The Weekly Dvar Torah
Volume I Issue #26
The Rebbi Akiva challenge
Chayei Sarah
Adapted from the wisdom of Rav Meir Simcha HaCohen of Dvinsk from the Meshech Chochmoh and Rav Tzadok HaCohen from Pri Tzadik and other works.
By Rav Yitzchak Schwartz Rosh Yeshiva Orchos Chaim Jerusalem
yschwartz@orchos.org.
This publication, Zichron Yehoshua, is in memory of Yehoshua Yakov ben Moshe-Jeffrey Nussbaum through a generous grant from Dr. Eric Nussbaum and family.
This issue is dedicated to… It could be yours. Please consider sponsoring a weekly d'var Torah.
In the Torah portion of this week we find a well known story from the Medrash Rabbah. Rebbi Akiva the great Torah sage was delivering and intricate Torah lecture and noticed that he was losing his audience. Notwithstanding the amazing depths of Torah wisdom that he was revealing, the audience was falling asleep. He decided to arouse their attention with a riddle. He posed the following rhetorical question. How did Queen Esther rule one hundred and twenty seven countries? He gave an intriguing answer: because Esther was a granddaughter of our matriarch Sarah who lived one hundred and twenty seven years. Rebbi Akiva's obscure answer has been deliberated by Torah scholars in every generation since Rebbi Akiva first delivered it. What is the connection between the hundred and twenty seven years of Sarah's life and Queen Esther's dominion over one hundred and twenty seven countries?
Rav Tzadok HaCohen of Lublin offers an fascinating interpretation. Esther was a heroine. In order to secure the king's protection for her people she took her life in her own hands when she entered uninvited into the royal chamber of King Ahashverush. Her bold action carried with it the likelihood that the King would summarily condemn her to death. Where did Esther get the courage and strength to do this? Our sages teach us that before Esther entered the King's royal chamber she was adorned with a holy presence – ruach hakodesh. The aura of her holy presence captivated the King's heart and in an extraordinary gesture of benevolence granted her permission to enter despite her disregard of royal etiquette. How did Esther merit this remarkable accomplishment? How did she elevate herself to the degree that the Divine presence, that so entranced the King, rested upon her?
The answer is that she took her grandmother Sarah for a role model. Sarah lived a life of absolute purity of mind and body. Although she came from a background that was antithetical to living a life of sanctity, she was destined for something much greater. Her father, mother, extended family and community were idol worshipers. Their practices included many cruelties and perversities. Sarah's parents were passionate opponents of the truth and sanctity that Avraham and Sarah's monotheism prescribed.
It took years before Sarah was able to completely extricate herself from the depraved ethos and values of her family and culture. Her entry into the world of truth and sanctity was a gradual process that according to some opinions stretched out for many decades. It would be understandable if in summation of Sarah's life the Torah would omit any allusion to her younger years prior to her joining Avraham's theological revolution. But this is not the case. The Torah delineates all of her years, even showcases them, as an exemplary virtuous life. Sarah's steadily grew over the course of her long life; her early years were no exception. Not only did her past not interfere with her eventual ascent to the status of becoming our great matriarch; but actually served as a springboard to project her forward to a totally different way of life. Furthermore, Sarah was able to utilize her less than glamorous past to enhance and intensify her commitment to Hashem in her later years. Her humble background helped nurture in her a sense of genuine humility and gratitude to Hashem for eventually leading her to the path of truth and justice. Even when she was known as the wife of the greatest thinker, philosopher and theologian of their time, Sarah never became haughty or arrogant. She never forgot or buried her past, a period of darkness that transcended to a shining light of Hashem's kindness and mercy that guided her to the path of holy life.
Esther could have easily fallen into despair, thinking that Hashem had abandoned her. After all, she was now married to a gentile; a situation in which no self-respecting Jewish girl would like to find herself. She could easily have told herself that in the eyes of Hashem she was 'damaged goods'. But Esther did not fall into this mental trap. She looked at her great matriarch Sarah who never allowed self pitying thoughts to creep into her mind. Esther knew, just as Sarah did, that there is no such thing as coincidence. If Hashem put her, against her own will, in a situation that ostensibly violated her own spiritual values there must be a good reason. Esther took Sarah as her role model. She used Sarah's approach: never letting the fact of her humble past cast a shadow of despair; or allow it to be cause for thoughts of withdrawal from her commitment to a life of purity and sanctity.
With courage, humility and tranquility she entered the king's chamber with full confidence that this is what Hashem's wanted from her. Not only was her unwholesome marriage to a gentile irrelevant; it was the very thing that catapulted her to spiritual heights never before attainable to her. It was her firm commitment to do Hashem's will with integrity and humility that gained her the holy aura – ruach hakodesh that surrounded her presence. Esther viewed herself as a conduit of salvation for the Jewish people. Never for a moment did she even entertain the thought that she deserved credit or recognition for her courageous efforts. She knew that all the talents and influence she possessed were gifts from Hashem. This is an essential qualification for any Jewish leader. They must follow the Torah's admonitions to at all times be cognizant that they are nothing more than agents of Hashem's will. All of our great leaders possessed the attribute of genuine humility. Avraham said of himself "and I am nothing more than earth and ashes", Moshe said of himself and his holy brother Aharon "and who are we", King David said of himself "I am a worm, not a man".
When Rebbi Akiva noticed that some of the audience was drowsing he realized that they must have thought themselves inadequate to take part in the deep wisdom of Torah that he was revealing. They suffered from a sense of unworthiness and despaired from new inspiration in life. Rebbi Akiva's riddle teaches us that we should never despair of achieving higher levels of spiritual growth; that we should never allow past performance or lack of it to stifle our growth. In the same way that Esther learned this lesson from Sarah so can we. Indeed our sages ob"m teach us that every Jew is obligated to accept the following challenge: when will my deeds reach the deeds of my forefathers?! Rav Tzadok explains that this challenge includes the deeds of the matriarchs. We are capable of accepting this challenge because our forefathers and matriarchs inculcated in their offspring of all future generations the ability to do so. In the same way that they transcended their humble past using it as a catalyst to progress in their service of Hashem, so can we. Armed with inspiration and humility, the past need not stand in the way of our ability to grow and change.
By Rav Yitzchak Schwartz Rosh Yeshiva Orchos Chaim Jerusalem
yschwartz@orchos.org.
This publication, Zichron Yehoshua, is in memory of Yehoshua Yakov ben Moshe-Jeffrey Nussbaum through a generous grant from Dr. Eric Nussbaum and family.
This issue is dedicated to… It could be yours. Please consider sponsoring a weekly d'var Torah.
In the Torah portion of this week we find a well known story from the Medrash Rabbah. Rebbi Akiva the great Torah sage was delivering and intricate Torah lecture and noticed that he was losing his audience. Notwithstanding the amazing depths of Torah wisdom that he was revealing, the audience was falling asleep. He decided to arouse their attention with a riddle. He posed the following rhetorical question. How did Queen Esther rule one hundred and twenty seven countries? He gave an intriguing answer: because Esther was a granddaughter of our matriarch Sarah who lived one hundred and twenty seven years. Rebbi Akiva's obscure answer has been deliberated by Torah scholars in every generation since Rebbi Akiva first delivered it. What is the connection between the hundred and twenty seven years of Sarah's life and Queen Esther's dominion over one hundred and twenty seven countries?
Rav Tzadok HaCohen of Lublin offers an fascinating interpretation. Esther was a heroine. In order to secure the king's protection for her people she took her life in her own hands when she entered uninvited into the royal chamber of King Ahashverush. Her bold action carried with it the likelihood that the King would summarily condemn her to death. Where did Esther get the courage and strength to do this? Our sages teach us that before Esther entered the King's royal chamber she was adorned with a holy presence – ruach hakodesh. The aura of her holy presence captivated the King's heart and in an extraordinary gesture of benevolence granted her permission to enter despite her disregard of royal etiquette. How did Esther merit this remarkable accomplishment? How did she elevate herself to the degree that the Divine presence, that so entranced the King, rested upon her?
The answer is that she took her grandmother Sarah for a role model. Sarah lived a life of absolute purity of mind and body. Although she came from a background that was antithetical to living a life of sanctity, she was destined for something much greater. Her father, mother, extended family and community were idol worshipers. Their practices included many cruelties and perversities. Sarah's parents were passionate opponents of the truth and sanctity that Avraham and Sarah's monotheism prescribed.
It took years before Sarah was able to completely extricate herself from the depraved ethos and values of her family and culture. Her entry into the world of truth and sanctity was a gradual process that according to some opinions stretched out for many decades. It would be understandable if in summation of Sarah's life the Torah would omit any allusion to her younger years prior to her joining Avraham's theological revolution. But this is not the case. The Torah delineates all of her years, even showcases them, as an exemplary virtuous life. Sarah's steadily grew over the course of her long life; her early years were no exception. Not only did her past not interfere with her eventual ascent to the status of becoming our great matriarch; but actually served as a springboard to project her forward to a totally different way of life. Furthermore, Sarah was able to utilize her less than glamorous past to enhance and intensify her commitment to Hashem in her later years. Her humble background helped nurture in her a sense of genuine humility and gratitude to Hashem for eventually leading her to the path of truth and justice. Even when she was known as the wife of the greatest thinker, philosopher and theologian of their time, Sarah never became haughty or arrogant. She never forgot or buried her past, a period of darkness that transcended to a shining light of Hashem's kindness and mercy that guided her to the path of holy life.
Esther could have easily fallen into despair, thinking that Hashem had abandoned her. After all, she was now married to a gentile; a situation in which no self-respecting Jewish girl would like to find herself. She could easily have told herself that in the eyes of Hashem she was 'damaged goods'. But Esther did not fall into this mental trap. She looked at her great matriarch Sarah who never allowed self pitying thoughts to creep into her mind. Esther knew, just as Sarah did, that there is no such thing as coincidence. If Hashem put her, against her own will, in a situation that ostensibly violated her own spiritual values there must be a good reason. Esther took Sarah as her role model. She used Sarah's approach: never letting the fact of her humble past cast a shadow of despair; or allow it to be cause for thoughts of withdrawal from her commitment to a life of purity and sanctity.
With courage, humility and tranquility she entered the king's chamber with full confidence that this is what Hashem's wanted from her. Not only was her unwholesome marriage to a gentile irrelevant; it was the very thing that catapulted her to spiritual heights never before attainable to her. It was her firm commitment to do Hashem's will with integrity and humility that gained her the holy aura – ruach hakodesh that surrounded her presence. Esther viewed herself as a conduit of salvation for the Jewish people. Never for a moment did she even entertain the thought that she deserved credit or recognition for her courageous efforts. She knew that all the talents and influence she possessed were gifts from Hashem. This is an essential qualification for any Jewish leader. They must follow the Torah's admonitions to at all times be cognizant that they are nothing more than agents of Hashem's will. All of our great leaders possessed the attribute of genuine humility. Avraham said of himself "and I am nothing more than earth and ashes", Moshe said of himself and his holy brother Aharon "and who are we", King David said of himself "I am a worm, not a man".
When Rebbi Akiva noticed that some of the audience was drowsing he realized that they must have thought themselves inadequate to take part in the deep wisdom of Torah that he was revealing. They suffered from a sense of unworthiness and despaired from new inspiration in life. Rebbi Akiva's riddle teaches us that we should never despair of achieving higher levels of spiritual growth; that we should never allow past performance or lack of it to stifle our growth. In the same way that Esther learned this lesson from Sarah so can we. Indeed our sages ob"m teach us that every Jew is obligated to accept the following challenge: when will my deeds reach the deeds of my forefathers?! Rav Tzadok explains that this challenge includes the deeds of the matriarchs. We are capable of accepting this challenge because our forefathers and matriarchs inculcated in their offspring of all future generations the ability to do so. In the same way that they transcended their humble past using it as a catalyst to progress in their service of Hashem, so can we. Armed with inspiration and humility, the past need not stand in the way of our ability to grow and change.