Chayei Sarah

Although this Sidra is entitled “The Life of Sarah,” it really commences with her death and with the sentence, “And the life of Sarah was 100 years and 20 years and 7 years: These were the years of the life of Sarah.” This highly repetitious wording exerc...

The name of this week’s Torah reading is Chayei Sarah, “the life of Sarah.” This raises an obvious question. The Torah reading talks of Sarah’s death and her burial, why should its name be associated with “her life”? With this name, the Torah is teaching ...

Adapted fromLikkutei Sichos, Vol. V, p. 338ff; Vol. XV, p. 145ff What Death Cannot Kill The reading Chayei Sarah (“The life of Sarah”) begins by telling of Sarah’s death, which features in much of the subsequent narrative. This evokes an obvious question:...

"Just as their days are perfect so too their years perfect" Why the Torah chooses to accredit perfection of the righteous to chronological age and an elderly appearance; the necessity of both excelling in personal spiritual growth and positively affecting...

We all pray. At times, we see our prayers answered on this physical plane. However, there is usually an interval between the time we offer our supplications and the manifestation of G‑d’s response.

Every Jewish woman and girl, even a young child at the age of three who kindles the Shabbos lights, possesses a great power that even Avraham and Yitzchak’s Shabbos lights did not have.

The Sages’ describe Sarah as a paradigm of a righteous person who “was perfect and whose years were perfect.” Why was Sarah chosen as the exemplar of one who possessed these two qualities, what is implied by the Sages’ use of the term “perfect,” and why d...

The name of fifth section of the Book of Genesis is taken from its first words, “The Life of Sarah” (Chayei Sarah in Hebrew), and begins with Sarah’s death and burial. We then follow Abraham’s servant, Eliezer, as he betroths Abraham’s grandniece Rebecca ...

In the Torah portion Chayei Sarah, the Torah states: “Avraham was old, ba bayamim, advancing in days.”Bereishis 24:1. The Torah seems to imply that it was at this stage of Avraham’s life that he became old. However, in a statement made about Avraham and S...

The central theme of each Torah portion is indicated by its name.See Likkutei Sichos, Vol. V, p. 57ff. The name of this week’s portion, Chayei Sarah, the “Life of Sarah,” seems to defy this rule. The entire portion speaks of events that transpired after S...