Parashat Chayei Sarah, which we read this week, centers on two major narratives: Abraham’s search for a proper burial place for his wife, Sarah, and his mission to find a suitable wife for his son, Isaac.
The first story describes Abraham’s extended negotiation with the Hittites to purchase the field and cave of Machpelah—later known as Me’arat HaMachpelah, the Cave of the Patriarchs—as a burial site for Sarah. The second recounts the long journey of Abraham’s servant from Canaan to Aram-Naharaim, where he meets Rebecca and recognizes her as the destined bride for Isaac.
While, at first glance, these two topics seem separate and distinct, they are in fact related. The first reflects the importance of honoring the dead and the second highlights the importance of marriage and the perpetuation of life. The first pays tribute to those who left their mark in the past and the second lays the groundwork for those who will pave the way toward the future.
But the link between these two events runs even deeper. The parasha ends by telling us that when Isaac married Rebecca, “he took her into his mother Sarah’s tent… and he was comforted after his mother’s death” (Genesis 24:67). In his marriage to Rebecca, Issac found comfort after the loss of his beloved mother Sarah. In other words, when the hope for a better life in the future was realized in the present he was able to move beyond the loss of life and the sorrow of the past.
This message has echoed powerfully in Israel over the past two years. On the one hand, we continue to mourn the horrors and heartbreak of October 7—the brutal loss of life and the sacrifice of hundreds of soldiers. Yet, like Isaac, we have also found comfort in our collective resilience and determination to rebuild and renew our lives.
We see it in the joyous reunions of freed hostages with their families; in the return of displaced residents to their homes and the rebuilding of communities devastated by terror; and in the celebrations of weddings and births that have filled our land since that dark day.
This, then, is the secret of our people—the key to Jewish survival.
Throughout history, we have endured slavery, exile, persecution, blood libels, expulsions, and the horrors of the Holocaust. By every historical measure, we should have vanished long ago. Yet, we did not.
Despite unimaginable suffering we have always chosen life and moved forward. Thus, in our day, we returned to our ancestral homeland, reestablished a sovereign Jewish state, made the desert bloom, became a global center of innovation—a “start-up nation”—and built one of the strongest and most feared militaries on earth.
Our enemies continue to rise against us, believing they can destroy us. But they do not understand the source of our strength or the secret of our survival.
Perhaps one day, they will.
Shabbat Shalom.
