#Chayey Sarah

[hyperpotamianarch]

what does the Tanach say about the concept of love?? Like romantic love, the love that permeates the soil and allows life to grow, love that is everywhere? I was learning the portion for this week and yitzchak is the king of commitment, and this seems to be the basis of love: an ability to commit no matter what. I was just wondering though if you know if there's anything else??

The Tanach doesn't technically say anything about the concept of love. By which I mean, it doesn't have a list of concepts that it explains. So everything you can learn is by looking at context, results, and at how love is being expressed. In addition, the Tanach isn't called the Book of Books (at least in Hebrew) for naught: it's made of twenty four to thirty six books (depends how you cout Trei 'Asar and Ezra&Nehemiah), and has varied authors. We can perhaps extrapolate what the word means when it's used in different contexts, but it may well be tainted by the view of the author.

You actually were right on the money to start talking about it now, though, because this is the first time in the whole Tanach love is mentioned! ...However, when looking at the future of their marriage, it's... A bit marred.

Next week's portion is the only one that focuses of Yitzchak. And you can see his character from that, I suppose. He's certainly committed to one wife, unlike his father or son, but he does not consult with her when he tells Avimelech she's his sister. As a matter of fact, the only direct interaction between Yitzchak and Rivkah is when she tells him she can't have Ya'akov marry anyone from Canaan. But, to be fair, that doesn't actually mean anything. The Torah only tells us what's relevant, and perhaps Yitzchak's daily life with Rivkah isn't that relevant. I still wouldn't take them as model marriage, though - they both pick favourites among their children and by the time they get to the Blessings Rivkah seems to not trust Yitzchak to listen to her if she tells him Ya'akov deserves them more. A lot of that us about how you choose to interpret the text, and I might be biased by a Shi'ur I've heard from one of my Rashei Yeshiva once.

I can keep ruining every good part in this by talking about the next time romantic (or more likely erotic) love appears, but I think we can skip Shechem and Dinah. That story is horrible without talking about what love is there, though it might lean into committment considering Shechem's love leads him to want to marry Dinah instead of having this be a one night stand. This stands as a stark opposition to Amnon, who hates Tamar immediately after raping her and is frankly a disgusting human being, but that's another story.

If we want to look at romantic love in the Tanach, going one by one on every mention of love and weighing whether or not it's romantic is going to be exhausting though. So let's just jump into the most obvious book on the topic: Shir HaShirim, the Song of Songs!

Honestly, considering my opening I should probably just direct you in that direction and leave it at that. I marred everything with the touch of my opinion so far, maybe I should let the Tanach speak for itself. Especially since I don't really know how to talk about love in the Song of Songs.

Now, don't get me wrong, this is one of my favourite books of the Tanach, despite how it's one of the only two to have semi-erotic descriptions in it. It's widely considered a parable for the love between G-d and the people of Israel, but as I've heard from Rav Aviah HaCohen - if the story in the parable has no worth, then the moral would be empty as well. (Paraphrased from memory and translated to English, please cut me some slack if it doesn't carry the exact right meaning.)

Maybe I'm having trouble talking about that because I never actually experienced romantic love (though I'd be hesitant to call myself aromantic). I could (in theory) talk about the dedication to each other the lovers of the Song of Songs show - "I am for my lover and my lover is for me". Maybe. But I'm not convinced I can say what the Tanach says about love from that. The book is certainly full of passion and dedication. Maybe I should just gently direct you to read and study it yourself, I don't really know.

So, a couple of points: first, thank you for asking me about the Tanach, I love it and actually am currently studying to teach it. However, I would like to ask people who might send farther asks on it to not ask about such nebulous concepts. The Tanach doesn't really have a clear line on it. It would be easier to talk about love in Judaism in general, and that is a complex topic unto itself: you have the commandment to love G-d with all your heart, soul and being; you have Rambam's definition of loving G-d - like a man who is lovesick and can think of nothing but his beloved; then you have the Hassidic terms of love like fire and love like water, the idea of always seeking closeness as one type of love, and simply enjoying the presence of one's loved one presence as another. But point is, it's hard to answer such a question straight from the Tanach, and as a person who did not experience romantic love I'm likely the wrong person to ask.

Please, do ask about the Tanach - but be aware that you're asking me, a person with his pwn biases and conceptions. Be aware you're asking about a collection of books that touches many, many things from multiple different angles. Be aware that I can't really touch all of them. And be aware that when all is said and done, I am just a 20-odd years old guy who studies the Tanach, not an outstanding expert. I still hope I helped, though I'm not all too sure about that.

Thank you for asking, Shabbat Shalom! If you've hoped for a nice Wort to say on the Shabbat table... well, I'm really sorry I wasn't more helpful.

[eretzyisrael]

[girlactionfigure]

Parashat Chayei Sarah.

Rabbi Benny’s weekly Torah thought - keeping it short, contemporary and meaningful…

[willowcrowned]

I was coming at it from a more “for a given value of intense amounts of time and learning, resulting in a wealth of deeply specific knowledge” then to me a bible nerd isn’t all that different from the person who deep dives a fandom wiki, in terms of knowledge acquired.

Obviously there’s more nuance, but the fact that you can actually recognize/respect the above was very moving to me, because people in my life haven’t. So it’s nice to know there is people like you out there, and I separated that out from the rest of the post.

My apologies that I misunderstood/poked at deeply personal things. Not my intention at all.

No not at all! I didn’t feel poked at—I just wanted to use (and possibly co-opt, sorry) your comments to clarify what I’d said earlier.

And you’re right that a “bible nerd” isn’t objectively weird. What I meant to say, though I don’t think it came across, is that for me it’s actually more normal than, say, an encyclopedic knowledge of star wars, given that my uncle and one of my cousins went to a yeshiva (and my father is constantly showing off the fact that he easily could have). So if people are quoting John instead of rashi—well, who am I to judge?

[slyandthefamilybook]

I went to an Orthodox school and it was a thing to memorize every single parasha. It's one of those things that never leaves you

Question to English-speaking diaspora Jews: How do you typically refer to books of the Tanach? Is it by their Hebrew name (e.g. Bereshit) or by their English-given name (e.g. Genesis)?

[emilieduchatele]

📖 funny little Jewish ask game you reblogged.

(favorite Parsha)

-@silly-jewish-vents

I think I'm going to go with Chayei Sarah, since thats the one from my bnei mitzvah. It's about the aftermath of Sarah's death and finding Rebecca. It's the parsha I've studied in the most depth, plus I like that it focuses on women a bit, which isn't super common.

[33-108]

137, an exemplary number of Kabbalistic significance - tying physics, math, science and mysticism.

In mysticism, the Hebrew word קבלה (Kabbalah) has a numerical value of 137.

There's a rare, non dimensional, atomic constant in physics known as the “Fine Structure Constant”.

It's reciprocal number which is equivalent to 1/137, is related to the probability of electrons and charged particles absorbing or emitting photons, and is the ratio of the strength of electromagnetic force compared to the strong nuclear.

The number is needed in order to gage how specific wavelengths of light interact in precise ways with atomic forces/ how electromagnetic forces hold atoms together.

This number is one of the constants determining the size of the atoms, and therefore, the form and structure of the visible universe.

This number appears explicitly for the first time in the Bible in the Torah portion of Chayei Sarah: Ishmael lived 137 years.

Levi and the father of Moses, Amram, also lived 137 years. Akeidat Yitzchak/Binding of Isaac took place when Abraham was 137 years of age.

The word “opposite” – “maKBiLot” has a root K-B-L. These verses speak of a curtain separating Kodesh Hakadoshim, the Holy of Holies – from the Kodesh, the area called “Holy” immediately adjacent to it. It is viewed symbolically as the curtain separating spiritual and material worlds.

The number 137 is, therefore, seen as appearing on the cusp of the physical and the spiritual.

"It describes the “corresponding loops” which clasped together enjoin the two sections of the Tabernacle’s ceiling. These loops divided the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies — the physical dimension and the spiritual dimension — and at the boundary line of the physical world, the number 137 emerges."

- Moses’ Tabernacle, the earthly dwelling place of God, was 13.7 meters long

Just as the fine-structure constant relates to the absorption of a photon by an electron, the symbolism of the number 137 in Kabbalah is the "receiving (kabbalah) of the Infinite Light – Ohr Ein Sof (1) – into ten vessels-sephirot comprised of the three (3) sephirot of sechel (intellect, ChaBaD: Chochmah, Binah, and Da’at) and seven (7) lower sephirot-midot = 137 (1 + 23 + 27 = 137)."

Physicist Wolfgang Pauli and Carl Jung were both enamored with the power of certain numbers, including 137.

They were fascinated by the atom’s fine-structure constant and its Kabbalistic significance. They formed a friendship and began a study that led them through alchemy, kabbalah, dream interpretation, and the Chinese Book of Changes.

They were two people who believed 137 was at the intersection of modern science with the occult.

One of the important physicists of the 20th century, Richard Feynman, wrote about the number 137:

“It has been a mystery ever since it was discovered more than fifty years ago, and all good theoretical physicists put this number up on their wall and worry about it. It’s one of the greatest damn mysteries of physics: a magic number that comes to us with no understanding by man. You might say the ‘hand of God’ wrote that number, and ‘we don’t know how He pushed his pencil.”

"The mystery about α is actually a double mystery. The first mystery – the origin of its numerical value α ≈ 1/137 has been recognized and discussed for decades. The second mystery – the range of its domain – is generally unrecognized." — Malcolm H. Mac Gregor, M.H. MacGregor (2007). The Power of Alpha. World Scientific. p. 69.

[geostatonary]

tonight in torah study abraham and sarah die, issac gets a wife, and we learn about the thermal properties of virgins

[panther-os]

bar mitzvah traditions differ around the world but using ronen rubinstein's birthday - because i'm completely unoriginal - the jewish name I decided to use for tk in the fic i published a few hours ago, and my synagogue's traditions, tk's torah portion for his would be parshat chayei sarah portion five (genesis 24:53-67).

in an earlier episode of this season, carlos mentions that he thinks gwyneth is sending all her love for tk through him otherwise he doesn't know how he has so much of it. the last verse of chayei sarah five says this:

סזוַיְבִאֶ֣הָ יִצְחָ֗ק הָאֹ֨הֱלָה֙ שָׂרָ֣ה אִמּ֔וֹ וַיִּקַּ֧ח אֶת־רִבְקָ֛ה וַתְּהִי־ל֥וֹ לְאִשָּׁ֖ה וַיֶּֽאֱהָבֶ֑הָ וַיִּנָּחֵ֥ם יִצְחָ֖ק אַֽחֲרֵ֥י אִמּֽוֹ:

in english:

And Isaac brought her to the tent of Sarah his mother, and he took Rebecca, and she became his wife, and he loved her. And Isaac was comforted for the loss of his mother.

idk if this is intentional on the writer's part or just a neat coincidence, but no matter if i switch the year around, i'm definitely keeping tk's birthday as 27 cheshvan on the jewish calendar just for this.

[towardtheonetheperfection]

Davening / November 23

Spent this morning in a music space learning from Yiscah Smith. C was right, we have such kindred spirits. She taught that in Chayei Sarah, Sarah Imenu could have loved longer but could not bear the idea of the Akeidah having nearly taken Yitzhack, her only son, her joy, and to think her husband would have caused it. The Piesznetzer Rebbe taught that she chose to end her life there in spiritual protest of the pain.

I was sobbing. This journey with Gd has been so intensely painful. I have been ripped open so many times by what I think gd expects me to be, and I cannot meet it. I want to, I want to want to. But I just can’t. No excuses - but my heart loves who it loves. That is my gateway to gd. So how can I be Jewish?

ani shomeret al artzot hasfarim.

I am a keeper of the borderlands.

I sobbed because Sarah Imenu gave this to me as a gift, to all of her children, that it would be okay to say “enough” I have had too much. Maybe that’s a mistake sometimes but she could not bear.

It relieves me. It gave me air to breathe in a way my soul really needed.

Took a 20 minute khalwa Battina / Mincha. Really found my groove in the Zikr of tonight.

[parashapix]

Chayei Sarah

וַיְבָרְכ��ּ אֶת-רִבְקָה, וַיֹּאמְרוּ לָהּ--אֲחֹתֵנוּ, אַתְּ הֲיִי לְאַלְפֵי רְבָבָה; וְיִירַשׁ זַרְעֵךְ, אֵת שַׁעַר שֹׂנְאָיו. And they blessed Rebekah, and said unto her: 'Our sister, be thou the mother of thousands of ten thousands, and let thy seed possess the gate of those that hate them.' (Breishit 24:60)

[eretzyisrael]

This week's Torah portion is called Chayei Sarah - "the life of Sarah" - seeming to imply that it will be about Sarah’s life. However, the parsha starts with Sarah’s death. To explain this, the Lubavitcher Rebbe references a line from the Talmud: “Jacob our Patriarch did not die.” But Jacob did die. He was mourned and buried, so what does it mean that he’s still alive? Jacob is still “alive” because he left millions of spiritual descendants. What gives a life meaning is what is left after death, and we all have a responsibility to leave something good of ourselves behind.

Sarah raised her beloved son Isaac to embrace the Divine mission first entrusted to his father Abraham, thus enabling that holy mission to continue. The tremendous amount of good Sarah did for others created a ripple effect of lovingkindness that is still felt today. Sharing her knowledge of the One God with a wide populace and bringing others closer to Him ensured Sarah’s immortality. Her spiritual “tree” continues to bear fruit thousands of years after her passing.

May we all plant seeds to extend our legacy beyond this mortal coil!

Image: Sarah’s Tomb in Hebron (photographer Aryel Tsion)

Accidental Talmudist

[girlactionfigure]

Weekly Thought - Chayei Sarah

Here's why Abraham refused to take a gift.

[micha-phone]

Chayei Sara

This week I was taken in by the phrase וַיֵּצֵ֥א יִצְחָ֛ק לָשׂ֥וּחַ בַּשָּׂדֶ֖ה “and Isaac went out to לָשׂ֥וּחַ in the field.” There is a lot of debate about what this word לָשׂ֥וּחַ means. Some say it means he went out to pray, to pour his heart out before Hashem. This is where we get the afternoon prayer, each of the patriarchs is associated with one of the three prayer services: Abraham with morning, Isaac with afternoon, and Jacob with evening. Rashbam though says that Isaac went out to the fields to check on the plants – how are they growing is the work being done correctly. But then there is the most interesting, to me interpretation, which combines with the previous verse “Isaac had just come back from the vicinity of Beer-lahai-roi, for he was settled in the region of the Negeb.” This interpretation says that Isaac had not been living in his father’s house, he had gone to the field to pray, but not from his home but was rather returning from further afield. Chizkuni says that Isaac had just left Eden where he had been for the three years after the Akeda. Others say that he was returning from Mount Moriah, another spiritual site. He is just now returning to his father’s house. He stops to pray, to pour his heart out, maybe processing his anxieties about seeing the man who almost sacrificed him. Going back to his home, where his mother isn’t anymore, just him and his father. And then before he can return home, he sees Rebecca. They go to his home together, “Isaac then brought her into the tent of his mother Sarah, and he took Rebekah as his wife. Isaac loved her, and thus found comfort after his mother’s death.”

Okay, so what? Why does it matter that he returns home with Rebecca, with a stranger he barely knows to a house he has barely spent time in? Maybe it’s saying you don’t have to do hard things alone? That there are others who are just as nervous (while what we see of Rebecca suggests that she is confident over making this match it also must be a nervewracking situation)? Or that you can make a new home with someone? I don’t know. But I think there’s something to say about Isaac not having to face it alone, and for that matter for Isaac and Rebecca to have a moment, not alone, but not planned to meet each other for the first time. Going to make a life together, going from the field, from a holy place, from a connection with Hashem immediately to a connection with another person and moving into the world of humans. Facing our families or past trauma with someone else by our sides.

[israelseen1]

Jonathan Sacks z"l: The Next Chapter CHAYEI SARAH

Jonathan Sacks z”l: The Next Chapter CHAYEI SARAH One of the most striking features about Judaism in comparison with, say, Christianity or Islam, is that it is impossible to answer the question: Who is the central character of the drama of faith? In both of the other Abrahamic monotheisms the answer is obvious. In Judaism, it is anything but. Is it Abraham, the founder of the covenantal family?…