Parshat Chayei Sarah: Making the Most of Every Minute

Many of our children take a year off between high school and college to spend the year learning in Israel. I, too, had that privilege - I spent that time  learning many valuable lessons. I would have to say, the single most important thing I learned that year is the Jewish value of time. Let’s use this week’s parsha to elaborate on what I mean.

וַיִּֽהְיוּ֙ חַיֵּ֣י שָׂרָ֔ה מֵאָ֥ה שָׁנָ֛ה וְעֶשְׂרִ֥ים שָׁנָ֖ה וְשֶׁ֣בַע שָׁנִ֑ים שְׁנֵ֖י חַיֵּ֥י שָׂרָֽה:

“And the life of Sarah was one hundred years and twenty years and seven years; [these were] the years of the life of Sarah.”

Many commentators wonder why the Torah chooses to split up the numbers of Sarah’s lifespan into 100 and 20 and 7. But I choose to question the end of the pasuk; why the need to repeat the words “these were the years of the life of Sarah?” The beginning of the pasuk already said “and the life of Sarah was…,” why the need to repeat this at the end of the same pasuk?

Rashi suggests the message is to emphasise that all the days of Sarah’s life were equally good. But what does this mean? What exactly was equally good?

There is a Medrash (Beraishit Rabba 58:3) relating to a story that could shed light on the message of Sarah’s life. The Medrash relates that Rebbi Akiva was sitting and teaching his students Torah, when his audience began to fall asleep (every good Rabbi experiences this phenomenon at some point.) In an attempt to awaken his students, R’ Akiva said: “Why was Queen Esther seen fit to rule over 127 countries? Let the daughter of Sarah, who lived 127 years, rule over 127 countries.”  What does this mean? What was R’ Akiva trying to convey? Rav Asher Weiss explains that R’ Akiva had been in the middle of a lesson, teaching his students the importance of learning Torah, and how Torah can only be mastered by totally committing yourself to its pursuit. Torah is not something that can be acquired by kicking your feet back with a cup of coffee for a few minutes. This was learned from our forefathers who taught us to utilize every day to our fullest potential. Sarah lived for 127 years and “all of the days of her life were equally good,”, meaning she sanctified every moment of her life by applying each and every waking moment to the service of Hashem.

Similarly, Queen Esther must have learned this lesson from her great-great-great grandmother Sarah. It is hard enough to rule over 1 country; how does one rule over 127 countries successfully? It can only be done by paying careful attention to each and every city to ensure there is no rebellion which could ultimately spread out of control. She would have had to pay attention to everyone. The only possible way to do this would be to maximize every day of her life; a lesson she learned from Sarah Immeinu.

Wow! What an important lesson! It is our duty to maximize our time, to maximize each day of our lives. My experiences from my post high school year in Israel, coupled with this lesson from Sarah Immeinu, teach us that time is precious. Let us never look to “waste some time,” or look to do things just to “pass some time.” I don’t know how many of us will live until 120, but Sarah lived longer; she lived until 127 and made the most of every minute! We can do it too!