 "And Sarah lived one hundred years, twenty years and seven years; these are the years of Sarah's life". A famous rabbinic comment elucidating the triple expression of "years" teaches that Sarah maintained both her stunning beauty and sinless innocence throughout her life. Furthermore the seemingly superfluous ending of the verse "these are the years of Sarah's life" teaches us, in the words of Rashi, that her years "were all equally good". Sarah's life was lived to the fullest, enjoying a fun childhood, the vigour of youth and the maturity of old age.
Rav Solovetichik explains that these periods of life were not mutually exclusive but that Sarah combined the innocence of childhood, the vigour of young adulthood and the maturity of a developed adult throughout her life, all at the same time. Newborn babies, totally dependant on others for survival develop complete trust in their nurturing parents who take care of their every need. They begin to see the beautiful world that G-d created and all is "very good". The challenges and difficulties that we all eventually face are years away. Their beautiful naiveté is not yet spoiled by the deceit, the lies and corruption that are so much a part of human nature. In their youthful enthusiasm as they enter adolescence and early adulthood - and begin to understand the challenges of life - many still see the potential of a world at peace where we work together for the benefit of all. But alas as we grow a little older and come face to face with the world of falsehood that surrounds us we tend to become more realistic, replacing idealism with pragmatism and our focus shifts from the world around us to our personal world. We may lament the situation but feel helpless and hopeless to do anything about it. It is the rare individual who can remain a young child or even a mature adolescent as they age. Sarah was such an individual and it is she who is the founding mother of the Jewish people.
Sarah had another quality that set her apart. While still a child she had the maturity, the intellectual rigor and sophistication of an adult. She was truly wise beyond her years. The true greatness of Sarah was not just her combination of youthful energy with the wisdom gained from a lifetime of experience but in her ability to know when to be like a child and when it is an adult perspective that is needed. When we must trust others and when must we display a healthy dose of cynicism.
Rav Soloveitchik beautifully explains that this is the difference between two of our most fundamental mitzvoth; those of prayer and Talmud Torah. One can pray only as a child. Prayer requires that we surrender ourselves to G-d, with complete trust in the only true Provider. One must be willing (and able) to bear our souls to cry out to G-d. Faced with needs we beseech G-d to provide for us. The sophisticated adult, with their defense mechanisms in full force can not do so. This can help explain why our generation finds prayer so difficult. Our amazing accomplishments do not allow us to negate our feelings of being in control of the world, to truly understand that nothing happens without G-d. On the other hand only an adult can learn Torah. Those qualities that make prayer so effective would render our learning superficial. True Torah study requires intellectual sophistication, in depth analysis, creative thinking, deep searching for truth even if it means disagreeing with our great predecessors. Torah study must not focus on Midrashic stories about Abraham smashing idols, number games or cute divrei Torah.
Rav Soloveitchik was fond of saying how his grandfather Rav Chaim Soloveitchik saved Torah in 19th century Europe demonstrating that Talmudic learning could compete and surpass the intellectual rigour that the best of the scientific world had to offer. The Lithuanian Yeshiva world emphasized the depth and complexity of Torah and thus many Jews who left observance continued the most enjoyable of intellectual pursuits, the study of Torah.
It should come as no surprise that while the Lithuanian world focused on Torah study the Chassidic world focused on prayer; it was as if the two were mutually exclusive. It is the rare person who can follow in the footsteps of Sarah Immenu, praying like a child, learning like an adult with the energy of youth. May we aim to be that person. Shabbat Shalom
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