Rabbi's Sermons

Shabbat Shalom,

This week's portion, Hayei Sara, opens with the text from genesis 23: “¹ Sarah’s lifetime—the span of Sarah’s life—came to one hundred and twenty-seven years. ² Sarah died in Kiriath-arba—now Hebron—in the land of Canaan; and Abraham proceeded to mourn for Sarah and to bewail her”.

According to tradition, each letter in the Torah, may have a special meaning, given either by an academic Bible professor, or by Chazal - wise sages of the Tora. Chazal used the Pardes methodology, the 4 forms of study of the sacred texts. From a simple reading of the text, we understand that Sara died at the age of 127 in Kiriat Arba that exists today very close to Hebron, and that Abraham "comes" from Beer Sheva, (3 hours driving, by the way) to weep for her. However, there are also some indications in the text itself, which go almost unnoticed to the human eye and invite us to look for hidden additional messages to what appears to the naked eye.

According to the tradition, the Tora text in its current format, uses types of letters and vowels, determined by the Baalei Hamesora - The precursors of the tradition, and they left signs within the texts to indicate additional messages. One of those techniques, was to write the words with a special form or to make a letter within a word smaller or larger. It is necessary to be quite expert and have a lot of patience, to observe in detail the letters of the Torah from a certain angle. Cabbalists often use gematria or similar methods. On other occasions, the letters are half or double their normal size, in such a way to make them more noticeable in the text itself. An example of this is the small letter ALEF at the end of the word VAYIKRA, that opens the book of Leviticus or, as in this Parsha, where the word וְלִבְכֹּתָהּ Velivkota, which means “to weep for her”, bears a tiny letter KAF, which in the Torah looks like in superscript.

Rashi interprets this verse from a Midrash in Bereshit Raba: "And Abraham came to mourn for Sarah and to weep for her" And Rabbi Yosi said, "Where did he come from?" From Mount Moria. Sara passed away from the pain of knowing about Itzhak's Akeda. That is why after Akeda it follows 'Hayei Sara - It was Sara's life'”. In other words, Sara's life was finished. The tragic end of her life occured in a sudden way - at least according to this Midrash. And what about Abraham? Shouldn't he also be emotionally bent over almost losing his son, and suddenly losing his wife? The Little KAF is a way of indicating that in his weep, he wept, but only a little bit... he did it in a refrained manner, accepting with a complete and imperturbable faith, that everything that happened to him, including the Akedat Itzhak, and as a result, his wife's death, were designs from the Divine.

Unlike what Rashi thought, the Babilonian Talmud Sanhedrin 111a suggests that the small letter KAF indicates something completely different. The Midrash takes us to the beginning of the book of Exodus, where we read about God's reaction when Moses complained about the great suffering of the people of Israel. It reads: “This is why Moshe Rabenu was punished, so it is written (Exodus 5:23): ´For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in Thy name, he hath done evil to this people; neither hast Thou delivered Thy people at all!'. The Holy One Blessed Be He answered: ´Too bad you don't remember and forget it! How many times I make myself known to Abraham, Yitzhak, and Yaacov as an Almighty God and they never doubted me and never asked me, What is your name?´. I said to Abraham: 'Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it, for I will give it unto you' (Genesis 13:1). And when he looked for a place to bury Sara, he had to buy in 400 silver shekels a land that was supposed to be his, and he never, ever doubt my promise..."

Apparently, Mosses’ complaint was fair, but the Midrash totally changed his position by demonstrating a lack of faith and trust in the Divine decisions. "What a pity!" - God answers to Moses, "that you are not like the patriarchs of our people, who had to face situations in which it was so easy to feel abandoned by Me and my promises", and even so, they never changed their faith and knew that in the end הכל לטובה Hakol letova, everything was for good. Abraham had to pay a high amount of silver, for a cave to bury Sara, his wife, for a land that was supposed TO BE HIS. At least it was promised! Why to buy it? Moreover, just in the moments of more pain and sadness! It would be very easy to doubt the divine promises... But they did not doubt.

In the most difficult moments, “when he weeps” for Sara, in that word only one letter is reduced: the KAF. KAF in Hebrew also means “spoon”, or a small measure of volume, and only that, the rest of his being remained the same. Only one letter, a tiny KAF gives an immense lesson of faith, for us. It is not a simple lesson, especially when we feel a logical justice, just as we read it, in the case of Moshe Rabenu himself. Justice and injustice, according to our human perception, is simple and sometimes vague, as we say in the song of Yigdal: "נוֹתֵן לְרָשָׁע רָע כְּרִשְׁעָתו גּוֹמֵל לְאִישׁ חָסִיד כְּמִפְעָלוֹ". - He gives evil to the wicked according to his wickedness, and graciousness to the righteous according to his acts”. Although we sometimes see that life is not always fair with the Hasid, nor does the wicked get punished, let us remember with that little KAF, that this inconsistency should not break our faith or our moral principles, with no hesitation, without a doubt, as the great patriarch of our people did.

God willing, I pray, that despite the difficulties we may face in our lives, our faith will remain unchanged and our spirits may always be elevated.

Shabbat Shalom

Rabbi David Laor

November 22^nd, 2024