Chaye Sarah Gen
23:1 - 25:18
This week’s parasha, Chaye Sarah, is filled with defining moments in Isaac’s life-the death of his mother Sarah and finding himself a suitable partner in marriage. Yet, Isaac is never present for these events. In fact, the last time we heard about Isaac was when the angel prevents his father Abraham from sacrificing him on top of Mount Moriah. The Torah does not tell us how he left the mountain or where he went next. It takes us immediately to his mother’s death and Abraham making arrangements for her burial in the cave of Machpelah.
Soon afterwards, Abraham asks his servant to return to Abraham’s native land and find a wife for Isaac. Abraham specifically leaves Isaac out of the process. He says to his servant, “On no account must you take my son back there!” The servant, not Isaac, finds the kind and generous Rebekah at the well and with the approval of her family she decides to travel to the Land of Israel to marry Isaac.
As Rebekah is approaching on camel, Isaac finally reappears. Having just returned from the Negev, we read that he goes out into the field. The English is very plain, but the Hebrew is a little more cryptic. Some commentators translate the word la-su-ach as “taking a stroll.” The Talmud explains that he was “praying.” Kedushat Levi, the commentary of Rabbi Levi Yitzhak of Berdichev, reads the verse as follows: “Isaac went out to meditate in the field.”
Levi Yitzhak asks, “What does it mean that Isaac went out to meditate in the field?” He explains that “‘Isaac’ (read: yitzhak=tzhok=laughter) signifies joy; ‘meditate’ (su-ach) signifies self-subjugation; ‘in the field (basadeh)’ signifies the realm of holiness (in Jewish mysticism, the righteous toil in the field of holiness, cf. Zohar I 151b). “So,” he explains, “when we move ourselves out of the way before Holiness (the Divine, God), then joy and rejoicing results.”
Rabbi Jonathan Slater, Co-Director of the Institute of Jewish Spirituality, explains the broader message of Levi Yitzhak’s commentary:
“...joy arises when we are able to set aside our personal desires for what should be happening in the face of what is actually happening. When we allow ourselves to be fully present to what is, we are able to feel joy. Not that what may be happening in the moment is necessarily sweet, pain-free or desirable. Rather, it simply is ‘what is’ in this moment. When we accept this wholeheartedly, we connect with the ‘source of joy’-the totality of all being, the truth of all existence in this moment, in this configuration, in this unfolding of God’s being.”
Think back on Isaac’s life. His father had brought him to Moriah to sacrifice him and since then he has had no encounter with him. His mother recently passed away, and now he is about to meet his future bride. His heart must have been filled with sadness over his loss. Perhaps anger was directed to his father. Anxiety must have filled his body as he thought about his future wife and his upcoming role as our next patriarch. This moment in the field gave Isaac the opportunity to regroup and prepare for his reentry, not only into our story, but also into his life. Based on the commentaries above, Isaac’s experience in the field, gave him the strength to move on from the difficult moments in his past and embrace the future. The Torah teaches that after meeting Rebekah, “Isaac brought her into the tent of his mother Sarah and took… [her] as his wife. Isaac loved her, and thus found comfort after his mother’s death.” (Gen. 24:67)
On this Shabbat let each of us find time to go out into our fields-a walk around the reservoir, attending the Shabbat Morning Minyan, or a few moments of quiet time away from family - and meditate. As Levi Yitzhak teaches, “When we move ourselves out of the way before Holiness then joy and rejoicing results.”
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Alissa Forrest
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