November 26, 2005 Volume 20, Number 8

24 Cheshvan 5766 Parshas Chayei Sara

T
No Regrets! Hashkafic
The Prerequisite
Thought
he parsha begins, “Vayeheyu special years. The Torah high- “Yitzchak” what Avraham had
Rav Baruch Simon (transcribed by Jeff Weiss)

for Growth
chayei Sarah meah ve’esrim lights the total, 127 years, and the done to him. “Yitzchak” told her
shanah ve’sheva shanim shnei chayei 37 years she spent with her son. that Avraham took him through
Sarah – And these were the hun- The Torah tells us that Sarah the mountains and valleys until
Mordechai Gershon

dred and twenty seven years of died in Kiryas Arba, and we they reached one mountain he majority of this
the life of Sarah; the days of the learn, “Va-yavo Avraham le’sapeir where he placed Yitzchak on the T
week’s parsha discusses
life of Sarah” (Bereishis 23:1). v’livkosah – Avraham came to Mizbeach to shecht him. the process through which
Sarah lived for 127 “Yitzchak” said Yitzchak Avinu was to find
years. The numer- H a s h e m o r c h e s t r a t e d t h a t that Avraham a wife. The Torah tells us
ic value of Sarah’s death would would have that
“Vayeheyu” is killed him had instructed his faithful ser-
Avraham Avinu

thirty-seven. Zohar c o i n c i d e w i t h t h e t i m e o f Hashem not vant Eliezer to travel to Ur

says that Yitzchak the Akeida. made a last Kasdim, the hometown of
was 37 years old at minute change. Avraham, and seek out a
the time of the Akeida, and that mourn for Sarah and to weep for Sarah fainted and died on the
is when Sarah died. Zohar her” (Bereishis 23:2). He came to spot. One might think that Sarah
wife from Avraham’s own

explains that on the one hand she eulogize and mourn for Sarah. would have lived longer were it
family. Under no circum-

lived 127 years, but she really The word “V’livkosah” is written not for the Akeida, but Ohr ha-
stances was Eliezer to

lived Vayeheyu – the 37 years with a small letter Kaf. Medrash Chaim explains that she was
choose a woman of
after she had Yitzchak. After 90 Tanchuma says that the Satan meant to live only 127 years. The Canaanite descent. Yet, it is
years, she finally had a child, and came to Sarah disguised as Akeida was not the cause of her unclear what exactly was
their years that overlapped were Yitzchak. Sarah asked death. Hashem orchestrated it so special about Avraham’s
continued on page 3 family. Why was a woman

T
from Avraham’s family
TableTorah Consistent Greatness continued on page 2
Pinchas Friedman

he verse states, “And Avraham came to
eulogize for Sarah” (Genesis 23:12). Rav
Moshe Shternbach, in Ta’am VaDa’as, points
out that nowhere does it say how Avraham
eulogized Sarah. Rashi, however, mentions in
the first verse of the parsha that “the years of
Sarah’s life were all uniformly good.” This,
says Rav Shternbach, is Sarah’s eulogy.
It is quite common that when a person
changes location or acquaintances, his man-
nerisms, mode of speech, and outlook
likewise change. Such inconsistencies of
manner are indicative of inconsistencies in
the person’s commitment to principles. A true
tzaddik, who is utterly committed to the prin-
ciples of belief in G-d and subservience to
His will, will not compromise those principles
based on the surroundings in which he finds
himself. This was the eulogy given for Sarah –
that through all the years of her life she was
consistent in her goodness.

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The Universal Act of
W
Chesed
David Moradi
hen Eliezer was sent by
Avraham to find the
person who would be the next
mother of the Jewish people
and a suitable wife for Yitzchak,
Avraham set some terms down
for his servant. However, it was
up to Eliezer to determine how
exactly to pick the right girl.
Eliezer determined that he
would ask a girl at the town well
for some water, and if she also
offered to give the camels to
drink, then she is obviously the
right girl (24:14). Many mefor-
shim ask
How could
what Eliezer
was think-
Eliezer use a
ing. What
single demon-
was so spe-
cial about
this specifi- stration of
chesed to find
cation that
made it
a wife for
s t r o n g
Yitzchak?
enough to
find the
next mother
of the Jewish people?
The Mishna in Pirkei Avos (1:
2) states that there are three
things that the world stands on:
Torah, Avodah, and Gemilus
Chasadim. Torah is following
the mitzvos, Avodah is tefilah,
and Gemilus Chasadim is kind
deeds. What makes these three
things so important that the
world stands on them?
Obviously, we say “bishviel
Torah nivrah HaOlam,” “For
the sake of Torah the world was
created,” but what is the signifi-
cance of the others? Maharal,
EINAYIM L’TORAH • 2
in his commentary to Pirkei
Avos, has an interesting expla-
nation of the Mishna. There are
three types of relationships in
the world: with others, with
Hashem, and with one’s self.
These three types of relation-
ships are represented in the
Mishna. Torah represents one’s
relationship with himself,
Avodah the relationship with
Hashem, and Gemilus
Chasadim the relationship with
others. The Mishna is teaching
that all the relationships one has
must be
guided by a
specific
method,
and if one
of these
three rela-
tionships is
lacking,
then the
w h o l e
structure
can topple.
Gemilus Chasadim is one of
the three legs of the world’s
existence.
The Gemara in Taanis (24a)
writes that “any bride with nice
eyes, one doesn’t have to check
the rest of her body for blem-
ishes.” There are two questions
to ask on this Gemara. First,
there are many girls with nice
eyes but problems with their
body, and second, in Aishes
Chayil, we say “Sheker hachain
vehevel hayofi, isha yiras
Hashem hi tis’halal”- “grace is
false, and beauty is vain, a
continued on page 3
The Prerequisite for Growth continued from page 1
better than any Canaanite
woman? After all, aren’t we
told that Avraham was the
only one in his family to
truly believe in Hashem? If
Avraham’s relatives were
idol worshippers just like
the nations of Canaan, then
why should it matter from
whom the woman
descended?
Rabbi Refael Pelcovitz
explains that although both
Avraham’s relatives and the
Canaanite people were idol
worshipers, there was a
fundamental distinction
between them. Avraham
knew that the people of his
family cared a great deal
about inculcating good
values and character traits.
Attaining good middos was
something that was very
significant to them. The var-
ious families of Canaan,
however, did not possess
good middos, and they
often displayed bad
middos. Avraham knew
that one who possesses
good middos can overcome
any obstacle in one’s reli-
gious growth, for there is a
deep connection between
good middos and religious
piety. It is necessary to strive
for perfection in one’s
middos in order to live a
truly religious life. Similarly,
to be a true yarey shamay-
im, a G-d fearing individual,
one must possess good
middos. However, one with
negative character traits will
find it nearly impossible to
uproot evil beliefs and prac-
tices. This being the case, a
woman who comes from a
family of ovday avodah
zarah – idol worshippers -
will be able to overcome all
of the inappropriate prac-
tices that she learned in her
father’s house as long as
she has pristine character
traits. With the proper guid-
ance, she will soon cling to
the teachings of Hashem,
which distinguish the
households of Avraham
and Yitzchak. (See also the
Kli Yakar, who gives a similar
explanation.)
Therefore, when Eliezer
asked Hashem to give him a
sign that the woman was
the one meant for Yitzchak,
he asked that the sign be
her performance of an act
of chessed. Rabbi Pelcovitz
explains that this is because
chessed often reflects an
inherent yiras Shamayim, or
religious piety. Therefore, it
is due to Rivkah’s chessed
and middos tovos that
Eliezer knew she was the
one. This teaches us an
invaluable lesson: attaining
good middos and doing
ma’asim tovim are prerequi-
sites for growth in avodas
Hashem and living a life of
Torah.
Mordechai Gershon is a
Sophomore in Yeshiva College.
The U
vhv, niversal Act of Chesed
ohn, continued from page 2

woman who fears Hashem should be praised,” so why is the
gemara seemingly telling us to go against this pasuk? Kli Yakar on
Chayei Sarah explains that the Gemara is telling us to examine the
way she looks at other people. By observing how a person looks at
other people, one can predict how that person will act in all situa-
tions. The midah of Gemilus Chesed, says Kli Yakar, encompasses
all other midos, and therefore one only has to see this midah, i.e.
how she ‘looks’ towards others, to determine her other midos.
There are several answers to our original question of how could
Eliezer use a single demonstration of chesed to find a wife for
Yitzchak. Rashi explains that Gemilus Chesed alone would make
her worthy for Yitzchak. The Kli Yakar explains Eliezer’s thought
process by connecting the acquisition of the Ma’aras
Hamachpailah to this story. Avraham bought the burial plot for
Sarah from Efron, who was from Canaan. After promising to do a
lot, Efron did very little in the end: he charged Avraham a lot of
money for the desired plot of land. Efron acted with the antithe-
sis of Gemilus Chesed. When Avraham told Eliezer to go find a
wife, he told him not to take a girl from Canaan. Eliezer under-
stood from this restriction that the girl should not be like Efron at
all and instead be a baalas chesed, and he therefore devised a test
that only a girl such as Rivka, who had the highest degree of
Gemilus Chesed, would pass.
Gemilus Chesed is essential for the world’s survival, and was an inte-
gral ingredient in the Mothers of the Jewish nation. It is incumbent
upon all of us to cultivate this essential characteristic.
Dovid Moradi is a Senior in Yeshiva College.

No Regrets! continued from page 1

that her death would coincide with the time
of the Akeida. If it wouldn’t have been this
episode, there would have been something
else that would have led to her death. One
shouldn’t think that because a person is
doing the Mitzvos of Hashem something
bad will happen. This was the way it was sup-
posed to happen, not a punishment for
doing the right thing.
The Gemara Kiddushin 40b tells us some-
thing very frightening. It says that even a
complete Tzaddik can lose all his merit for
his earlier good deeds by doing bad ones. We
would think that he should keep the credit
for all the good deeds and get the punish-
ment for the wrong. What is this idea of
losing the merit of his earlier deeds? The
Gemara answers that it is usually impossible
to erase past merits; however, this is only
true when one does not regret his original
deeds. Koheles Yitzchak explains the idea of
the small Kaf in “V’livkosah” in a similar
way. When a person does a Mitzvah, he has
two types of obstacles in front of him. The
Satan tries to get him not to do the Mitzvah,
and the Satan also tries to make him to regret
his actions afterwards since that would take
away the merit of the Mitzvah. That is what
happened in our parsha. The Satan tried to
get Avraham to regret performing the
Akeida. He went to Sarah to cause her to
pass away as a result of the Akeida in an
attempt to cause Avraham to regret his
actions. Avraham did not regret his actions,
as he wasn’t going to let the Satan win. That
is why the Torah says V’livkosah with a small
Kaf: to show that Avraham made sure not to
cry too much. Intense crying would have
caused people to say that he regretted his
actions with the Akeida. Koheles Yitzchak
explains that if you do the right thing you
will never have anything to regret in life.
We must take to heart the lesson of Avraham
Avinu. He had the greatest reason to regret
his actions. His wife passed away in connec-
tion to the Akeida, but he made sure not to
regret it and not to allow anyone to think that
he regretted his actions. If you are living your
life properly with real substance, you will
never have any reason to regret your actions,
and you will have the blessing that was given
to Avraham Avinu for doing so: “Ve’Hashem
Beirech es Avraham ba’Kol” – “and Hashem
blessed Avraham with everything.”

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PARSHAT CHAYEI SARA • 3
Parsha Points in Chayei Sara
Ephriam Meth
• Sarah dies at 127, and Avraham acquires the cave of Machpelah from the children of
Cheis to bury her.
• Avraham marries Keturah, but sends her sons off eastwards. He bequeaths all his pos- Einayim L’Torah
sessions to Yitzchak. 500 W. 185th Street
New York, NY 10033
• Avraham sends his servant Eliezer to find a wife for Yitzchak. He forbids Eliezer to select
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a Canaanite girl.
editor@einayim.org
• Arriving at Aram Naharayim, Eliezer asks a girl for a drink. She offers drinks to his
camels as well, passing the divinely inspired test for generosity that Eliezer had set for
her. The girl, whom he betroths to Yitzchak, is none other than Avraham’s grand-niece
Editors In Chief
Rivkah.
Yehuda Brand
• Eliezer relates the details of his quest to Rivkah’s parents and to her brother Lavan. Pinchas Friedman
While realizing that their meeting was divinely ordained, Rivkah’s family has difficulty
parting with her so soon. With Rivkah’s consent, however, they depart the next Executive Editors
morning. Zev Koller
Dovid Skversky
• Avraham dies at age 175, and is buried in the cave of Machpelah.
Associative Editor
• The Torah lists Yishmael’s descendants and relates that Yishmael died at 137.
Josh Weinberg

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