The Complete Joy of Sarah

"And the life of Sarah was one hundred years and twenty-seven years and seven years - the years of Sarah's life." (Gen. 23:1)

Opening Channels

Rabbi Yosef Karo (b. 1488), author of the Code of Jewish Law who lived near Tzfat, was once stumped by a puzzling passage in one of Rambam's writings. Rabbi Yosef spent much time and effort to solve the riddle but to no avail. One night, he was struck by an idea that clarified the passage. His joy was great. The following day he overheard a young Torah student studying the same passage. To Rabbi Yosef's surprise and chagrin, the student nonchalantly explained the passage using the same logic that Rabbi Yosef had struggled to develop. When Rabbi Yosef mentioned this to the angel with whom he would study, the angel told him not to be upset. The angel explained that once Rabbi Yosef had brought the concept into the world through his effort it was now readily available to all. (Chida on Proverbs 3; see also Maggid Meisharim, Ki Teitzei; Keter Shem Tov section 256) [In other versions of the story it is was not Rabbi Yosef's angel but the Arizal, a contemporary of Rabbi Yosef.]

Similarly, the Zohar often introduces the teachings of the Sages with "Rabbi so-and-so opened and said…." This is understood to mean that through the teaching of the Sage, the channels to understanding that particular concept had been "opened" and were now accessible to the world at large.

And so it is with the lives and deeds of our Patriarchs and Matriarchs. Whatever occurred to them, the struggles they underwent and overcame, "opened the channels," enabling us to more easily overcome our struggles.

With this in mind, what is the eternal lesson of the first Matriarch, Sarah? What paths has she paved before us?

Three Attempts

It is written in the holy Zohar: (I:122b)

Eve entered the world and became attached to the snake…Noah entered the world - what is written of him? "And he drank from the wine and became drunk." (Gen. 9:21)

… [Editor's note: This is how the passage is quoted in Chassidic literature. In the Zohar itself, the comment about Noah comes after the one about Sarah.]

Sarah entered the world, descended and ascended and did not become attached…as we read, "And Abram and Sarah went up out of Egypt, he and his wife and all that he has" (Gen. 13:1)…Because Abraham and Sarah kept afar from the serpent, Sarah obtained life eternal for herself…as it is written, "And the life of Sarah was…" (Gen. 23:1) a formula not used in the case of Eve or any other woman. This is because Sarah attached herself completely to life, and thus life was made her own.

Importance of Joy

The common goal of these three individuals - Eve, Noah, and Sarah - was the achievement of a joyous spirit in divine worship. It is known that the service of G‑d must be performed with joy, as King David says in the verse, "Serve G‑d with joy". (Psalms 100:2) Indeed joy is an integral part of divine service. It is said of the Arizal that he merited the opening of the gates of wisdom, the revelation of Elijah the Prophet and the Divine Spirit because of his intense joy in the fulfillment of mitzvot. (Torah Ohr 20b)

For where there is joy there is completion. A joyous mitzvah is a whole mitzvah; one that involves all of the person. A joyous mitzvah accomplishes all that it must: to reveal divinity in this world.

On the other hand, in the same book of Psalms it is written, "Rejoice with trembling". (Psalms 2:11) This verse warns of the dangers of joy gone awry. Together with celebration comes an awareness of self, which can ultimately lead to further distance from the divine. Rejoicing with a tremble means that one's joy is tempered with awe, where joy is experienced with selflessness (and because of selflessness).

It was this experience of joy in purity that Eve and Noah sought to achieve but failed. Eve's attempt is alluded to in the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge, which according to the Midrash was a grape: "she squeezed a cluster of grapes and gave it to [Adam]." (Bereishit Rabba 19:5. See Zohar I:36a) In the Torah, wine is associated with joy: "wine that rejoices G‑d and man." (See Judges 9:13; Berachot 35a)

By eating of the grape, Eve sought to experience joy in her divine service. Eve, however, tasted self-awareness in her wine. The result of her eating from the forbidden fruit was that: "she saw that the tree was good to eat and that it was a craving to the eyes," i.e. she no longer operated in a purely divine-oriented world; she and Adam now inhabited the world of self.

Noah, as the Zohar says, sought to rectify Eve's sin. (See Zohar I:73a) So, "he drank from the wine and became drunk". By becoming drunk, Noah avoided the self-awareness that is brought on by wine and celebration, since a truly drunk man is unaware of his senses. However, his behavior did not achieve much. For a drug-induced transcendence is not an achievement; it is an evasion. The goal is to achieve selflessness within the context of the natural human condition, not to distort one's perception of reality and thereby escape and avoid human-consciousness.

Kabbala [See Kehilat Yakov on Chava and Sarah] explains that the true rectification of Eve's sin was achieved by Sarah. For Sarah epitomizes selflessness. Sarah embodies the sefira of malchut, as alluded to in her name, which connotes rulership. Malchut, the lowest sefira, receives from the higher ones and thus epitomizes selflessness.

Thus Sarah was capable of experiencing joy without any of its negative side-effects. She remained selfless even while experiencing otherness. Indeed Sarah's joy was a reflection of the ultimate joy, which will be experienced in the Messianic era - "then will our mouths be filled with laughter." (Psalms 126:2) [It is this selflessness that allows Sarah to "descend" to Egypt and "ascend" unscathed. Not only is she not adversely affected by the impurity of Egypt, she and Abraham manage to leave there heavy with cattle, silver and gold - an allusion to the sparks of holiness that they had elevated through their descent.]

Thus Sarah consequently gives birth to Isaac, so-called because, "G‑d has made laughter [in Hebrew, "tzchok"] for me." (Gen. 21:6) Isaac embodies laughter and joy. His is the joy of the future, Isaac being the Patriarch most associated with the Messianic era, i.e. "then [in the Messianic era] they will say to Isaac, 'you are our father'." (Isaiah 63:16)

Dancing Monarch

King David, also the embodiment of malchut (royalty), experienced this level of selflessness as well. Thus he is described as "leaping and dancing before G‑d" (with an abandon that embarrassed his wife Michal, daugher of Saul). Like Sarah, he was able to maintain selflessness even in the midst of self-manifestation. For when one experiences the ultimate level of selflessness, there is no room for corruption even when joy is made manifest.

It is with the power of our past, the joy of Sarah and King David, that we are capable of experiencing the joy that will lead to the ultimate joy, when "they will come to Zion in song, eternal joy upon their heads…" (Isaiah 35:10)

[Adapted from Sefer Hamaamarim 5679 p. 87; Sefer Hamaamarim Melukat 2:145]

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