Chayei Sarah- The Tenth Test

“Vatamot Sarah bKirbat Arba hi Hevron b’aretz Canaan vayavo Avraham lispod lSarah vlivkotah…  tnu li akhuzat-kever imachem v’ekb’rat meiti milfanai…  Va’ydabeir el Efron b’oznei am haaretz leimor ach im atah lu shmaeini natati kesef hasadeh kakh mimeni v’ekb’rah et meiti shama.” 

“And Sarah died in Kiryat Arba, which is Hebron, the land of Canaan, and Avraham came to eulogize Sarah and to weep for her…  ‘Give me possession of a burial site with you so that I may bury my dead from before me’…  And he [Avraham] said to Efron in the hearing of the people saying, ‘If you will hear me, I will give you the value of the field.  Take it from me, and I will bury my dead.’”

Parashat Chayei Sarah, the Life of Sarah, is not about her life, but about her death.  Actually, it is not even about her death, but about Avraham’s deeds following her death.  It is said that Avraham was given ten tests in his life, testing his faith in God.  There are many lists of these tests.  One of the most interesting tests suggested by the commentaries is the burial of Sarah.  Rabbeinu Yonah (mid-13^th century Spain) includes this as the tenth test.  It is interesting because most lists reach their end with the Akeda, the (almost) sacrifice of Isaac.  For most, the willingness of Avraham to offer Isaac to God is the pinnacle of his demonstrations of faith.  However, at least one commentator, Rav Nachman (1772-1810), sees the fact that the tests end with the Akeda as a failure on Avraham’s part to fight for the life of his son as he fought for the strangers in S’dom v’Amorah.  Rav Nachman stressed that a tzaddik is not merely born a tzaddik, but must always strive to be righteous.  The failure of the test is a fall from the connection with God.  This fall should cause the person to strive ever harder to become closer to God.

Rabbeinu Yonah puts the burial of Sarah as the tenth test.  It’s not enough to be willing to do things for God through mitzvot bein adam l’Makom, the mitzvot between humans and God.  To be fully connected to the Divine, we must also understand and respect the connections among people, and fulfill the mitzvot bein adam l’chaveiro, mitzvot between people.  That Avraham was moved to secure a proper burial site and fulfill the mitzvot of burial amidst his mourning is significant.  He could have buried Sarah anywhere, taking the easy way out, but instead he went to the effort, even during his mourning, to secure a proper site that would endure.  


That Jews physically bury our own, not leaving it to hired workers, sets us apart from other groups.  It is one of the greatest mitzvot we can do since it is a favour that can never be returned.  That this could be the pinnacle, not of devotion to God, but to another person is a noteworthy statement.  In the end to be a tzaddik is not about Heaven or Olam Habah, the World to Come, but about the here-and-now.