{"id":37626,"date":"2018-08-12T17:07:13","date_gmt":"2018-08-12T14:07:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=37626"},"modified":"2022-03-07T16:56:23","modified_gmt":"2022-03-07T14:56:23","slug":"a-good-death-comes-after-a-good-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/a-good-death-comes-after-a-good-life\/","title":{"rendered":"A Good Death Comes After a Good Life"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[366,428,354,427],"acf":{"old_id":"37626","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":33923,"related_cahpter":"23","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"It is not for you to complete the work, but neither are you free to desist from it","content":"

Rashi was puzzled by the description of Sarah\u2019s death \u2013 \u201cSarah lived to be 127 years old: [These were] the years of Sarah\u2019s life\u201d (23:1). The last phrase seems completely superfluous. Why not just tell us that Sarah lived to the age of 127? Rashi is led to the conclusion that the first half of the verse talks about the quantity of her life, how long she lived, while the second tells us about the quality of her life. \u201cThey \u2013 the years she lived \u2013 were all equal in goodness.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Yet how is this conceivable? Abraham and Sarah were commanded by God to leave everything that was familiar: their land, their home, their family, and travel to an unknown land. No sooner had they arrived than they were forced to leave because of famine. Twice, Abraham\u2019s life was at risk when, driven into exile, he worried that he would be killed so that the local ruler could take Sarah into his harem. Sarah herself had to say that she was Abraham\u2019s sister, and had to suffer the indignity of being taken into a stranger\u2019s household. Then there was the long wait for a child, made even more painful by the repeated Divine promise that they would have as many children as the stars of the sky or the dust of the earth. <\/span><\/p>\n

Lao-Tzu, the Chinese sage, said that a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. To that Judaism adds, \u201cIt is not for you to complete the work but neither are you free to desist from it\u201d (Avot 2: 16). God himself said of Abraham, \u201cFor I have chosen him, so that he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just, so that the Lord will bring about for Abraham what He has promised him\u201d (Gen. 18: 19).<\/span><\/p>\n

The meaning of this is clear. If you ensure that your children will continue to live for what you have lived for, then you can have faith that they will continue your journey until eventually they reach the destination. Abraham had taken the first step. He had begun the task, and he knew that his descendants would continue it. He was able to die serenely because he had faith in God and faith that others would complete what he had begun. The same was surely true of Sarah.<\/span><\/p>\n

To be happy does not mean that you have everything you want or everything you were promised. It means, simply, to have done what you were called on to do, to have made a beginning, and then to have passed on the baton to the next generation. <\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":102747,"id":102747,"title":"-622619ad48a43--622619ad48a44gen23-lo alecha avot work.jpg","filename":"622619ad48a43-622619ad48a44gen23-lo-alecha-avot-work.jpg.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/08\/622619ad48a43-622619ad48a44gen23-lo-alecha-avot-work.jpg.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/a-good-death-comes-after-a-good-life\/622619ad48a43-622619ad48a44gen23-lo-alecha-avot-work-jpg\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"622619ad48a43-622619ad48a44gen23-lo-alecha-avot-work-jpg","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":37626,"date":"2022-03-07 14:41:49","modified":"2022-03-07 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