Weekly Shabbat parsha thoughts - Chaya Sarah - 11.13.2009

This portion has always intrigued me. The story is relatively simple. It follows Abraham as he negotiates to buy land for Sarah’s burial place and then tries to find a wife for his son.

Now it should not be lost that this parsha marks the first time a Jewish person owned land in Israel. And it is not insignificant that it had to be negotiated in the real world with a respectful honest transaction. As was shown a few weeks ago – part of our covenant and chosen nature is how we interact with others.

But what always strikes me about this portion is how placed next to last week it seems to make a poignant contrast. Last week was filled with Sodom and Gamora, heavenly visits and the surreal story of the binding of Isaac. This week has real estate transactions and marriages. The placement to me tells a story that we should always remember.

I believe the torah is telling us here that our actions should be viewed in our own minds as our best attempt to work with HaShem’s hands. We may not have the ability to create miracles but we have a great part in creating the world HaShem desires. Our actions in the world are part of HaShem’s structure of how the world becomes the world we all want. It cannot happen without our hands and actions. We are integral to the solution.

And when we do we can find completeness – as Abraham did this chapter. He bought a piece of the holy land for his family and people. And this was a transaction with the Hittities which shows the utmost respect for both parties. He is able to make sure his son gets married and sees that the legacy and covenant that has driven him continues. And this “completeness” only comes after these real world interactions and transactions are completed. So this feeling of completing something cannot end with HaShem’s hand it must be in concert with our actions.

And we should remember that in Hebrew “complete” and “peace” come from the same root words. To attempt to find both a feeling of completion and peace we MUST transact respectfully with our world. This is not a formula for seclusion and judgment but for inclusion and engagement.

These lessons are often forgotten in today’s Jewish world. We get caught up in politics or ritual and forget that these actions too are representative of our view of the world and HaShem. We may not always remember that – but this weeks parsha both in its behaviors shown and position remind us that even if we do not remember that we are acting out our beliefs on the world that we, in fact, are always doing that. So we should remember that in our life we show these beliefs in our actions and beyond our life these actions echo through the generations as legacies and lessons of our view of the world as it should and can be.

All actions are an opportunity to be part of HaShem’s plan and “hands” on this earth. If we learn from the “Life of Sarah” (which is what our portion this week means) then we can learn that our actions are needed to find completeness and peace. Once again our faith does not solve the problem – but it does make sure that we know that this solution, this peace, the world that we wish to make is in our hands.