Chayei Sarah – 5780 

Genesis 23:1 – 25:18 

From the title of our parasha, Chayei Sarah, we would assume that the portion is about the life of Sarah, because Chayei Sarah literally means ‘the life of Sarah.’ How surprising then, is the opening verse: 

“And the life of Sarah was a hundred and twenty-seven years, the year’s a Sarah’s life. And Sarah died …” {Gen. 23:1-2a)  

Even more, the Torah also records the death of Abraham towards the end of the portion. Why then is this parasha called the Life of Sarah and not the death of Sarah (and Abraham)? Perhaps it is as simple as this: thousands of years later, we remember Sarah and Abraham not because they died, but because they lived. 

All of us will eventually die. We cannot change that fact. What we can control, however, is how we live.