This week’s Torah and Haftarah portions (Genesis 23:1-25:18 and I Kings 1:1-31 respectively) provide us with wisdom about how we might age gracefully. Parshat Chayyei Sarah contains the deaths of the original matriarch and patriarch of the Jewish people, Abraham and Sarah. The parsha begins with the death of Sarah.
The Bible’s description of Sarah’s life in the first verse of the parsha is strange insofar as the years of her lifetime are enumerated with the word shana (year) interspersed throughout. Rather than saying ‘Sarah lived 127 years’, the Torah tells us “This is the span of Sarah’s life: 100 year and 20 year and 7 years were Sarah’s lifespan.” Our sages explain this anomaly as a biblical emphasis of Sarah’s continued righteousness throughout her life. Rashi underlines the repetitive nature of the verse as demonstrative of the fact that each of the years of Sarah’s life were equally good. Though there were certainly times when Sarah experienced more and less hardship, it is amazing to consider that she was resolute in her goodness and lived each of her 127 years to the fullest.
When Abraham breaths his last, the Torah describes him as “old and contented.” In his JPS commentary on Genesis, Nahum Sarna describes this expression as a unique to Abraham. “Such a summation of a life is found with no other personality in biblical literature. The phrase describes not his longevity, which is otherwise mentioned, but the quality of his earthly existence.” The rabbis also ascribe a certain degree of life satisfaction to this phrase. Nachmanides defines this phrase as emblematic of Abraham’s having “witnessed the fulfillment of all the desires of his heart and sated with all good things.” Rabbeinu Bahya ben Asher went on to say that “he died without any regrets, did not feel that there were things he had not been able to achieve.” Abraham died content because, through his life, he laid the foundation for all his descendants. Having achieved this universal goal, he could finally rest in peace after a long life of 175 years. As Dr. Erica Brown teaches, “the fact that Abraham died old and contented did not become the standard for biblical aging that was achieved with luck but something the patriarch achieved by virtue of wise decisions about his legacy and his household.”
The Haftarah assigned to Parshat Chayyei Sarah depicts a very different set of end-of-life circumstances. In the beginning of I Kings, David is uncomfortable on his deathbed. The Bible tells us that, even though they covered him in clothing, “he never felt warm.” As the king’s health continues to fade, the Bible recounts how his progeny began infighting as to who would succeed their father. Because David failed to effectively plan and communicate his wishes to his inheritors, his final days are filled with strife and tumult. Finally, his son Solomon assumes the throne and, in doing so, assuages his father’s anxiety about what his legacy will be.
May we all be like Sarah, steadfast in righteousness and making the most of every moment. May we all be like Abraham, satisfied with our portion and diligent in planning our legacy. May we all learn from David and not wait to do this until it is too late.
