CHAYE SARAH 1992
 
In the Torah portion Chaye Sarah we learn how Sarah died at 127 years old.  The rabbis explain that when Sarah heard about the Akedah, the binding of Isaac, she died.  The rabbis all ask, why is it that she died? After all, what she heard was that Avraham and Yitzchak were both coming back, so she should have been happy. She should not have died.  Why is it that: she died after she heard about the Akedah?
Also, the Torah mentions some extra words here when it mentions that she was 127 years old when she died.  It says, "They were the life of Sarah 100 years and 20 years and 7 years.  These were the years of the life of Sarah." Rashi explains that all of Sarah's lives were equal.  How could that possibly be that all of Sarah's lives were equal? After all, we know that every age has its advantages and its disadvantages, so what does it mean that all the days of her life were equal?
What's more, later on we learn that when Abraham goes to the sons of Chais in order to buy a burial plot for Sarah that the sons of Chais tell him three times that they are going to give the burial plot to him free, but he ends up paying an exorbitant price, a price that some people say is 80 or 100 times the average of the working man, when really you should have been able to buy a burial plot for just the average wage of a working man.  Why is it that the Torah tells us that the sons of Chais offered the burial plot to Abraham three times for nothing, and that Abraham, himself, mentions the sons of Chais ten times?
Perhaps the answers to these questions we can refer to a Medrash, in fact, to two parallel Medrashim that almost say exactly the same thing.  The Medrash says that Rabbi Akiva when he noticed that the audience to which he was speaking started to fall asleep said that, "Just because Sarah lived 127 years Esther ruled over 127 provinces," because it says in the Megillah that Achaverosh ruled over 127 provinces and, of course, Esther was his queen.  There is a similar Medrash in which Ravi noticed that his audience, too, was falling asleep so he said that
 
there was one woman in Egypt who bore at one time 600,000 men, and we see from here that the 600,000 men were really Moshe Rabbeinu, that the woman who bore 600,000 men was Yocheved, Moshe's mother.  The Torah says that Moshe was equivalent to all the men in Israel so, therefore, Yocheved bore 600,000 men.
The rabbis explain that in the time of Rabbi Akiva there was a terrible depression that had set in among the Jewish people.  Many of the Jewish people had given up hope that Judaism could survive.  Hadrian had put down violently and viciously the rebellion of Bar Kochba.  In fact, Sweetonius the Greek historian says that 600,000 Jews were killed and countless millions were exiled and sold into slavery. The Jewish people were in a very bad situation.  Hadrian banned the Jewish religion. He banned Rabbi Akiva even from teaching the Jewish religion, any rabbi from teaching the religion, and Rabbi Akiva, himself, was put to death because he would not stop teaching Judaism.  So the Jewish people were in a terrible state and, therefore, Rabbi Akiva said this in order to encourage them, that falling asleep they had thought that G-d no longer cared for the Jewish people.  They thought that Judaism could no longer survive, and then he told them about because Sarah lived 127 years. What does it mean?  Sarah, too, went through all sorts of turmoil.  She left her home.  She travelled with her husband.  She could not have children, yet, she never gave up hope.  She never gave up belief that Judaism would continue, that she would eventually have a son, and she did have a son when she was 90 years old, but she never gave up hope and never gave up faith even though she had a difficult time.  She was taken captive by Pharaoh.  She was taken captive by Avi Melech, who had sexual designs on her but because of G-d's intervention nothing happened, but she was shunted back and forth between this city and that city and she had to endure all sorts of privations, yet, she never gave up hope.  That, of course, is what Rabbi Akiva was telling them, that because Sarah lived 127 years and no matter what life brought her, no matter what the trials and tribulations
 
no matter the threats, no matter the compromising situations she never gave up hope, and that was exactly the same thing with Queen Esther.  When Haman came on the scene he wanted to do what Hitler wanted to do.  He wanted to kill every single Jew.  He almost succeeded.  It was only through the intervention of Esther that the Jewish people were able to obtain arms from the king and were able to defend themselves.  They acquitted themselves well against the enemies of the Jewish people who wanted to destroy us.  In the darkest days when many Jews had already given up hope Esther did not give up hope, and Esther said, "I will continue and I will eventually prevail," and she did prevail.
The same thing is true of the story of Moshe in Egypt.  The people in Egypt had
sunk to the 49th level of Tumah.  They had given up.  They thought that Judaism
was dead, that they had no future, but then Moshe came on the scene, and Moshe,
of course, with G-d's help, rescued the Jewish people.  He took them out of slavery.
He took them out of Egypt.  This was the message that Rabbi Akiva and Ravi were
giving to their times.  Ravi, too, lived in difficult times under Roman control,
not as difficult as Rabbi Akiva but also difficult times.  Many times the Jewish
people when they are confronted with a choice of either give up their religion
or be successful where they are living, either give up their religion or be hounded
and persecuted.  Then many times they succumb, and it takes rare individuals who
can stand up to this kind of pressure.  The boy who is bar mitzvah here today
four years ago he was not even sure he was Jewish.  He could not speak a word
of English or a word of Hebrew, and he was taken into the Hebrew Academy where
he learned to do what he could do and now he is at the top of his class in Hebrew
and in English.  You can see how well he read the Torah, how well he did the Haphtorah,
how well he is going to do the Mussaf, what a fine speech he gave.  His parents
are true heroes because in Czechlosovakia in their town where almost every single
Jew, especially the young Jews, ran away from the religion, changed their name,
changed their name even twice because on Czechlosovakian forms they ask you what
 
is your name and what was your former name.  They did not want to be singled out as Jews anymore.  These four couples in the town were all that was left basically of the Jewish community.  They refused to kowtow.  When they had a chupa they were investigated by the police. When they gave their son a bris they were accused of child abuse.  They had difficult times.  They were hounded.  They were persecuted, but, yet, they refused to give up.  They refused to say that Judaism was dead. Many of their Jewish friends had accepted communism.  Communism was a better idea than Judaism.  Let's accept it.  Let's live with our neighbors, even though the neighbors always pointed out that these were the former Jews, like they did in Spain with the Moranos.  The Jews even there did not completely lose their identity to the goyim.  To themselves they lost their identity.  These were people who never gave up.  These were people who like Sarah and Esther and Moshe served as beacons of hope to people who had already fallen asleep as far as their Jewishness was concerned.
This is, of course, what the rabbis mean when they say that all of Sarah's life was equal.  It was all equal because she never gave up.  No matter was tzores came to her she never gave up.  Why was it that Sarah died after she heard about the Akedah? Because she knew that her mission in life was over, that she had raised a son that was going to continue on in the footsteps of herself and Abraham, that she should have lived longer and shed naches from him, that is a question only G-d can answer.  She knew that she had fulfilled a function because her son, too, was willing to stand up.  Her son, too, was willing to put his life on the line for Judaism.  Therefore, her mission was really over in life.  We all know that many times Jews think that they can rely on the promises of others, but we know that throughout history we have been disappointed.  The German Jews thought they could rely completely upon the German promises.  Anything that we Jews have ever achieved we have achieved because we have had to pay a high price.  The same thing was true with Abraham.  Three times the sons of Chais said they would give
 
him the burial plot free, but at the end Abraham paid 100 times the average yearly wage of a worker.  He was overpaid for that plot of land.  The Jewish people, if they are to survive, it is because of our own efforts. We can say the Bnai Chais and Bnai Chais and interact with others, but we know that unless we stand up and be counted we will not exist.  There are many more Jews now in Czechlosovakia than we first thought because now that communism has collapsed these Jews are coming out of the woodwork.  Now Israel is sending emissaries.  They have free summer camps for their children.  They can now go on aliyah.  When Tomas' family came to America they had escaped from Czechlosovakia, risking their lives.  In Czechlosovakia you had to leave a family member behind. When they came here to visit Eva's sister they had to leave Tomas behind, and when Eva saw that the boys at the Hebrew Academy were playing basketball with their yarmulkas that gave her such a thrill because in Czechlosovakia you could not display any Jewish symbols. If the boys and girls in the school knew that you were Jewish they would treat you like in the movie "School Ties".  You would be hounded and persecuted.  Your life would be embittered.  It made her feel so good to see Jewish boys playing openly outside with yarmulkas on.  They escaped.  They took their life in their hands.  They were able to get visas to go to Yugoslavia on a trip, and somehow they let Tomas go with them.  Then on the trip Vojtech was able to convince the tour guide that his wife and child were sick and had to go to the hospital so the tour guide gave him back the passports. When they came to Belgrade they bought train tickets to go to Austria.  At the border they were stopped by custom officials who said that people with Czechlosovakian passports could not cross the border into Austria and they were put off the train.  The police from the Czech embassy in Belgrade were summoned to take them back to Czechlosovakia where they would be put into prison, even long sentences and Tomas would be put into an orphanage, but Eva somehow managed to convince the next customs official on the next train to let them pass and he did let them pass.  They came to Vienna.  They have been
a success In America.  They have been a success in America because of relatives who helped them and friends who helped them, but mainly they have been a success In America because they know how much their Judaism means to them.  They were willing to stand up for it.  Because they were willing to stand up for it, now there is a revival of Yiddishkeit in Czechlosovakia.  It never died, so, therefore, the others can now come to It after communism has collapsed.  Tomas, you are being given a great legacy, the legacy of your religion, and you are being given this legacy by your parents, not just through love but through tears and blood also. All your four grandparents are Holocaust survivors and all their families were wiped out just because they were Jews, but your grandfathers and grandmothers never gave up.  They determined even In a communist country they would be Jewish, and your parents decided to continue that tradition and they stood up when the time was tough.  They were like Sarah, Esther, and Moshe.  They made sure that hope would still be there, that no matter what would be thrown against them they would not deny their Jewishness because Judaism is something precious.  Judaism is something that the world needs.  Judaism still has much to teach the world. We all hope and pray that you will always remember this, that you will remember that you come from heroes and that Judaism is something that they sacrificed for so that you could have it.  Let us all hope and pray that through their merit and through the merit of many others who stood up for Judaism Jews will not only survive but will thrive and truly be a beacon of light to the world.  Amen.