Chayei Sarah: 5785 - "And the life of Sarah was a hundred years, and twenty years, and seven years". 'Seven' [years] is written in the plural form, and not in the singular as with 'two'…

00:00 Speaker 1 Please. “And the life of Sarah was one hundred years and twenty years and seven years.” Rashi says there, in the name of the Midrash: Why does it say “years” with each number? It could have said simply, “one hundred and twenty-seven years.” Rather, this teaches us about Sarah herself: at a hundred she was like a twenty-year-old with regard to sin. Just as a twenty-year-old is not yet subject to punishment for sin, since one is not punished until the age of twenty, so at a hundred she was still free of sin. And at twenty she was like a seven-year-old in beauty. In other words, Sarah our matriarch had perfection both in righteousness and physically, in her beauty. The Torah tells us Sarah’s praise, but there is another detail people point out here, which also teaches us who Sarah our matriarch was. The first time, with “one hundred,” it says “year.” The second time, with “twenty,” it says “year,” in the singular. The third time, with “seven,” it says “years,” in the plural. Why? Why specifically with seven years, and why the singular with the first two? The Ben Ish Chai offers a beautiful explanation. When a person wants to cultivate and acquire the trait of humility, what can bring him to humility? When he reflects on himself at the age of one, when he was a baby, when he was born: what was he like? He was at the very lowest level. He couldn’t speak, he couldn’t walk, he couldn’t control his bodily needs and would get dirty. Everything, all his abilities and all—nothing. So when a person starts feeling full of himself, let him reflect: Wait, wait, wait. What were you like when you were a baby? What are you so proud of now? Where did you come from? From where did you come? That can bring him to humility. So that is why it says that at a hundred she was like a twenty-year-old. And the same applies at twenty. When a person is at the height of his powers, when he’s twenty,

02:50 Speaker 1 and all his powers, both physical and mental, make him feel that he’s great, then when he reflects on what his condition was at the age of one, that too brings him to humility and a sense of lowliness. Wait, wait. Now you’re big, strong and healthy. But what were you like when you were one year old? That brings him to humility and a sense of lowliness. But when he is seven years old, he doesn’t need to look back at what he was like at the age of one. There, even though he is young, at seven years old, he needs to look ahead, take responsibility for his actions, give an accounting, and think and reflect about everything: Is it proper or not? So that is why, specifically when he is seven—

03:42 Speaker 2 years.

03:43 Speaker 1 Now it says “years,” in the plural. He needs to look at himself as though he is already mature in years, and then he needs to be responsible for his actions. All of these were Sarah our matriarch’s virtues: when she was a hundred and when she was twenty, she attained humility, because she always thought of herself as though she were one year old; and at seven years old, she took responsibility for her actions like a grown person. And later it says, “And Abraham came to eulogize Sarah and to weep for her.” So they also ask: What does “Abraham came” mean? Where did he come from? “And Abraham came to eulogize Sarah and to weep for her.” The Midrash says: From Mount Moriah. What does “from Mount Moriah” mean? After all, he was in Be’er Sheva. So what does Mount Moriah mean? One explanation is that Avraham Avinu eulogized Sarah by speaking of how she merited a son like Yitzchak. That came from Mount Moriah: Mount Moriah was a place of self-sacrifice, where that son was prepared to give up his life at the Akeidah because Hakadosh Boruch Hu had commanded it. That was where Avraham Avinu began his eulogy of Sarah. “And Abraham came to eulogize Sarah”—where did he come from? Where did he begin his eulogy of Sarah? From Mount Moriah. Just as it says of Rabbi Yehoshua ben Chananya, “Fortunate is she who bore him.” All of Rabbi Yehoshua ben Chananya’s greatness came from his mother, who would bring him to the beis midrash. In the same way, Sarah’s greatness was that her son was prepared to give up his life at the Akeidah because of the command of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. That was where Avraham Avinu began his eulogy of her. So this, too, shows the greatness of Sarah our matriarch.