A cloud began hovering over the tent immediately upon Rivka’s arrival. When she settled in and began going about her daily activities, Yitzchak noticed a special blessing in the food she prepared. When the candles that Rivka lit before Shabbos were still burning a full week later, Yitzchak became fully confident that Rivka was an heir to his mother’s saintliness, […]

Sarah’s life was far from uneventful or without suffering. Her years were colored by the painful longing for a child and then the joy of Yitzchak’s miraculous birth. The first half of her life she lived outside the Land of Israel; she moved there at the age of 65. She was twice taken captive by powerful kings who desired to marry […]

With Sarah’s passing, Avraham (and Yitzchak) assumed the duty of lighting the candles in their tent each Friday in honor of Shabbos, (as the Halacha requires in circumstances where the woman of the house can not light them).  We see from Rashi, however, that the miracle of the Shabbos candles burning all week long, as Sarah’s had, was only restored […]

Yitzchak was a grown man of forty when Eliezer set off to find him a wife. The strong education that he’d received from his parents had clearly left the desired impact. When, at G-d’s command, Avraham had sought to offer him as a sacrifice, Yitzchak had been equally willing to go ahead with it (see Rashi to 22:8). At this […]

When the Torah depicts an aging person as “advanced in days”, this refers not to the length of his life, but to the effect that each day of his life has have left on him. This is the meaning of the twofold expression, “old, advanced in days”, for it is possible for someone to be old, but not advanced in […]

In the story of Purim, the miraculous salvation of the Jewish people came about through Esther’s position as queen over 127 provinces, which the Midrash links to the 127 years of Sarah’s life. The correlation drawn by the Midrash is certainly not only a numerical parallel. Rather, the matching numbers serve to indicate that there is a common theme shared […]