה כל העולם הם מזומנין בבני אדם דכתיב (קהלת ז) מה שהיה כבר נקרא שמו
Hashem hints to the angel in charge of souls and tells it to bring him “soul so-and-so,” who is in paradise …
מיד הולך המלאך ומביא את הרוח לפני הקב”ה וכשהיא באה מיד כורעת ומשתחוה לפני המלך מלכי המלכים הקב”ה אותה שעה אומר הקב”ה לרוח הכנסי בטיפה זו שביד פלוני
The angel goes and brings the soul before Hashem and when it appears before Hashem it bows down before the King of all Kings, Hashem. Hashem then tell the soul, “I want you to enter so – and – so who is about to father a child.”
פתח הרוח פיו ואומר לפניו רבונו של עולם די לי העולם שהייתי דר מיום שבראתני למה רצונך להכניסני בטיפה זו סרוחה שאני קדושה וטהורה ואני גזורה מגזרת כבודך
The soul then says to Hashem, “Master of the world, what was wrong with the world I was in from the time of my creation until now? Why do you wish to place me into a putrid drop? I am holy and it is not! I come from Your very honor!”
מיד אומר הקב”ה לנשמה עולם שאני מכניסך בו יפה יהא לך ממה שהיית דר בו ובשעה שיצרתיך לא יצרתיך אלא לטיפה זו …
Hashem responds: “The world that I am placing you in is better for you than the world that you were living in since your creation, and My purpose for creating you was just for you to enter this drop!”
The angel then places the soul into the drop against its will.
נוטלו המלאך משם ומוליכו לגן עדן ומראה לו הצדיקים יושבין בכבוד ועטרותיהם בראשיהם ואומר המלאך לאותו הרוח תדע לך מי הם אלו א”ל הרוח לא אדוני חוזר המלאך וא”ל הללו שאתה רואה נוצרו בתחלה כמותך בתוך מעי אמן ויצאו לעולם ושמרו התורה והמצות לפיכך זכו ונזדמנו לטובה זו שאתה רואה דע לך שסופך לצאת מן העולם ואם תזכה ותשמור התורה של הקב”ה תזכה לכך ולישיבת של אלו ואם לאו דע וראה שתזכה למקום אחר
The angel then takes the soul and takes it to the World to Come (of reward) and shows it all the righteous people sitting with their crowns of glory on their heads (basking in the delights of their reward). The angel says to the soul, “Do you know who these souls are?” The soul responds, “No, I do not.” The angel says, “These people that you see here were created just like you, inside their mothers’ wombs, and when they entered the world, they kept Hashem’s Torah and mitzvot. Therefore, they merited the great reward that you see. You must know that you also will leave this world at one point, and if you merited to keep Hashem’s Torah and mitzvot, you will also receive the same great reward as these people have, but if you do not, know that you will be destined to go to a different place.”
A soul is a completely spiritual entity, a piece of Hashem, so to speak, but it cannot learn Torah or perform mitzvot without a physical body. The body is like the spacesuit that an astronaut dons allowing him to function on the moon. Without the spacesuit, the astronaut is doomed. Similarly, the body is the tool that the soul uses to fulfill its mission on the world; to learn Torah and perform mitzvot.
Furthermore, the body having been created from the dust of the earth, provides a challenge to the soul to comply with Hashem’s commandments. The earthly body is always tugging on a person to satisfy his physical desires, which are most often, in contradiction to Hashem’s instructions to the soul. Because of the body’s challenge to the soul, when indeed, a person overrides the urge of the body and chooses instead the intellectually correct decision of the soul, he is entitled to great reward. For, in this decision, he has exercised his freedom to choose, and has elected to comply with Hashem’s directive.
Rabbi Moshe Chaim Lozzato says it very clearly in Pathways of the Just (Chapter 1).
וְנִמְצָא שֶׁהוּא מוּשָֹם בֶּאֱמֶת בְּתוֹךְ הַמִּלְחָמָה הַחֲזָקָה. כִּי כָל עִנְיְנֵי הָעוֹלָם, בֵּין לְטוֹב בֵּין לְרַע, הִנֵּה הֵם נִסְיוֹנוֹת לָאָדָם עַד שֶׁנִּמְצֵאת הַמִּלְחָמָה אֵלָיו פָּנִים וְאָחוֹר… וְאִם יִהְיֶה לְבֶן חַיִל וִינַצַּח הַמִּלְחָמָה מִכָּל הַצְּדָדִין, הוּא יִהְיֶה הָאָדָם הַשָּׁלֵם אֲשֶׁר יִזְכֶּה לִדָּבֵק בְּבוֹרְאוֹ וְיֵצֵא מִן הַפְּרוֹזְדוֹר הַזֶּה וְיִכָּנֵס בַּטְּרַקְלִין לֵאוֹר בְּאוֹר הַחַיִּים, וּכְפִי הַשִּׁעוּר אֲשֶׁר כָּבַשׁ אֶת יִצְרוֹ וְתַאֲווֹתָיו וְנִתְרַחֵק מִן הַמַּרְחִיקִים אוֹתוֹ מֵהַטּוֹב וְנִשְׁתַּדֵּל לִדָּבֵק בּוֹ – כֵּן יַשִּיגֵהוּ וְיִשְֹמַח בּוֹ
It comes out, that a person in this world is really in a very fierce battle; for all matters in life present a challenge to a person – whether to do right or wrong. These are the tests that constantly present themselves to a person, such that the battle surrounds him on all sides … If he is a valiant warrior and wins the battle on all fronts, he will be the perfect person who will merit to cling to Hashem and will leave this passageway (world) and enter the ballroom (the World to Come) to bask in the light of Hashem. And to the degree that he overcame his earthly urges and desires, and distanced himself from evil- which distances a person from Hashem- and commensurate with the amount of effort that he put forth to come close to Hashem, those efforts will determine the extent of his success, in which he will delight.
Summing up, the body plays an invaluable role to a person in this world. It provides the medium and presents the challenge through which a person earns reward in this world by overcoming it and choosing to learn Torah and perform mitzvot.
There is more.
The Midrash mentioned earlier, also describes how every facet of a person’s body is predetermined.
מיד נוטל בידו ומביא לפני מי שאמר והיה העולם ואומר לפניו עשיתי ככל אשר צויתני וטיפה זו מה תהא נגזר עליה מיד הקב”ה גוזר על הטיפה מה יהא בסופה אם זכר אם נקבה אם חלש אם גבור אם עני אם עשיר אם קצר או ארוך אם מכוער או נאה אם עבה או דק אם בזוי או גס וכן גוזר על כל קורותיו אבל אם צדיק אם רשע לא אלא הדבר ההוא נותנו בידו של אדם בלבד שנאמר (שם ל) ראה נתתי לפניך היום את החיים את הטוב ואת המות ואת הרע
The angel then takes the drop and brings it before the One who created the world and says, “What is the destiny of this drop?” Hashem decrees the destiny of the drop. Will it be male or female, weak or strong, poor or wealthy, short or tall, ugly or handsome, thick or thin, and all the events that will happen to this soul, but if it will be righteous or evil, that Hashem doesn’t decree, for that Hashem gives into the hands of the soul itself, as it says (Deuteronomy 30), “See that I have given before you life and good, death and evil, and you shall choose life.”
The body one receives is tailor made for the soul that will occupy it. This means that the unique qualities of one’s body are part of his mission in this world. The strengths and weaknesses that he finds in himself were uniquely suited for the soul that he received. He must master his body with all its pimples and warts because that is the size of his mission in this world.
In the process of helping the soul, the body itself becomes holy. As the soul overcomes the earthliness of its body, the body slowly becomes less and less earthly and more and more holy. This is evidenced by numerous stories of holy people who were exhumed after many years (due to circumstances that would violate the sanctity of the buried body) and were found to be as fresh and supple as the moment they were placed in the earth. The bodies of holy people are themselves holy and do not decompose.
This is why it is important to bury someone in the appropriate place. It would be hurtful to a holy body to be placed next to an unholy person.
This concept helps us understand one of the foundations of our faith – resurrection of the dead. It is number 13 of the 13 Principles of Faith attributed to Maimonides.
יג – אֲנִי מַאֲמִין בֶּאֱמוּנָה שְׁלֵמָה. שֶׁתִּהְיֶה תְּחִיַּת הַמֵּתִים בְּעֵת שֶׁיַעֲלֶה רָצוֹן מֵאֵת הַבּוֹרֵא יִתְבָּרַךְ שְׁמוֹ וְיִתְעַלֶּה זִכְרוֹ לָעַד וּלְנֵצַח נְצָחִים:
13) I believe with complete faith that the dead will be resurrected at the time that Hashem, may His name be blessed for ever and ever, decides.
The Talmud (Sanhedrin 91a) provides a valuable metaphor.
אמר ליה אנטונינוס לרבי גוף ונשמה יכולין לפטור עצמן מן הדין כיצד גוף אומר נשמה חטאת שמיום שפירשה ממני הריני מוטל כאבן דומם בקבר ונשמה אומרת גוף חטא שמיום שפירשתי ממנו הריני פורחת באויר כצפור אמר ליה אמשול לך משל למה הדבר דומה למלך בשר ודם שהיה לו פרדס נאה והיה בבכורות נאות והושיב בו שני שומרים אחד חיגר ואחד סומא אמר לו חיגר לסומא בכורות נאות אני רואה בפרדס בא והרכיבני ונביאם לאכלם רכב חיגר על גבי סומא והביאום ואכלום לימים בא בעל אחד סומא אמר לו חיגר לסומא בכורות נאות אני רואה בפרדס בא והרכיבני ונביאם לאכלם רכב חיגר על גבי סומא והביאום ואכלום לימים בא בעל פרדס אמר להן בכורות נאות היכן הן אמר לו חיגר כלום יש לי רגלים להלך בהן אמר לו סומא כלום יש לי עינים לראות מה עשה הרכיב חיגר על גבי סומא ודן אותם כאחד אף הקדוש ברוך הוא מביא נשמה וזורקה בגוף ודן אותם כאחד
Antonius once said to Rebbe (Rabbi Judah the Prince). “Body and soul can escape judgment. How? The body can claim, ‘The soul committed all the sins, because since the day it left me, I am like a stone, dead in my grave!’ The soul can claim, ‘The body sinned, because from the moment I left the body, I am flying around like a bird!’” Rebbe responded. “I will give you an example of what this is like. A king had an orchard of beautiful, tasty figs, and he appointed two watchmen, one a gimp, and one blind. The gimp said to the blind man, ‘I see beautiful figs in this orchard! Carry me on your shoulders, and I will get them for us to eat!’ The blind man carried the gimp around for a few days and they ate figs to their hearts content. A while later the king came to his orchard and saw that the figs were missing, and asked the watchmen, ‘Who ate the figs?’ The gimp said, ‘Do I have legs to walk around and get them?’ The blind man said, ‘Do I have eyes to see them?’ What did the king do? He put the gimp on the shoulders of the blind man and judged them as one.”
Body and soul comprise one unit, and are judged together, hence, they must be rewarded together. This is why resurrection of the dead is such an important concept in Judaism. It would be inconceivable that the body not receive appropriate reward for the critical role it played in a person’s life. The righteous and just Hashem is trustworthy to pay just reward to all who are deserving. Therefore, the body which served the soul and afforded it the ability to learn Torah and perform mitzvot and earn reward in the World to Come, must also receive reward for its part of the partnership.
When Adam ate from the Tree of Knowledge good and bad, evil entered the human body, and therefore before it can be resurrected it must go through a purification process. Purification is accomplished when the body disintegrates in the earth. When it is recreated, it is pure and suitable for its reward.
There is another layer of depth. The Talmud tells us (Sanhedrin 90b).
שאלה קליאופטרא מלכתא את רבי מאיר אמרה ידענא דחיי שכבי דכתיב ויציצו מעיר כעשב הארץ אלא כשהן עומדין עומדין ערומין או בלבושיהן עומדין אמר לה קל וחומר מחיטה ומה חיטה שנקברה ערומה יוצאה בכמה לבושין צדיקים שנקברים בלבושיהן על אחת כמה וכמה
Cleopatra the queen asked Rabbi Meir. “I know that the dead will live again, because the verse says, (Psalms 72:16) – and they will sprout forth like the grass of the earth – my only question is, will they be resurrected with or without clothing?”
Rabbi Meir answered, “We can learn the answer to this question from a kernel of wheat. When you plant a kernel of wheat you put it into the ground naked (without any layers of bran) and it comes out of the ground with clothing (a husk and many layers of bran), righteous people who were placed into the ground with clothing, of course they will come out with clothing!”
Our Sages derive from this passage in the Talmud that the burial of a person’s body is comparable to planting a seed.
One doesn’t plant a kernel of wheat to get another kernel from it. He expects to get much more. The average wheat kernel produces 5 stalks with 22 kernels each, quite a nice yield. Similarly, burying the body is for the welfare of the deceased and he will derive great good from it.
This analogy has many facets. When you place a kernel of wheat or any living matter in the ground, it decomposes. When something decomposes in the earth, its essential components are not lost, they have just broken down into their smallest parts. In Hashem’s miraculous world, the decomposed matter fertilizes the earth and nourishes it enabling it to produce new crops to feed the world. All life is sustained by the earth. When a wheat kernel is placed in the ground and decomposes, the decomposed essential components of the kernel are what the new stalks of wheat grow from. The single decomposed kernel is the source of much new life.
Similarly, although the body decomposes, its essence is still there to “grow forth like grass” at the appropriate time.
This is why the Torah prescribes burial in the ground and no other method of disposing of the human body, as it says (Genesis 3:19):
(יט) בְּזֵעַת אַפֶּיךָ תֹּאכַל לֶחֶם עַד שׁוּבְךָ אֶל הָאֲדָמָה כִּי מִמֶּנָּה לֻקָּחְתָּ כִּי עָפָר אַתָּה וְאֶל עָפָר תָּשׁוּב
19) By the sweat of your brow will you eat your bread until you return to the earth from which you were taken, for you are earth and to the earth you will return.
Interestingly, our Sages teach us that when Hashem created Adam from the dust of the earth, He used a bit of earth from every part of the world so that wherever man dies, the earth will accept him, and not say, “You are not from here, go somewhere else!”
When one would burn a kernel of wheat to ash, is anything left of the kernel? Could you plant the ash and expect anything to come from it? Burning it turns its essential components into smoke and ash, not useful for anything.
One more thought. The Talmud (Shabbat 105b) teaches us.
רבי שמעון בן אלעזר אומר העומד על המת בשעת יציאת נשמה חייב לקרוע הא למה זה דומה לספר תורה שנשרפה
Rabbi Shimon Ben Elazar says: If one is present when a person expires, he must rend his clothing (even if he is not a relative). What is this compared to? A Sefer Torah that was burned.
Rashi explains that there is a source in scripture teaching us that if one sees a Sefer Torah burned, he must rend his garment.
לספר תורה שנשרף – הרואה ספר תורה שנשרף חייב לקרוע, כדאמרינן במועד קטן (כו, א) במגילה ששרף יהויקים, דכתיב לא פחדו ולא קרעו בגדים, אף נשמת ישראל הניטלת דומה לו, שאין לך ריק בישראל שאין בו תורה ומצות
A Jew’s soul being taken from him is comparable to the burning of a Sefer Torah because even the simplest Jew has Torah in him.
Every Jew is like a Sefer Torah; his body comprises the parchment and his soul the holy writing. Throughout one’s life one writes his own unique Sefer Torah in his singular handwriting. This is because the Torah is fulfilled differently by each and every person based on his unique persona. Therefore, when the soul leaves the body, and the writing has left the parchment, it is as if the Sefer Torah has been burned. What do we do with a burned Sefer Torah or any holy writ for that matter? We respectfully bury it in the ground. The technical term is “גניזה” – hidden away for safekeeping.
This is the concept of burying the dead. We are respectfully hiding it away until it will once again live on the face of the earth with its counterpart the soul. We are preserving it for the soul so they can reunite at the time that Hashem, may His name be blessed for ever and ever, decides.
Perhaps, this idea adds to why where a person is buried is important. Since the goal is to respectfully safeguard the body for the future, it would not be appropriate to place it in a place that is disrespectful to it.
Burial in the earth returns a person to his source and preserves him until the time when he will be resurrected, may that day come speedily in our times.
Source URL: https://partnersjewishlife.org/parshas-chayei-sara-5784/
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