STUDENT SUMMARIES OF SICHOT OF THE ROSHEI YESHIVA

 

PARASHAT CHAYE SARA

SICHA OF HARAV YEHUDA AMITAL ZT”L

 

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This week’s shiurim are sponsored by Ruchy Yudkowsky
in memory of Yehuda Yudkowsky z"l

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In honor of our new daughter Talia Jacquelyn Schanler.
We have benefited from much Torah taught from the VBM and Har Etzion

and hope our daughter will also be able to do so, when she grows up!

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The Pure of Heart

Translated by Kaeren Fish

 

"And Sara lived a hundred years and twenty years and seven years, the years of Sara's life." (Bereishit 23:1)

 

"'God knows the days of those who are wholehearted' (Tehillim 37:18) – this refers to Sara, who was wholehearted in her actions." (Bereishit Rabba 58,1)

 

An important lesson can be learned from the midrash here. Nowhere in the Torah are we told of any extraordinary actions by Sara: she did not fight against idolatry as Avraham did, there are no accounts of tests that she withstood, God did not appear to her regularly, and when she was informed that she would give birth at the age of ninety she burst out laughing – just as any regular person would. Nevertheless, the text heaps praise on her after her death.

 

Not every person has to lead a revolution in the world. In order to be "beloved by God in this world and in the next world" it is enough to be wholehearted in one's actions and God-fearing. A person may engage in an occupation which does not involve any spiritual revolutions – so long as he is wholehearted in what he does and educates his household towards fear of God.