by George Gazarek
There are five Torah portions named after men in the Torah but only one named after a woman, Sarah, the wife of Abraham and our first matriarch. And so this week’s portion is titled Chayei Sarah, Sarah’s lifetime. It begins with the death of Sarah who’s lifetime came to one hundred and twenty-seven years. Abraham mourns for Sarah. This is the first mention of mourning for the dead in the Torah. The portion ends with the death of Abraham who’s lifetime came to one hundred and seventy five years.
I thought about talking about Keturah, who Abraham took as his wife after Sarah had died. Although she bore him six children, she is not mentioned as one of our matriarchs. And yet, Rachel, Jacob’s second wife is. But, I decided to focus instead on death, as both Sarah and Abraham, our first matriarch and patriarch, die in this week’s portion. Besides, it seems like this is the season for death. Oh yes, people die in all months of the year. But, there’s something about late October and early November that shines a spotlight on death.
You just have to go outside and look at the trees to see it. The leaves are dying right on their branches. Yes, they look beautiful in their majestic colors, but, they are dying and will eventually fall to the ground, all too soon. And then there’s Halloween, which was originally a Gaelic pagan festival of the dead. It eventually became a Christian festival and now in more recent times has become a secular holiday where we can all participate in the ghoulish traditions. And on November 2nd, our Christian friends and neighbors observe All Souls Day. The Hispanic culture celebrate this as The Day of the Dead by making skulls of sugar. Oh yes, this is the season of the dead.
Rabbi Neil Gillman, in his award winning book, “The Death of Death,” begins with four possible biblical accounts of the origins of death in the world: Death is punishment for sin; it is part of God’s original creation of man; it is the inevitable result of humanity achieving self-awareness and the power of discrimination by way of eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil; or it is an independent power over which God does not yet exercise full control. Through arguments, he discards the thought that it was part of God’s original creation and that God does not have control over it.
The Talmudic rabbis had two doctrines about the afterlife: The first taught that at some point after death, God would raise the body from the grave. The second taught that, at death, the body disintegrates and returns to dust, but the soul leaves the body and lives eternally. On theological grounds, Judaism demands the death of death. If God is truly God, if God’s will and power are absolute, then God must triumph over death as well. The death of death marks the final step in the triumph of the monotheistic God.
I believe, that the entire universe and everything in it was created from the original energy that was, and still is, God. All of the spirits or souls of everyone throughout eternity were a part of God before that initial withdrawing. Therefore, I am not my body. I am a spark of the Divine. I existed long before my body was conceived and I will continue to exist long after my body has died. One day when I leave this body, I will return to the Divine.
And that’s as far as I got on this theme of death not sure where to go with it. And then I got this email from Bob Locke this morning and Eureka! The path forward was clear. I had to move from death to life. The email contained this reading which was in a beautiful video.
The man whispered, “God speak to me,” and a meadowlark sang.
But, the man did not hear.
So the man yelled, “God speak to me,” and the thunder rolled across the sky.
But, the man did not listen.
The man looked around and said, “God let me see you,” and the sun shined brightly.
But, the man did not see.
And the man shouted, “God show me a miracle,” and a life was born.
But, the man did not notice.
So the man cried out in despair, “Touch me God, and let me know you are here,” whereupon God reached down and touched the man.
But, the man brushed the butterfly away and walked on.
We should all remember that God is always around us in the little things that we take for granted. Don’t miss out on a blessing because it isn’t packaged the way that you expect.
This reading woke me out of my stupor, and made it clear to me that we should not focus on death, the end of our journey but on the journey itself. Each day of our journey is a blessing in and of itself. And each day is filled with as many blessings as we are willing to open up to seeing, to hearing, to feeling and to believing. The leaves that are falling this Autumn are only making room for the buds and blossoms that will come again in the Spring. Life is eternal, and so are we.
Shabbat Shalom!