The Twice-Lived Years of the Tzaddikim

1The Midrash on “And the life of Sarah was” (Bereishis Rabbah 58:1) opens with the verse “Hashem knows the days of the wholehearted, and their inheritance shall be forever” (Tehillim 37:18). It says: “Just as they are whole, so are their years whole,” and so on; see there. “Another interpretation: ‘Hashem knows the days of the wholehearted’: this is Sarah, who was wholehearted in her deeds. R' Yochanan said: like a flawless heifer. ‘And their inheritance shall be forever’: as it says, ‘And the life of Sarah was....’ Why does the verse need to say ‘the years of the life of Sarah’ again at the end? To tell you that the lives of the tzaddikim are dear to the Omnipresent in this world and in the World to Come.”

2aMy father and teacher, R' Yechiel of Alexander, zt"l, explained this Midrash. He began with the holy words of Rashi (on Bereishis 23:2): “Sarah's death is placed next to the Akeidah of Yitzchak because when she heard the news of the Akeidah — that her son had been readied for slaughter and was very nearly slaughtered — her soul flew from her and she died.” Taken at face value, these words are astonishing when said of Sarah Imeinu, to whom Avraham was secondary in prophecy. Why would she be so grieved that her beloved son had been ready to give his life to sanctify Hashem's Name? They are even more astonishing in light of the Midrash in Parshas Acharei (Vayikra Rabbah 20:2). There we learn that Yitzchak came back to his mother and told her everything. She said to him, “Were it not for the angel, you would already have been slaughtered!” He answered, “Yes.” She let out six cries, like the six blasts of the shofar, and died before she could finish them. Is it possible that after seeing her son alive, knowing only that he had sincerely wanted to give his life for Hashem's Name, she grieved so much, Heaven forbid, that she died?

2bThe answer, he said, lies in what the holy books explain about the way of true tzaddikim. When some joy comes to them, and all the more a wondrous joy, they use the power of that joy to unite themselves with Hashem, as the Gur Aryeh explains in Parshas Vayigash; see there. So it was with Sarah Imeinu. She heard about the glorious event of the Akeidah. She heard how great the holiness of Avraham and of her son Yitzchak was, how completely they had given themselves over to Hashem, and how precious her son was. Out of her great joy her soul yearned for Hashem, longing to merit such a wondrous union and to give her own soul over to Him as well. Her longing was so great that her soul flew from her and she died. This is the meaning of “And Sarah died in Kiryas Arba” (Bereishis 23:2). The letters of b'Kiryas can be rearranged to read bi'yekares, “in the preciousness” of the four (arba) letters of Hashem's Name Havayah. Such interchanged words are common, like keshev and keves, both meaning “lamb.” “That is Chevron”: the Divine part within her was joined (nischabrah) to its whole, its source, in something like a death by the Divine kiss.

2cLest you say that this cost her, Heaven forbid, even one hour of the years allotted to her, the verse repeats “the years of the life of Sarah.” These were all her years, and they were complete. It is simply Hashem's kindness, as the Midrash explains at the end of this sidrah (Bereishis Rabbah 62:2) on the verse “Precious in the eyes of Hashem is the death of His pious ones” (Tehillim 116:15). Out of His love, Hashem arranges for tzaddikim and chassidim, at the time of their passing, an act of self-sacrifice for the sanctification of His Name and a wondrous union with Him, so that their souls leave in holiness and purity, from within that union. Yet “He has made everything beautiful in its time” (Koheles 3:11): that moment is exactly the appointed time of their departure from this world. This is what the Midrash means. The lives of the tzaddikim are dear to Hashem in this world, all the days of their lives here. They are dear “in the World to Come” as well: at the time of their passing, when they rise from this world to the next, their lives are still dear to Him. So they do not die by way of death, but only by way of union with Hashem, as explained above. Thus far his holy words.

3aWith his holy words we can explain the Midrash as Rashi does in his commentary there: the phrase “the years of the life of Sarah” points to two kinds of life, in this world and in the World to Come. Why does Hashem do this for those who fear Him? Out of His great kindness and His love for the days of the tzaddikim's lives, He prepares for them a wondrous union and an act of self-sacrifice, so that they give their souls for the sanctification of His Name. They are then like those killed and slaughtered for His Name before their time, whose merit stands forever. And so those years remain forever, to “shine in the darkness as a light for the upright” (Tehillim 112:4). In these dark days there is no one to intercede for us. And “the light of my eyes,” the tzaddikim who were our light in the darkness of exile, “they too are not with me” (Tehillim 38:11), for they have gone to their rest. Then Hashem makes the light of the years of these tzaddikim, who gave their souls for His Name, shine out. This is what the Midrash means when it says the lives of the tzaddikim are dear in this world. As long as they are with us in this world, that is the first time of their lives. The second time comes after their passing, when their lives shine once again. Even after they have left this world, the days of their lives are stored away in the heavens, to give us light out of the darkness.

3bAs it says, “And Avraham was still standing before Hashem” (Bereishis 18:22), which Onkelos renders, “Avraham until now (ad ke'an) serves in prayer before Hashem”: to this very day he still stands in prayer before Hashem. That is the second time of life, the “two” hidden in shnei, “the years of.” The Midrash says the same at the end of this parshah (Bereishis Rabbah 62:1)¹: “‘These are the days of the years of the life of Avraham’ (Bereishis 25:7). It is written, ‘Hashem knows the days of the wholehearted’: this is Avraham, as it says, ‘Be wholehearted’ (Bereishis 17:1). ‘And their inheritance shall be forever’: the Holy One, blessed be He, cherished the years of the tzaddikim and wrote them in the Torah, so that the inheritance of their days would be remembered forever.” Just as the holy Torah is eternal, so the years of the tzaddikim are eternal, remembered forever for the time of need. This explains the verses that follow (Tehillim 37:19). “They will not be shamed in a time of evil”: their years will always shine in a time of evil, in the darkness, so that we will not be shamed. “And in days of famine they will be satisfied”: when there is no one left to draw down and bestow abundance on the Jewish people, the light of the years of the lives of the Avos will shine.

4By way of hint, the initials of yevoshu b'eis ra'ah, “they will be shamed in a time of evil,” spell ריב (212). This is the husk of impurity that causes forgetting. It is the error of R' Elazar ben Arach², who read ריב in place of the letters דזכ in hachodesh hazeh lachem, “this month shall be for you” (Shabbos 147b). The letters דזכ add up to thirty-one, the value of the holy Name Kel. In other words, this husk makes a person forget the Torah and the Name of Hashem. So even in a time of darkness, when forgetfulness rules because of this husk, Heaven save us, the merit of the tzaddikim will protect us. The light of day will shine for us from their years, so that we will not be shamed, and so that we will remember Hashem's Torah and the unity of His Name: He is our God, He made us, and may He not leave us or forsake us. The initials of u'vimei ra'avon yisba'u, “and in days of famine they will be satisfied,” spell ריו (216), the numerical value of gevurah, severity. There may be no one able to sweeten that severity and to draw down kindness and complete healing, which the same initials ריו hint at: Refa'einu Hashem v'neirafei, “Heal us, Hashem, and we will be healed.” Then the merit of Avraham Avinu will be aroused for us. He wore a precious stone around his neck, and any sick person who saw it was healed (Bava Basra 16b), “a sun of righteousness with healing in its wings” (Malachi 3:20). This is complete emunah. May it be aroused for us too, in our lowliness. Through faith in days of darkness, may we too merit that the light of Hashem shine upon us, with good kindness, good livelihood and complete healing, for us and for all Israel.

5Perhaps what we have said is hinted in the Midrash on this parshah (Bereishis Rabbah 58:3): “R' Akiva was sitting and expounding, and the congregation was dozing off. He wanted to rouse them. He said: What did Esther see that she should reign over a hundred and twenty-seven provinces? Rather, let Esther, a descendant of Sarah, who lived a hundred and twenty and seven years, come and reign over a hundred and twenty-seven provinces.” The words of the Midrash are obscure.

6Perhaps R' Akiva was hinting to us as follows. Of him it is said, “His eye has seen every precious thing” (Iyov 28:10): “this is the eye of R' Akiva” (Bamidbar Rabbah 19:6; Tanchuma Chukas 8). He set his eyes on everything precious in the Jewish people as a whole, and in each individual Jew, to bring it out from the worthless, in the spirit of “If you bring out the precious from the worthless, you shall be as My mouth” (Yirmiyahu 15:19). He was “sitting and expounding,” and Chazal say, “Gentle things standing, hard things sitting” (Megillah 21a). His sitting showed that he understood these final generations and the harshness of the exile's bondage on every side. “And the congregation was dozing,” with no one to wake them, as the Midrash explains: “‘I am asleep’ (Shir HaShirim 5:2): in exile” (Shir HaShirim Rabbah 5:2). They have no one to rouse them and strengthen their crushed and dejected hearts. “He wanted to rouse them,” so that they would not despair of the redemption. “He said: What did Esther see?” By what merit did Esther reign? Esther stands for hester panim, the hiding of Hashem's face. She is “the end of all the miracles” and “the end of the night” (Yoma 29a), which alludes to the darkness at the height of the exile. By what merit will we then come to the Kingdom of Heaven, “And You alone will reign, quickly, over all Your works,” when we have no merit, no leader and no one to rouse us? By the merit of the years of the lives of the holy Avos, which cast light on the days of darkness and illuminate us out of it.

7With this every Jew can strengthen himself, knowing that we will yet merit a great light. “The people that walk” (those who want to go upward and do not wish to stand still now in the darkness) “have seen a great light” (Yeshayahu 9:1). (From the author's handwritten manuscript.)