Chayei Sarah: the shadow of the departed

Chayei Sarah: the shadow of the departed

This week's parsha is very special to me.  It is my yahrzeit , the anniversary of the death, of my mother.  The shadow of the memory of her life is evoked by the parsha. 

Sarah's name is mentioned to begin the parsha. It starts with her obituary. 

וַיִּהְיוּ֙ חַיֵּ֣י שָׂרָ֔ה מֵאָ֥ה שָׁנָ֛ה וְעֶשְׂרִ֥ים שָׁנָ֖ה וְשֶׁ֣בַע שָׁנִ֑ים שְׁנֵ֖י חַיֵּ֥י שָׂרָֽה׃ Sarah’s lifetime—the span of Sarah’s life—came to one hundredyears  and twentyyears  and seven years.

Rashi famously quotes the Midrash which explains the repeated use of the word שָׁנָ֖ה, years  to signify qualities of purity and beauty. I think that the repetition evokes phases of Sarah's life, and thus remind the reader that all lives can be divided into sections: childhood, youth, education, work, accumulation, decline, etc. Sarah  had been a girl, a wife, a commodity, a prophet, a mother. She was the guardian of the future legacy of her only child: Isaac. My mother was the protector of her children, an epic labor. 

The fist narrative in the parsha, the purchase of the burial cave for  Sarah's body, Abraham's first real estate acquisition in the Promised Land, is told in great detail. The recorded conversation is remarkable for the repeated use of the word "listen," Everyone wants to be heard, but feels misunderstood. The conversation ends with a demonstration of the hypocrisy of Efron, the seller of the cave. He offers to gift the plot to Abraham... and incidentally mentions it value at 400 shekel.  This offers Abraham the opportunity to perform the act of acquisition ( kinyan) , the transfer of funds. Buying the land makes the deal irrevocable.(?) 

By setting out the details of the negotiations, we are reminded of the process of recall of the departed. We can never again here that voice, that intonation, that unedited choice of words. What we recall is vague and edited by our memory. Detailed notes have a special value. 

The next account of the  acquisition of Rebecca as a wife for Isaac is also told with excessive detail and repeated (in part to emphasize the inconsistencies and hidden motives in the actions and recounting of the servant).  The story ends with 

וַיְבִאֶ֣הָ יִצְחָ֗ק הָאֹ֙הֱלָה֙ שָׂרָ֣ה אִמּ֔וֹ וַיִּקַּ֧ח אֶת־רִבְקָ֛ה וַתְּהִי־ל֥וֹ לְאִשָּׁ֖ה וַיֶּאֱהָבֶ֑הָ וַיִּנָּחֵ֥ם יִצְחָ֖ק אַחֲרֵ֥י אִמּֽוֹ׃ {פ}
Isaac then brought her into the tent of his mother Sarah, and he took Rebekah as his wife. Isaac loved her, and thus found comfort after his mother’s death.

Sarah reappears, overarching the story. Rebecca is a comfort for the loss of Sarah.  Was it not possible for Isaac to marry before  his mother was gone? Did Isaac's attachment to Sarah keep him from marrying? We know that Isaac  was 37  ( 127-90) when Sarah died. The Torah does not generally tell us at what age people married. 

The death and burial  of Abraham is also recorded  in parsha(th) Chayei Sarah:

וַיִּקְבְּר֨וּ אֹת֜וֹ יִצְחָ֤ק וְיִשְׁמָעֵאל֙ בָּנָ֔יו אֶל־מְעָרַ֖ת הַמַּכְפֵּלָ֑ה אֶל־שְׂדֵ֞ה עֶפְרֹ֤ן בֶּן־צֹ֙חַר֙ הַֽחִתִּ֔י אֲשֶׁ֖ר עַל־פְּנֵ֥י מַמְרֵֽא׃ His sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah, in the field of Ephron son of Zohar the Hittite, facing Mamre,

הַשָּׂדֶ֛ה אֲשֶׁר־קָנָ֥ה אַבְרָהָ֖ם מֵאֵ֣ת בְּנֵי־חֵ֑ת שָׁ֛מָּה קֻבַּ֥ר אַבְרָהָ֖ם וְשָׂרָ֥ה אִשְׁתּֽוֹ׃ the field that Abraham had bought from the Hittites; there Abraham was buried, and Sarah his wife. 

Ephron's name remains attached to the cave of the Machpelah. The transfer of title was incomplete... and the Torah documentation means that it will never be complete. It is written on parchment and its reading will always be corrected by the listeners. Abraham's purchase is similarly  recorded. Abraham has come to own Ephron's cave. An eternity of conflicting claims is established. . 

Sarah's role in all this is recalled. It is her burial that led to the negotiation  with the children of Chaith and the purchase of a burial site that will inter not only Abraham, but all three patriarchs and wives. The need to bury Sarah was a pretext for establishing a foothold in the Promised Land.  When Abraham was haggling with Ephron and the Hittites, the land had already been promised to his offspring  by Gd.  Abraham had an agenda.  I do not know what the Hittites thought and believed.

My mother was buried in Israel.Her first 20 years and 7 years were in Europe. Seven of those years included a struggle to remain alive under systematic persecution, in the worst antisemitic  system in history.  Her 50 years in America were easier, only by comparison.  Her last will was to buried in Israel. She established the burial place for her husband, my father. That established the plots reserved for me and my wife. 

The story repeats... but not exactly