Sarah's Self-Sacrifice: Rooted in All Generations

1“And the life of Sarah was a hundred years and twenty years and seven years: the years of the life of Sarah.”¹

2Notice the wording. Wherever the Torah says vayehi, “and it was,” it signals nothing but distress.² Yet here the verse is speaking of Sarah's life: vayihyu chayei Sarah.³ What place does an expression of distress have here?

3Rashi cites a teaching of Chazal: “Why does the account of Sarah's death come right after the binding of Yitzchak? Because through the news of the Akeidah, that her son had been readied for slaughter and was almost slaughtered, her soul flew from her and she died.”⁴ But this is hard to understand. Sarah was a woman of great spiritual stature, so great that Chazal said Avraham was secondary to Sarah in prophetic inspiration.⁵ If so, why did Sarah our mother not withstand this test, which Avraham Avinu did withstand?

4We also find in the Midrash: “R' Akiva was expounding, and the congregation was dozing. He wanted to rouse them, so he said: Why should Esther reign over 127 provinces? Rather, let Esther, a descendant of Sarah, who lived 127 years, come and reign over 127 provinces.”⁶ But what connection is there between Esther's kingship and the years of the life of Sarah our mother?

5Let us first cite the words of my holy father and teacher, zt"l. He explained why people call the readiness to give one's life mesirus nefesh, “giving over the soul.” It would seem more fitting to say mesirus haguf, “giving over the body,” since a person hands over himself and his body to death. But when a person reaches the level of mesirus nefesh, he explained, he stands so high that the body itself becomes soul: physical matter is transformed into spiritual form. For such a person the phrase “giving over the body” does not fit, since his body has become soul; that is why it is called mesirus nefesh, and why we speak of “giving over the soul.” Those are his holy words.

6aWe can explain this as follows. The main purpose of the binding of Yitzchak was to teach the generations to come what mesirus nefesh is, and to leave them, as an inheritance, the strength to withstand trials in every generation. With this we can understand a Midrash. When the Holy One, blessed be He, told Avraham not to slaughter his son, Avraham asked, “Perhaps I may take a little blood from him …” And Hashem answered him, “Do not do anything to him.”⁷ Behind Avraham's request lay a fear. He had not actually carried out a deed of mesirus nefesh with Yitzchak his son. How, then, would the power of mesirus nefesh pass to his descendants after him?

6bBut in fact Hashem counted the thought as a deed, as though Yitzchak had been slaughtered. So in every generation, whenever Avraham's descendants recall this thought before Him, it will count in their favor. As we find, the Holy One, blessed be He, says: “Blow before Me with a ram's horn, so that I will remember for you the binding of Yitzchak, and I will count it for you as if you had bound yourselves.”⁸ That is, through the binding of Yitzchak you will reach this same middah, this character trait: you yourselves will also be able to be bound and to give over your souls. This follows the principle that “the deeds of the fathers are a sign for the children.”⁹ Because Hashem counted the thought as a deed, the binding of Yitzchak had the power to instill and root this strength of mesirus nefesh in his children and in the generations to come.

7But Sarah our mother did not know this: that the thought alone is enough to pass on the strength for mesirus nefesh to the generations. So when she heard that Yitzchak was almost slaughtered but in the end was not, she was deeply worried. How would her offspring have the strength to withstand the trials of the generations? That is why “her soul flew.” She gave over her soul for the honor of Hashem, blessed be He, so that through her mesirus nefesh, which was mesirus nefesh in actual deed, this strength would be rooted in the generations.

8The wording here bears this out. It says “her neshamah, her soul, flew,” and not a plain word for death or passing away. By the power of her mesirus nefesh her body and physical matter were transformed into spiritual form, [as my holy father explained,] and in her the body and the soul became equal. That is precisely why it says of her, “her neshamah flew.”

9This answers what we asked: could Sarah really not withstand the test of the Akeidah? On the contrary. Her soul did not fly from her because she failed the test, for she did not, Heaven forbid, question the ways of the Holy One, blessed be He, at all. Rather, she did it out of mesirus nefesh, as we have explained.

10We can now understand, too, why the verse uses vayihyu, an expression of distress, for the life of Sarah. All her life she was pained over this, for she longed to give over her soul for the honor of Hashem. We find the same with R' Akiva, who said, “All my days I was pained …”¹⁰

11aIn this light we can explain the Midrash we cited: “R' Akiva was expounding …” R' Akiva gave his life to sanctify Hashem's Name,¹¹ and surely this was his way all along: he constantly asked and demanded mesirus nefesh for the honor of His Name. That is the meaning of “R' Akiva was doresh.” The word doresh, usually “expounding,” here means asking and demanding. He demanded of Israel that it give over its soul to sanctify His Name. Then he saw that the congregation was dozing. That is, they lacked the strength for the mesirus nefesh he was demanding of them, for this is what sleep and slumber signify. So “he wanted to rouse them”: he wanted to wake them from their slumber and awaken in them this middah of mesirus nefesh.

11bHe therefore told them to learn this strength from Sarah. By giving over her soul she had instilled and rooted the strength for mesirus nefesh in the generations, and she was pained over it all the days of her life, 127 years. We find the same with Esther, who also inherited this way from Sarah. She rose to her kingship over 127 provinces in order to give her life to save her people Israel, as she said, “And if I perish, I perish,”¹² which is mesirus nefesh. This strength she received from Sarah our mother. The connection between Esther's kingship and the years of Sarah's life is now clear.

12May Hashem, blessed be He, help us attain at least some share of this. When we speak of mesirus nefesh, we do not mean, Heaven forbid, actually giving up one's life, for it is written, “and he shall live by them,” as Chazal expounded.¹³ Rather, what is demanded of us is mesirus nefesh to sanctify His Name in every area of life: in raising our children, in not talking in the beis midrash, the house of study, and all such things. These are things a Jew does against his habit and his will, and this too is counted as mesirus nefesh. In this merit may we be privileged to see the coming of the righteous Redeemer. Amen.