Hayei Sarah: World of Inspiration & World of Healing

Each marriage brings unique holiness into the world. In Kabbalah, some of the sefirot (divine attributes) are associated with a biblical figure or couple, including our patriarchs and matriarchs. Gd is the force of love, so it makes sense that we would learn about the divine attributes from these couples’ true love, teaching purely about Gd. Seven of the ten sefirot are more emotional attributes of Gd and those are the ones connected to biblical characters. Yitzchak and Rivkah align with Gevurah, which itself has many facets. Gevurah, like all of the ten sefirot, can be somewhat described with only one word, but also encompass many other concepts. For example, Abraham and Sarah’s sefirah was Chesed, kindness, but it can mean many other things too (which I discussed among different things, in last week’s D’var Torah). In this parasha, we see how Yitzchak and Rivkah show us the holiness created from Gevurah in the forms of: strength, discipline (such as meditation), rigor, halakhah (religious law), expressing curiosity, and, most of all, a foundation of holy structure which I will reveal later. Yitzchak and Rivkah are perhaps the most successful of couples in terms of maintaining peace with each other, as you can read in an article I wrote. I will explore their divine attribute further, as well as what created such stability.

Sefirotic characteristics come naturally. Genesis 24:63 tells us what Yitzchak was doing before Rebecca arrives – “la-su-ach”. The Talmud and some commentators understand this as the discipline of meditation or prayer, and therefore the inspiration for Mincha (the afternoon prayer service). This Hebrew root is also connected to vegetation (siyach) – maybe through his discipline, he had become as one with nature? We learn something deeper about the discipline of prayer: He seems to be relaxed and consciously experiencing oneness.The formal type of fixed prayer that we have today didn’t exist yet, so it would likely also have been a somewhat spontaneous type of prayer. If the Torah really wanted to convey that he was praying, then there are several other words in Hebrew that convey praying more explicitly and clearly, including mitpallel, pray (as in tefillah) and mitchanen, supplicate (as in Tachanun), asking Gd to be gracious.

The Torah literally says that he had just come back from Be’er LaChai Ro’i. Radak (Rabbi David Kimchi) suggests that he just came back from reconciling with Hagar (who is connected to that location previously in the Torah) on behalf of his family. Yitzchak was likely feeling a lot of positive emotions because perhaps he just accomplished a mitzvah. Now, the Torah tells us nothing of his emotions about his mother Sarah’s death until he actually heals from missing her, which implies that there was a lot of grief because it mentions later in the Torah that he was comforted. The Austro-Italian commentator Reggio suggests that Yitzchak’s pain of missing his mother was exacerbated because he “did not get to touch her eyes at the time of her death and attend to her burial.”

When Rivkah and the servant arrived, we read that first Yitzchak lifted up his eyes, and then she did. Rabbi Pinchas Winston suggests that when the Torah uses that phrase (such as in the previous parasha at the Akedah) it signifies looking at the horizon and seeing beyond the apparent. My friend Audrey Fellous, added that all of Yitzchak’s senses had been stimulated to see something new. Another, friend, Laurence Muller added that sometimes we see more when we are not looking directly at something.  He lifts up his eyes to receive his other half and become holy. This suggests symbiosis with his environment, which happens in a state of relaxation and gratitude. We can see that Zivugim meant for each other have symbiosis in a particular moment when they are relaxed and grateful.

Why does it say he saw the camels rather than first noticing an unfamiliar woman riding along with his servant? In terms of spatial relations, they seem to be close enough to see each other that he would look at her first. Perhaps subconsciously he sensed her and instinctually guarded his eyes so as not to look inappropriately, and so his eyes went to the camel instead. It is interesting to note the juxtaposition to when Rivkah lifts her eyes, almost suggesting something they share with each other, even if they are not presently conscious that they are both doing something harmonious. She falls from the camel and expresses curiosity. Audrey made me notice that many languages use this word in the sense of “falling” in love. In this case, the first stage of recognizing that he is her soulmate. Rivkah then covers her face. In her shared heightened consciousness, she is instinctually expressing her bride-ness, and this instinct not to be seen by her husband-to-be mirrors his avoiding looking at her. What is most holy needs to sometimes be covered – characteristics of Gevurah. 

One of the most interesting concepts that I discovered is that Rivkah and Yitzchak teach us a certain structure with regard to Gevurah. In the first two verses above, we have four types of actions that follow the kabbalistic four worlds of creation, as you can see in the table below – a progression from the physical world to the supernal. When he was living in the south, Be’er LaChai Ro’i, it is the world of Assiyah. He is showing his kingship (the sefirah of Malkhut) by making peace between people.The name of this location means a  “Well of the Living One Who Sees Me,” possibly given to it previously by Hagar when the Divine Presence was revealed to her at a well there (16:14). This is perhaps not a coincidence with regard to the “seeing” that occurs in our passage i. This location is an indicator of Assiyah as a physical world, but where the Divine Presence, the Shekhinah, can be found.

Next we have the world of Yetzirah, where he went to meditate. One of the most basic tenets of prayer is that it is the service of the heart. From his good deeds, which he literally just did, his Chesed (kindness) is connected to Yesod (foundation) which is also nature- to create a foundation in marriage, Laurence added that the characteristics of Chesed are what allows partners to keep seeing the best in each other and continue building of a life together. We then have the world of Beriah, when he looks up. His perspective is metaphorically broadened, as explained earlier by Rabbi Winston, connecting to understanding – Binah. Lastly, he is connecting to the new source of holiness in his life, Rivkah, who will inspire him to marry her  – the sefirah of Chokhmah. I will explain further with another example!

In Genesis 24:67, the Hebrew says ha-ohel-a – which means “in the direction of the tent” or “into the tent” in the same way ha-bayit-a means “home” or “homewards.” In this form, it’s not normally used as a construct with what follows, so maybe it’s not really “the tent of his mother Sarah,” but rather “his mother Sarah” is a  separate related idea. It kind of translates to “He brought her into the tent; his mother Sarah”. Many commentators say that he was consoled by Rivkah after his mother’s death because she was like his mother and had the same virtues, but let’s focus on Rivkah as her own person, to be honored for her own qualities, which complement Yitzchak’s unique identity. 

This verse, with its four verbs, can also be understood to describe the four worlds, this time in the order of creation – bringing into existence something holy. The first stage is that Yitzchak brought Rebecca into the tent of his mother Sarah. I see it as he brought her into a womb, a loving place for creation. This was driven by his male divine attribute of the sefirah Chokhmah. In fact, Atzilut is associated more with this divine attribute of intellect. Before this and still present, was the divine pleasure he was experiencing, connected to the divine attribute and sefirah of Keter (literally crown, but generally intrinsic pleasure). The  world of Atzilut: emanation, initial inspiration. In Kabbalah, everything contains everything, but to different degrees. Each of the four worlds contains all of the sefirot, but some sefirot are more predominant than the others in each world. 

The Midrash (in Bereishit Rabbah) describes how certain miracles ceased after Sarah’s death, but Rivkah rekindled them. With her purity: she evoked the Shekhinah; she made bread that they could eat on Shabbat; and kindled the Shabbat lights to signify the arrival of Shabbat, the day of peace. The midrash says that Sarah first started these miracles: a Shabbat light that burnt from one Shabbat to the other, Shabbat bread that was blessed to stay fresh through time, and the Shekinah (in the form of a cloud) was always present. Rivkah, by doing these spontaneous rituals of Sarah herself, transformed them into a tradition and a law, hence she reflects divine law, which is represented by Gevurah. But she is expressing them through the filter of a different life, as each Jewish woman does because we want to stay connected to the deny attribute of Keter, intrinsic pleasure. It is Yitzchak, the male to create with feminine vitality and flexibility (what better metaphor than how she leaves her home for him – like Sarah also does for Abraham), establishing not just a home, but a legacy and values. Now they have a foundation of intimacy.

Next comes that he “took” (the implication in the Tanakh’s language is “married”) her. This is the world of Beriah, creation. This is represented by the divine attribute of Binah, wisdom, and the broadening of concepts for what is being created. Once they are married, they can enter a new level of understanding of each other.

The third stage is that he “loved” her. This is the world of Yetzirah, formation, represented by the first emotional divine attribute of Chesed, kindness (not to be confused with how his parents also represent that attribute). This attribute is connected to the emotional divine attribute of Yesod, foundation.  

The fourth world is Assiyah, action, represented by the sefirah Malkhut, kingship, otherwise known as the Shekhinah. In fact, the mitzvot that Rivkah performed are connected to Shabbat, when we ideally create an environment for the Shekhinah to be with us. The mind cannot focus on more than one thing at the same time; when the mind is attached to a thought, a feeling, and a wholesome life, his mothers death has more meaning and he is healed.

We learn about the Kabbalistic worlds through two opposite journeys. Our patriarch and matriarch, Yitzchak and Rivkah, express for us Gevurah, the sefirah most often represented as strength and divine law. What better people could there be to show us the four stages of our connection to God and the process of creation. Each sefirah has different characteristics; different facets. Each sefirah also has all of the sefirot within it, like a fractal, and can be best understood through the complexity of true love expressed through the love of Gd and each other. This couple is particularly loyal to who they truly are. In the previous parasha, Yitzchak is faithful to his identity as Abraham’s son and listens to his father who was acting confusingly to him at the Akedah (binding of Yitzchak), and in the next parasha, Rivkah stays consistent with her identity when she is barren. She doesn’t use a surrogate as the other three matriarchs did. Knowing oneself and being loyal to that is the highest form of spirituality. 

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