Parshas Chayei Sarah
1. On the verse "ויהיו חיי שרה וגו׳" ("And the life of Sarah was…"), the Midrash1 cites the verse2 "יודע ה׳ ימי תמימים וגו׳" ("G‑d knows the days of the perfect…"), and explains: "כשם שהן תמימים כך שנותם תמימים" ("Just as they are whole, so are their years whole") — just as they (the tzaddikim mentioned in the verse before it) are whole, so too their years are whole. And the Midrash brings as an example of this Sarah, whose years were whole: nothing at all was missing from the years that had been allotted to her.
This needs to be understood: there were, after all, many tzaddikim and tzidkaniyos before Sarah and after Sarah whose years were also whole. Why, then, does the Midrash bring an example specifically from Sarah?
In simple terms, one could answer: all tzaddikim, since they fulfilled "ועבדתם את ה׳ אלקיכם" ("And you shall serve the L‑rd your G‑d") — they constantly served G‑d — were also repaid for this by G‑d with the blessing stated there3, "את מספר ימיך אמלא" ("I will fill the number of your days"): He gave them complete, full years. It is therefore no novelty that their years were whole (and in the case of those tzaddikim from whose allotted years something was taken away because of an extraneous cause, there was indeed something missing from their full number of years)4. But with Sarah, who passed away suddenly because of an extraneous cause — "פרחה נשמתה" ("her soul flew from her") at the news of the binding of Yitzchak5 — it is a novelty that nevertheless her years were complete.
However, since matters in the Torah are extremely precise, one must say that the Midrash brings the example of Sarah not merely because of the novelty that an extraneous cause did not affect the matter of "their years are whole" (which, after all, adds nothing to the understanding of the matter itself), but also, and primarily, because the content of "their years are whole" has a special connection to Sarah, more than to other tzaddikim.
We must also understand what the Midrash means by the words "הן (the tzaddikim) תמימים" ("they are whole"). One cannot say that it means their fulfillment of the 613 mitzvos — for that is already understood from the fact that they are called tzaddikim, even according to the simple meaning of the name "tzaddik," and especially as the title tzaddik is explained in Tanya6. From the fact that the Midrash uses here the title "temimim" it is evident that it refers here to an additional quality, beyond their fulfillment of the mitzvos. We must therefore understand what the quality of "they are whole" is.
Another point: when the Torah compares two matters, it is not because of a chance connection, but because one matter is bound up with, or is a cause of, the other. Therefore, since the Midrash says "Just as they are whole, so are their years whole," it is understood from this that "they are whole" is connected with, or brings about, "their years are whole." Seemingly, the fact that they were tzaddikim and carried out their service in the fulfillment of the mitzvos is a sufficient cause for "their years are whole" (and, as mentioned above, through "And you shall serve the L‑rd your G‑d" one receives the reward of "I will fill the number of your days"). We must therefore understand: how does the Midrash connect it specifically with the fact that they were "temimim"?
2. In the same parsha, the Midrash7 says on the verse "ואברהם זקן בא בימים" ("And Avraham was old, advanced in days"): "יש לך אדם שהוא בזקנה ואינו בימים, בימים ואינו בזקנה, אבל כאן זקנה כנגד ימים וימים כנגד זקנה" ("You may find a person who has old age but not days, or days but not old age; but here, old age corresponds to days and days correspond to old age") — that is, there can be a person who has only one of the two, either "old" or "advanced in days," but Avraham had both: "old" and "advanced in days."
The commentators on the Midrash, who explain according to the simple meaning, learn the meaning here as follows: it can sometimes happen that a person is "old" and yet not "advanced in days" — like Rabbi Elazar ben Azaryah, who became an "old man" at eighteen8 — and it can also be that one is "advanced in days" without "old age": although advanced in years, he is young in appearance.
According to this interpretation it is not understood: seemingly these two qualities — "old" and "advanced in days" — are external, peripheral qualities that do not express the greatness of Avraham Avinu: "אחד הי׳ אברהם" ("Avraham was one")9 (the only one in his time who served the One G‑d); the first who "התחיל להאיר" ("began to illuminate")10, who began to illuminate the world with G‑dliness; Avraham Avinu was the one with whom the era of "שני אלפים תורה" ("two thousand years of Torah")11 began (to study and spread Torah in the world). Yet from the fact that the Torah characterizes Avraham by these two qualities, it is understood that in them the special greatness of Avraham Avinu is expressed.
3. Our Sages explain the qualities of "old" and "advanced in days": "זקן — זה שקנה חכמה" ("Zakein — this is one who has acquired wisdom")12 (one is called zakein who "acquires" wisdom); "advanced in days" — he came with all his days13: not a single day was lacking in which Avraham did not fulfill mitzvos (those that were mitzvos in his time, before the Giving of the Torah).
That is to say, the two qualities divide into two separate categories: the quality of "old" concerns the perfection of his soul, that he acquired wisdom within his soul; and the quality of "advanced in days" consists in what he accomplished and drew down into the days — that he filled every day with mitzvos.
With this, the precise wording "advanced in days" — that every day is filled with mitzvos — is understood: if the fulfillment of the mitzvos concerned only the perfection of his soul, there would then be no difference whether he fulfills separate mitzvos each day, or whether he fulfills the same number of mitzvos in the course of just one day out of all those days, since in relation to his soul he would in any case have the same number of mitzvos. One must therefore say that the quality of "advanced in days" is to accomplish within the days; that is why it is stressed here that every day was full of mitzvos.
4. The explanation of the matter: the general difference between Torah and mitzvos is14 that Torah — the wisdom of the Holy One, blessed be He — is intellect and spirituality, and through a Jew's studying Torah he attains perfection in his soul; the mitzvos are clothed in physical things, and their purpose is primarily not so much the perfection of his soul as illuminating the physical world, making of the world "a dwelling place for Him, may He be blessed, in the lower realms."
Therefore, when speaking of wisdom (Torah), the expression is "who has acquired wisdom" — he has absorbed the wisdom of Torah into his soul; and when speaking of mitzvos, the expression is "advanced in days" — through fulfilling the mitzvos he accomplished a refinement in this world, for the world is within the bounds of time, "days."
And by the precise expression "days," it intends to emphasize such physicality as is subject to the changes of time (for change is the essential feature of time). For there are physical things that are "חוקים כיום הבראם" ("as firm as on the day they were created")15, such as the hosts of heaven — the sun, the stars, and so on — in which time effects no change in their strength; they are always as strong as on the day they were created. And on earth, too, there are things that are eternal, such as the Mishkan16, the Ark and the anointing oil17 that Moshe Rabbeinu made, which were hidden away and remain whole forever. But the main purpose of creation is to make a dwelling place for G‑d in the lower realms, "שאין תחתון למטה ממנו" ("than which there is none lower")18, in the very lowest matters of this world, which are subject to the changes of time — and this is the emphasis of "advanced in days."
5. This was the greatness of Avraham Avinu: in him both qualities were combined — "old age" (his own perfection) and "days" (accomplishment in the world) — although these two things belong to two entirely separate, opposite categories, and not everyone can hold on to both levels together. It is related in the sefer Maggid Meisharim19 that the Beis Yosef was told that he would merit to be burned for the sanctification of G‑d's Name, but because of a certain cause he did not in actual fact merit it.
It is understood that had he merited to perish for the sanctification of G‑d's Name — a matter that concerns his own soul ("old") — he would not have had the opportunity to compose the Shulchan Aruch, "שממנו יצאה הוראה לכל ישראל" ("from which instruction went forth to all Israel") (and someone else would then have composed the Shulchan Aruch). In actual fact he did compose the Shulchan Aruch — he accomplished in the world ("advanced in days") — but he did not merit self-sacrifice, which for the perfection of his soul mattered more, and therefore it is counted as a punishment for him.
With Avraham Avinu, however, both qualities were present in perfection — both in the service relating to himself and in the service of illuminating the world, as cited earlier from the Midrash that Avraham "began to illuminate."
6. According to this, one will also understand the statement of the Gemara cited earlier, that the "two thousand years of Torah" began with Avraham Avinu: for with the service of Avraham the preparation for the Giving of the Torah began, as has been discussed many times regarding the meaning of "מעשה אבות סימן לבנים" ("The deeds of the fathers are a sign for the children")20 — that the service of the Patriarchs, the first of whom is Avraham Avinu, was a preparation for the Giving of the Torah.
The accomplishment of the Giving of the Torah is to bind and unite the higher with the lower, as stated in the Midrash21: "משל למה הדבר דומה למלך שגזר ואמר בני רומי לא ירדו לסוריא ובני סוריא לא יעלו לרומי, כך כשברא הקב"ה את העולם גזר ואמר השמים שמים לה' והארץ נתן לבני אדם, כשביקש ליתן התורה בטל גזירה ראשונה ואמר התחתונים יעלו לעליונים והעליונים ירדו לתחתונים וכו'" ("A parable: to what is this comparable? To a king who decreed and said, 'The people of Rome shall not go down to Syria, and the people of Syria shall not go up to Rome.' So too, when the Holy One, blessed be He, created the world, He decreed and said, 'The heavens are the heavens of G‑d, and the earth He gave to mankind.' When He wished to give the Torah, He annulled the original decree and said, 'The lower ones shall go up to the higher ones, and the higher ones shall come down to the lower ones,' etc.") — before the Giving of the Torah there was a decree that heaven should be separate and earth separate, that is, that spirituality and physicality should not be joined; and at the Giving of the Torah G‑d annulled the decree and gave the power, through fulfilling the mitzvos, to join and unite heaven with earth.
And the preparation for the union of higher and lower at the Giving of the Torah was begun by Avraham Avinu, in that in his service the higher was united with the lower: the higher — the service that concerns the perfection of his soul ("old"); and the lower — the service of accomplishing in physicality ("advanced in days").
The tzaddikim who lived before Avraham Avinu, in the "שני אלפים תוהו" ("two thousand years of Tohu") (the first two thousand years from the creation of the world, which were "Tohu," without the matter of the Giving of the Torah, not even the preparation for it), served in only one line of the two kinds of service (as is known, among the attributes of Tohu22 there was no inter-inclusion; each attribute shone separately and left no room for another): either the service of "old" alone (like Ben Azzai, whose service was in a manner of Tohu, not "לשבת יצרה" ("He formed it to be inhabited"); he said23 "נפשי חשקה בתורה" ("My soul desires the Torah"), he devoted himself only to studying Torah and did not want to have anything to do with the world), or the service of "advanced in days" alone24. Only Avraham Avinu joined both lines together in his service.
That is why the Midrash pauses to bring out both qualities specifically in Avraham — even though the qualities of "old, advanced in days" together were also present in Yehoshua and David (as is cited in the Midrash there) — because Avraham Avinu was the first to establish the way of joining both lines, and with him began the "two thousand years of Torah," for the order of Torah is to unite and include different lines, as stated in the Rambam25: "שכל התורה ניתנה לעשות שלום בעולם" ("the entire Torah was given to make peace in the world"), and the matter of peace is, after all, the joining and inter-inclusion of matters between which peace needs to be made.
7. Like all the narratives of the Torah, the narrative of "And Avraham was old, advanced in days" is also an instruction26 for our service.
There are those who constantly pursue only accomplishing in the world, and forget about what is happening with themselves; others, on the contrary, pursue only acquiring possessions for their soul, and are constantly occupied with themselves — for the more spiritual acquisitions a person takes in, the more pain he has from what he still lacks: "ויוסיף דעת יוסיף מכאוב" ("He who increases knowledge increases pain")27, and "מי שיש לו מנה רוצה מאתים" ("One who has a hundred wants two hundred")28 (whoever has a hundred wants two hundred, also in the acquisitions of the soul) — and they do nothing to illuminate the surroundings around them.
The instruction from "old, advanced in days" is that both lines must be present together, for, as discussed earlier, the order of Torah is union and inter-inclusion.
8. Although both lines must be present, nevertheless Chassidus places the main emphasis on the service of "advanced in days."
This will be understood according to the way Chassidus explains the saying of our Sages29: "יפה שעה אחת בתשובה ומעשים טובים בעולם הזה מכל חיי העולם הבא" ("Better one hour of repentance and good deeds in this world than all the life of the World to Come") — one hour of teshuvah and good deeds in this world is better than the entire life one lives in the World to Come. For the life of the World to Come, however lofty it may be, is only the pleasure that the created being has; but from the service of teshuvah and good deeds it is the Creator who has pleasure, and the pleasure of the Creator is incomparably higher than the pleasure of the created being, since a created being has no comparison whatsoever to the Creator. Therefore one hour of teshuvah and good deeds in this world is far better than all the pleasure of the World to Come. Similarly, the service of "old" (the perfection of one's soul) bears no comparison to the service of "advanced in days," for specifically through the service of dealing with the world the intent of a dwelling place in the lower realms is fulfilled, and this brings pleasure to the Creator.
That is why the Rebbeim demanded so much the fulfillment of the Supernal intent specifically in the very lowest matters, down to physical matters that are very strongly subject to the changes of time.
The purpose and essence of the service of a dwelling place in the lower realms applies in the present time far more than in the past. Specifically now, at a time of the darkness of the world, and especially in this country, where people chase after physicality — and such physicality as is in constant change, to the point that this is expressed even30 in clothing, that one must have a different garment every day, and if one does not do so one thinks that something is lacking in one's perfection — precisely here and now the main service is to make of the matters that are most subject to change a dwelling place and a vessel for "אני הוי׳ לא שניתי" ("I, G‑d, have not changed")31.
9. The service of "advanced in days" must be not only with regard to dealing with another person, but also with regard to dealing with oneself.
Every Jew has certain mitzvos that he fulfills steadily and lastingly: for one it is the mitzvah of tzedakah, to which he is more accustomed; for another it is the mitzvah of Krias Shema, in which he is always careful; and for a third it is another mitzvah. There are, however, mitzvos that a Jew does not fulfill evenly at all times; rather, they change with him from time to time, and not all times are alike. With these mitzvos he must toil a great deal to fulfill them as they should be.
One could think: why should I toil over matters that do not hold steady with me? It is better to invest my effort and endeavor in the matters that do have permanence with me, and through that I can accomplish more. Moreover: the fact that those certain mitzvos are more lasting with him and do not change is (seemingly, or truly) a proof that they are more deeply bound up with the core point of his soul, with his essential Jewish point, which is above change — consequently reason dictates that it is more worthwhile to use one's powers for the matters that are bound up with the core point of one's soul.
We have, however, the instruction that the main service is "advanced in days": specifically through service in the things that are subject to change, the intent of a dwelling place in the lower realms is fulfilled. As stated in the writings of the Arizal and explained in Chassidus32, each soul has its own particular mitzvah, a task to accomplish in specific matters, through which it fulfills the purpose of its descent into this world. And the very fact that certain matters come hard to a Jew is a proof that his main task lies specifically in them; because they are his main mission, the evil inclination stands up more strongly against them, so as not to allow them to be carried out33.
And this is demanded of every Jew: he should not despair because certain matters of Torah and mitzvos are not sufficiently lasting with him and he feels a weakening in them from time to time; and even if, G‑d forbid, doubts in matters of faith occur to him, he must not fall into despair over this either. On the contrary, he should toil to strengthen all those matters that change with him — and when he does so, he will certainly be helped from Above.
10. Now the wording of our Sages' saying "Just as they are whole, so are their years whole" will become clear, as will the superiority of the title "temimim" over the title "tzaddikim"34: tzaddikim can also be the name for those who carry out their service in fulfilling Torah and mitzvos in only one line, as it was in the "two thousand years of Tohu." But the accomplishment of the title "temimim" is that their activity is a wholeness, in both lines together — the order that began with the "two thousand years of Torah."
Therefore it is also understood why "they are whole" is a cause of "their years are whole": just as they are "temimim," meaning that their service is whole and they make whole and unite the two lines that are opposed to one another, so too "their years are whole" — that even "their years" ("שנה" (year) from the word "שינוי" (change)), the very lowest changing matters, they make "temimim," whole.
And therefore our Sages describe Sarah (at her passing) with the quality of "temimim," for with Avraham and Sarah the preparation for the Giving of the Torah began — the "two thousand years of Torah," the order of service of "תורה תמימה" ("a perfect Torah"), the wholeness and union of different lines.
This also fits with the simple explanation mentioned earlier, that the reason the Midrash relates that Sarah's years were whole is because of the novelty that although "her soul flew from her" because of the news of the binding, her years were nevertheless whole — so it is also in the inner dimension of the matter, as discussed earlier: "her soul flew from her" is a movement of expiry, of leaving the world and being drawn upward; it is thus not in the category of "advanced in days," of activity in the world, but in the category of "old — one who has acquired wisdom." The Midrash therefore stresses that nevertheless, together with this, her years were also whole — the service of "advanced in days."
11. One can also say, in connection with the above, a special connection according to the calendar of this year, when this Shabbos is also Shabbos Mevarchim of the month of Kislev, the third month35, in which the inner dimension of the Torah was revealed; and in the matter of the inner dimension of the Torah there is, after all, the perfection of the inter-inclusion of both lines, as it is stated in the Zohar36 regarding the inner dimension of the Torah: "דלית תמן לא קשיא מסטרא דרע ולא מחלוקת מרוח הטומאה" ("For there, there is no difficulty from the side of evil and no dispute from the spirit of impurity"). There, there are no difficulties and no disputes — only peace and inter-inclusion.
(From the sicha of Shabbos Parshas Chayei Sarah, Shabbos Mevarchim Kislev, 5722)
Notes
1) Bereishis Rabbah 58:1.
2) Tehillim 37:18.
3) Shemos 23:26.
4) See Bereishis Rabbah 63:12: the five years that the Holy One, blessed be He, withheld from his life.
5) From the distressing news that he had been bound (Bereishis Rabbah 58:5; see also Pirkei d'Rabbi Eliezer ch. 32). Or from an excess of joy (according to the commentary of the Riva on the Torah — who brings an example from Kesubos 62b — or as related in Sefer HaYashar).
6) Ch. 1.
7) Bereishis Rabbah 59:6.
8) Berachos 28a.
9) Yechezkel 33:24. See also the commentary of the Tzemach Tzedek on this verse (reproduced in Sefer HaMaamarim 5710, p. 144).
10) Shemos Rabbah 15:26; Bereishis Rabbah 2:3.
11) Avodah Zarah 9a.
12) Kiddushin 32b (according to the reading of the Toras Kohanim and as in Rashi's commentary — as a notarikon (acronym); and as Taamei HaMitzvos, end of Parshas Kedoshim, notes precisely on this — for he is called "zeh").
13) See Zohar I, 224a; Torah Or 16a, 79b; Yahel Or, Tehillim 139:16, sec. 5.
14) See Tanya, chs. 23 and 36; Iggeres HaKodesh, end of Epistle 20.
15) See Jerusalem Talmud, Berachos 1:1. This is explained at length in Sefer HaChakirah of the Tzemach Tzedek, in the introduction (namely the maamar beginning "Se'u Marom Eineichem," printed in the supplements to that sefer) and in Part 1, ch. 3; and in the series of maamarim Mayim Rabbim 5636, ch. 33.
16) Sotah 9a.
17) Kerisos 5b; Rambam, Hilchos Beis HaBechirah 4:1.
18) Tanya, ch. 36.
19) Beginning of Parshas Bereishis, end of the passage beginning "Halo lach l'minda"; Parshas Emor, the passage beginning "Achar kach pirshu li"; Parshas Bechukosai, the passage beginning "Bayom hanizkar"; and elsewhere.
20) See above, Parshas Lech Lecha, and the sources cited there.
21) Shemos Rabbah 12:3.
22) See the maamar beginning "Veha'aretz Haysah Sohu" 5568; Likkutei Torah, Emor, the explanation on "Vehenif."
23) Yevamos 63b.
24) This does not contradict the saying of our Sages that until Avraham the world was conducted in darkness, even though in the two thousand years of Tohu there were also tzaddikim whose main service was to illuminate the world. For since they lacked the service of "zakein — one who has acquired wisdom" (in an acquisition, the thing is as it is in its full strength etc., only that it has passed from one domain to another (see Torah Or, beginning of Parshas Mishpatim)), and since the wisdom (light) was not an acquisition with them, it is obvious that they could not draw it down, in the manner and on the level of an acquisition, into the world, which is entirely garments and concealments etc. Hence it is still darkness.
25) End of Hilchos Chanukah.
26) See Zohar III, 53b.
27) Koheles 1:18.
28) See Koheles Rabbah 1:13; Responsa of R"Y 2:27; Rabbeinu Bachya, end of Parshas Chayei Sarah.
29) Avos 4:17. See also the series of maamarim Vechachah 5637, ch. 12.
30) See the maamar beginning "Mizmor Shir Chanukas" (Likkutei Torah, end of Parshas Berachah).
31) Malachi 3:6.
32) Iggeres HaKodesh, end of Epistle 6. The sicha of Shushan Purim 5700. Kuntres 12 Tammuz 5708 (in Sefer HaMaamarim 5708).
33) See also above, Parshas Bereishis.
34) Compare the commentary of the Ritva on Avodah Zarah, beginning of 6a: "Tamim" toward people, "tzaddik" with the Holy One, blessed be He. And in the Sefiros: the upper tzaddik or the lower tzaddik; "tamim" — Sefiras Malchus, Kneses [Yisrael], which gathers in all the Sefiros above it. See also the sicha of 21 Kislev 5673 (Toras Shalom, p. 178 ff.) — which is seemingly in a different manner from the above.
35) See Likkutei Sichos vol. 1, Parshas Vayishlach, sec. 15: in the third month from Nissan (tzaddikim) there was the revelation of the revealed part of the Torah, and in the third month from Tishrei (baalei teshuvah) there was the revelation of the inner dimension of the Torah. See there at length.
36) Zohar III, 124b. Cited and explained in Iggeres HaKodesh, sec. 26.
Key Lesson
Avraham was both "old" — one who acquired wisdom and perfected his own soul — and "advanced in days," filling every day with mitzvos that refine the changing physical world; true wholeness means uniting both lines. A Jew should not despair over the areas of Torah and mitzvos that fluctuate within him, for these are often his very mission, and by toiling to strengthen them he makes even the changing "years" whole.