Parashat Hayyei Sarah
Genesis 23:1-25:18
Our Torah portion begins by informing us that our Mother Sarah lived 127 years. At the end of the portion we learn that Abraham lived 175 years. We know from earlier texts that Abraham was 10 years older than Sarah. Thus, we can conclude that Abraham was 137 years old when Sarah died. We therefore deduce that Abraham lived 38 years after his wife, Sarah, died.
That is a long time. What did Abraham do during all those years? Our portion tells us that he spent time – it is not clear how long it took – arranging for his son, Isaac, to marry. And we learn that he, himself, married again and raised children with his second wife. (Gen. 25) Following later chronologies, we can figure out that he could have seen his grandsons, Esau and Jacob enter their teen years. But we are never told how the family related to one another. And there are no more dramatic episodes in his story. He does not interact with any other rulers or dignitaries. He does not carry out conversations with God. Oh, and we also learn that Abraham, after giving away everything he had, either to Isaac or to the children he raised later, died “old and satisfied.” (Gen. 25:8) And he is buried by his two sons, Isaac and the expelled Ishmael, next to his first wife and partner, Sarah, and not next to Keturah, his second wife.
How did Abraham experience those 38 years? Did he feel that he had simply outlived his mission? Yet we are told that he died satisfied. Were his days filled with memories? Did he share them with his children? Did he take pride in how Isaac matured and solidified his legacy? We haven’t a clue. The very public and mythic Abraham – anxious, challenged and challenging, striving, doubting and faithful, imperious and generous – is buried long before he actually dies. He sinks into a private, plotless plot, a space that has no dramatic arc or significance for anyone beyond those with whom he shared his days. After living an extraordinary life charged with a sense of mission and obligation, burdened with a knowledge that all he did was meant to serve as an example for all time, Abraham was finally blessed by God with one last gift – 38 ordinary years that were all his own and, actually, none of our business.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi David Greenstein
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Photo: “Paparazzi“, by Barry Mass licensed by CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
Thank you to John Lasiter for suggesting the title and selecting an image for this Torah Sparks – Rabbi Greenstein
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