Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] You may be breathing, but are you alive?
[00:00:04] Okay, everybody breathed, so you're alive in one way or another.
[00:00:09] But I guess my point is, you may be struggling today.
[00:00:13] You may be thinking, what's the point of life? Things never go my way, I never get what I want. We can never get ahead, but you don't have to be stuck in that place.
[00:00:24] And it starts with this. Rather than asking what life can give me, I should be asking, what does life require of me?
[00:00:34] Why did Hashem place me on this giant dirt clod along with billions of other people?
[00:00:41] And how can I use my current circumstances, whether or not it's the place I want to be, to glorify Hashem and elevate others?
[00:00:55] Any of you guys familiar with Rebetson, Jester, Youngris of blessed Memory? Anybody?
[00:01:04] She's written several books and just really had a huge impact on our family.
[00:01:13] And in her book, the Committed Life, her late husband passed from this world to the next.
[00:01:20] And after that happened, she found a note that he had written that said something profound.
[00:01:27] It said, a long life is not good enough, but a good life is long enough.
[00:01:37] I want you to think about that for a minute.
[00:01:39] This man died ahead of his time with unfortunately of cancer.
[00:01:45] And he wrote a note probably to himself to remind himself, a long life is not good enough, but a good life is long enough.
[00:01:59] Our portion. This week I'm going to talk about our Torah portion and the chaya. The Torah portion is chaye sera. And I'm going to start my message by picking some low hanging fruit, if you don't mind. And you can just bear with me for a minute. It's a common question that's been asked for hundreds of years. Because our Torah portion starts off, it says the lifetime of Sarah consisted of 100 years, 20 years and 70 years, the years of Sarah's life. Okay, and so what does Chaye Sara mean?
[00:02:37] The life of Sarah? What's the very next word? The Torah says the next two words or three, I guess. And Sarah died. Right. Okay, so her life is the name of the Torah portion, but immediately she's gone.
[00:02:54] And so the sages say, you know, that's a little odd.
[00:02:59] And if that's the case, if we're calling this Torah portion the life of Sarah, and shouldn't we learn something about her life and not just the fact that she passed on?
[00:03:12] So if you've read any of my five minute Torah books, particularly the first one in the series, you'll know how I start my commentary. We actually read it last night.
[00:03:22] But I want to go beyond what I talk about in the book, in this morning's message.
[00:03:27] And in order to answer this question about what is happening here, we need to start by taking a close look at what's being said in the opening verse of our Torah portion. I'm going to have this slide pulled up so we can look at this Hebrew together.
[00:03:44] Do you have that, Blake?
[00:03:51] Okay, this is the very first verse in our Torah portion of Chayy Satan.
[00:04:01] And so in the Hebrew, if you notice, I've color coded things, okay, so we can pick out certain phrases and things that repeat and stuff.
[00:04:09] So it begins with vayu, vayu chaye sera. So this phrase in yellow, this is the life of Sarah. And then it. Then it continues. It says, and in the blue, and that is 100, literally year, but years.
[00:04:30] And then it says, and that is 20 years and 20 years. Then it says the Sheva shanim, and that is seven years.
[00:04:41] Now, then it says, shnei chayei sara.
[00:04:48] At the ending, it says the years of the life of Sarah.
[00:04:55] Okay, so what I want to draw your attention to, first of all, is that this passage in that yellowish text there, the yellow orange text, it says chayy sera two different times, okay? It mentions her life two different times, right before it says that she died.
[00:05:16] And so, first of all, the sages say, this is odd, and we need to know what's going on and why they're saying that. And so first, let's see. It seems like this is redundant. So that's the point of this. Why say it twice? Okay? And then second of all, I won't get into the Hebrew grammar, but if you notice that yellow, it says chaye sera. Now, this is actually said in the plural.
[00:05:46] It actually says the lives of Sarah.
[00:05:52] Okay?
[00:05:54] Now, this is actually the normal way the Torah speaks of the life of someone. It puts it in the plural. But Ibn Ezra comments on this and says that within the biblical text, the word life, chaim, is always, always used in the plural, okay? We never see it in the singular. In the biblical text, it's always in the plural.
[00:06:19] But there's another strange thing I want to draw your attention to about the Hebrew. The verse ends with shnei chayei sera, the years of the life of Sarah.
[00:06:33] The play meaning, of course, as we said, was the years of Sarah's life. But midrashically, we can hear another possible translation, because we can read this word schne to mean another word. It's spelled identically to it as well. It sounds the same. And it's spelled the same.
[00:06:54] It's the word for two of.
[00:06:59] Two of Sarah's lives.
[00:07:04] Pretty, pretty odd, right?
[00:07:07] Okay, two of Sarah's lives.
[00:07:10] So if I really wanted to be provocative, I could have called this the title of my message, Sarah's Double Life.
[00:07:20] Right.
[00:07:21] But I think it would have created more problems than solutions. Right, okay, so what does all of this mean? There are a lot of explanations and, and a lot of points that exist on this topic. But one of the main things that the sages bring out is that this is a passage of one of several that tell us that there's life after death.
[00:07:48] Even though the Torah never specifically says anything about life after death, the whole Hebrew Bible pretty much doesn't say it.
[00:07:56] This passage of passages like it allude to that fact. And this is where a whole theology was created and developed among the Pharisees. And then Jesus and his apostles and disciples took that and developed it even further.
[00:08:14] The fact that we may live now, but we'll also live to face reward or punishment in the world to come.
[00:08:22] But I want to draw your attention to another idea. It's the idea that although Sarah's physical life may have ended, the reach of her life extended well beyond her lifetime.
[00:08:35] Okay.
[00:08:37] And so for our purpose today, I want us to consider these two aspects of her life.
[00:08:43] First of all, the existence she had when she was alive.
[00:08:46] And then the life her faithfulness continued to nurture in others even after she was gone.
[00:08:55] Okay, think about those two things. She lived a life, and then she sort of continued giving through her life.
[00:09:05] So let's begin with the philosophical question, what is life?
[00:09:16] That's a little deep.
[00:09:18] So are we asking what makes something alive?
[00:09:21] Or what makes human existence meaningful? Or why we exist or how we ought to live? I mean, we have really many schools of thought on this.
[00:09:32] Biology describes living things through processes such as metabolism, growth regulation, and reproduction.
[00:09:42] There are scientists frantically looking for signs of life on other planets. And as they look, they're looking for key elements we know to support life, at least on our planet. Water, because it serves as a solvent for the chemical reactions essential to known life.
[00:09:59] And then some of the elements that serve as the basic building blocks of organic life. Things like carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus, and sulfur. And if you're a Star Trek fan, like maybe I am, you'll be familiar with the term M class planet. Okay, come on, admit it. Who's a Star Trek? Okay, there you go. M class planet. So what's the M class planet?
[00:10:27] Livable. Right? And I wasn't familiar with this until I looked it up, because I was like, I've heard that all my life, but I can't remember ever hearing what it meant. The M stood for, and the M actually stands for menshara class. And it's a Vulcan class word that basically means something about life. Okay, so if any of you speak Bulk, and we'll have a conversation about that later, Lance and Dr. David here, okay? And probably Tobias, too, I would imagine, although you may be more fluent Klingon. So within the Star Trek universe, this is a planet that's naturally habitable by humanoid life forms with water, breathable air, et cetera. Okay? And so tons of science fiction books and shows and movies have been created because of the fascinating concept of life on other worlds.
[00:11:25] You know, is there life on other worlds? You know, I. I don't have a really. I don't have a.
[00:11:34] What's the phrase? I don't have a dog in the game. I don't have a what in the game.
[00:11:39] What? A dog in the fight. That's the word. And that's the word. That's the phrase. I don't have, really have a dog in the fight. But I enjoy those kinds of movies. I personally enjoy them. One of my absolute favorite movies of all time is called Arrival.
[00:11:52] So you like that kind of stuff? That's what I enjoy.
[00:11:56] So.
[00:12:02] And so anyway, we speculate and try to figure out what's going on. We have all these movies, all these shows, and we really don't know what's going on out there. And we don't know if life exists. For all we know, algae could be eating our sun as we speak. I don't know.
[00:12:18] But is an alien amoeba the life we really want to embody?
[00:12:30] Is that our definition of life?
[00:12:33] Just because it has all the functioning elements that constitute a living being? Is this the zenith of what it means to be a living being?
[00:12:43] What is the difference between existence and life? Before I get into this, I just happen to think of something. Dr. David, or whoever the Star Trekkies are, and the Trekkies are in this room. Appreciate it. This one episode of Star Trek that I remember that something. There's always something weird that happens and they have to deal with it, right? And so somebody had, like, this supposedly fast evolution that happened to them. And so instead of evolving into some wonderful higher being, they involved into, like a lizard, something like that.
[00:13:19] Okay? So that's sort of, I guess, what they think that's highest form of life. Life is so Maybe they devolved and I misunderstood or something. I don't know. But anyway, so by anyway.
[00:13:30] So this is where philosophy gets involved. Philosophy asks about consciousness, about meaning, and about the quality of life. And this is where things get crazy, because we have all these philosophers who can't agree on how to define life.
[00:13:48] We have things like stoicism, epicureanism, nihilism, nihilism, pragmatism, etc. And the list goes on.
[00:14:00] They can't even agree on what the question is. Okay, Are we asking what makes something alive? What makes human evidence meaningful? Why we exist or how we ought to live? And when it comes to philosophy, no one seems to have any agreement with anybody else. It's all just a free for all. Okay?
[00:14:21] So I think the most important question we can ask is none of that. But what picture do the scriptures give us of life?
[00:14:30] Because the Bible is less concerned with defining life as an abstract concept than with describing where it comes from and how it's meant to be experienced.
[00:14:41] And unlike certain Greek philosophical traditions that distinguish between the material and the immaterial, the Hebrew scriptures tend to present life as an integrated reality involving the body, the soul, our relationships, our actions, and ultimately our creator.
[00:15:01] And the question I want to ask us today.
[00:15:05] Everybody, take a deep breath.
[00:15:10] Breathe out.
[00:15:11] You may be breathing, but are you alive?
[00:15:16] Okay, everybody breathed. So you're. You're alive in one way or another.
[00:15:21] But I guess my point is, you may be struggling today.
[00:15:24] You may be thinking, what's the point of life? Things never go my way. I never get what I want. We can never get ahead, but you don't have to be stuck in that place.
[00:15:36] And it starts with this. Rather than asking what life can give me, I should be asking, what does life require of me?
[00:15:46] Why did Hashem place me on this giant dirt clod along with billions of other people? And how can I use my current circumstances, whether or not it's the place I want to be, to glorify Hashem and elevate others.
[00:16:06] Any of you guys familiar with Rebetson? Yester youngris of blessed memory? Anybody?
[00:16:15] She's written several books and just really had a huge impact on our family.
[00:16:25] And in her book, the Committed Life, her late husband passed from this world to the next. And after that happened, she found a note that he had written that said something profound.
[00:16:39] It said, a long life is not good enough, but a good life is long enough.
[00:16:48] I want you to think about that for a minute.
[00:16:51] This man died ahead of his time with, unfortunately, of cancer.
[00:16:56] And he wrote A note probably to himself, to remind himself, a long life is not good enough, but a good life is long enough.
[00:17:06] And so the Torah counts Sarah's lives literally as 127 years.
[00:17:13] But the rest of the Torah portion should make us consider what those years produced.
[00:17:20] And so the question we need to answer now is, what makes a life good?
[00:17:27] So, unfortunately, living in a country like the United States has caused us to have a perspective.
[00:17:32] Much of the world that's different from much of the world, we measure the quality of life against our bank account, against the size of our house, the type of car we drive, or the temperature of, of our favorite latte.
[00:17:48] Are those things what Yeshua was thinking about when he told his disciples I came, that they may have life and have it abundantly in John 10?
[00:17:59] Here's a side note. Many years ago, I was talking to someone who was heavily steeped in the Word of Faith movement, and I asked them point blank, they were trying to indoctrinate me, and I asked them point blank, I said, do you really think that Jesus died so that you could have a BMW?
[00:18:12] And their answer was, yeah.
[00:18:17] And so is this abundant life, or is there something deeper, something more?
[00:18:22] Before heading to the cross, Yeshua knew this. He knew what was before him.
[00:18:29] His brothers and sisters had rejected his call to repentance.
[00:18:33] The coming kingdom was delayed, and he would need to lay down his life to ensure the redemption of his people.
[00:18:41] But Yeshua gave his life willingly.
[00:18:44] Why?
[00:18:45] Because of his great love for his people. In John 10, he told his disciples, this is my commandment that you love one another as I loved you. Greater love has no one than this than someone laid down his life for his friends.
[00:19:00] And then beautiful statement that immediately follows that he continues on by saying, you are my friends if you do what I command you.
[00:19:09] And so Yeshua willingly went to the cross because he had something greater in mind, something greater than himself. When he walked among his disciples, he preached, repent and believe that the kingdom is near. He had a mission and a life to live.
[00:19:28] But when Israel rejected his call to repentance, he was ready with a life to give.
[00:19:36] And that gift has affected billions of people for the last 2000 years.
[00:19:42] But as I'm sure you know, his sacrificial life shouldn't just be received.
[00:19:48] It should be given out to others as well, through our lives.
[00:19:55] And as I mentioned several times in previous teachings, it's something that I believe true that there's a rabbinic maxim put forth, Nachmanides. It says, maseh avot sinam Lebanim the deeds of the fathers are signposts of the children. So it means basically what we do in this life, the choices we make, how we treat other people, etc. Trickles down to our offspring from one generation to the next. Let me read that again. The deeds of the fathers are signposts for the children. Think about it.
[00:20:29] Once there's a divorce in a home, that pattern tends to reappear generationally when there's abuse.
[00:20:38] Same thing when work and money is prioritized above family. It continues to the next generation.
[00:20:45] It becomes embedded into your generational dunna.
[00:20:50] That's DNA, by the way.
[00:20:53] Until someone finally says, that's enough, no more.
[00:20:57] We're not going here anymore, we're not going down this path, not going down this road. It's going to stop with me.
[00:21:05] Unfortunately, however, we often think that we are powerless to change, and especially so to making a lasting impact on subsequent generations.
[00:21:15] But this is proof of my point.
[00:21:19] We have the power of tradition, the trajectory, that huge train that's been going on and on and on, and we are trying to hold up a hand against it and try to stop it, right?
[00:21:32] But what if you are able to stop it and turn it the other direction?
[00:21:38] Then we have the power of that motion working for us and not against us.
[00:21:50] Think about how that new pattern will affect your children, your grandchildren and your great grandchildren.
[00:21:57] Once that flame is alive in your own life, you can pass it down from one life to another, from one generation to the next.
[00:22:05] In Yeshua's day, people had forgotten that there was anything beyond the struggles of this life pretty much. I mean, there's religious arguments and all that kind of stuff, but really it boils down sort of this concept. They had forgotten that life was more than living for themselves, or that there was a hope of a resurrection. As a matter of fact, a whole sect within Judaism developed to really support this idea. And they were called the what Sadducees? Because they were sad. You see, their core belief was that scriptures do not teach that there's an afterlife. What did we say earlier?
[00:22:41] We don't see it. We don't see it at the face value. We have to read into the text to see that.
[00:22:48] And so they just assumed that it wasn't there. Their core belief didn't allow for that because it was beyond what they could see easily.
[00:23:00] And so they developed a life of doing whatever was comfortable, whatever made yourself as comfortable as possible before you run out of time. Eat, drink and be merry.
[00:23:10] In this sense, they were fatalistic. In their outlook.
[00:23:13] So religious duty was simply that it didn't have any really lasting benefits or consequences.
[00:23:19] And that caused them to compartmentalize their lives, their spiritual lives, and then their worldly pursuits into two different categories. But Yeshua chastises the religious leadership of his day, saying, if you were Abraham's children, you would be doing the works of Abraham in John chapter eight. Okay, why? Because he expected them to be doing the things that their father did.
[00:23:46] He expected them because they were his physical DNA, to also be seen as his spiritual DNA as well. And having the same fruit as Abraham, he expected more of them. And, you know, really, this is. This.
[00:24:02] I have to be careful with this. But if you are Jewish, and I don't know who all is watching online here, my challenge to you today is, are you doing the works your father Abraham did? Because the Torah tells us why God chose Abraham, and it has to do with his purposes through him of passing down these things to his children. It says, I have chosen him that he may command his children and his household after him to. To keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice. Okay, now we have another example in the apostolic scriptures of being spiritual offspring of our forefathers. And although this specific.
[00:24:51] I guess I wouldn't say command, but this specific verse was written for women for a specific situation. Peter says that Sarah's spiritual family resemblance is visible in how people live.
[00:25:09] First, Peter, he's talking about how he's exhorting women to not have fear when their husbands may not be all that they need to be. And he exhorts them to not have fear but live in security, knowing that God is in charge, not your husband. Okay? He tells them, if you are her children, talking about Sarah, if you do good and do not fear, you are her children. If you do good and do not fear. Because it talked about Sarah obeying Abraham when he put her in that situation with Pharaoh, and then Abimelech. Okay, so the Talmud makes a similar connection here as well. In this same sort of concept of giving, This concept that we have with our life that goes beyond.
[00:26:08] It says that Jacob, our patriarch, did not die.
[00:26:15] He did.
[00:26:18] So what does it mean? Means, although he was mourned and buried, this is an explanation by Chabad. His descendants perpetuate his spiritual heritage.
[00:26:29] And so Jacob is still alive. It goes on to say, the same can be true for any individual. It is the spiritual content of our lives, not the physical existence that counts, that matters. The boundaries of mortal existence cannot contain this spiritual dimension. And if Jacob is still buried in his tomb, is considered alive through his children and Abraham as well. How much more so should the offspring of the risen Messiah be evidence that his life continued?
[00:27:02] So question, Are you providing that evidence, or are you giving others reason to deny his resurrection? Resurrection power.
[00:27:15] One of my favorite passages in Perkei Avot, it says that this world is like a foyer before the world to come. And therefore prepare yourself in the foyer so that you may enter the banquet hall.
[00:27:28] Too many times we get comfortable and complacent and think this life is just all there is, or it's about me. But this life is only to prepare us to for the second life, that life to come. We are in the foyer, but don't mistake it for the banquet hall.
[00:27:45] And so how do we check this against ourselves? To me, this is one of the most important questions you'll ever be asked, or at least today.
[00:27:54] What habits are you passing on to people who are watching your life?
[00:28:02] Your children, your family, your community?
[00:28:05] Are they the things that you want to pass down or are they things that you wish you could change?
[00:28:10] Because a lot of times we teach things inadvertently. They say the children, they catch more than they're taught. I think that's the phrase.
[00:28:24] And so what makes Sarah's life so distinct and so impactful and so memorable? Well, Midrash Tankhuma says that besides all the stuff that we read in the scriptures and the things that she did, she fed travelers, she gave charity, and she clothed the naked. Where are we on that?
[00:28:46] The tent of Sarah is a huge thing within the Jewish mind because something happened within this. If we look in our Scripture, this week's Torah portion, what happened when Isaac brought Rebekah into his mother's tent?
[00:29:03] He was consoled.
[00:29:06] Okay, he was consoled.
[00:29:08] It brought comfort to him now that he had brought his wife into her place and that she was going to continue on where his mother had left off. And Rashi says that three miracles occurred at this time to show how Sarah's life continued on through her son and daughter in law. It says her Shabbat lamp remained lit from one Shabbat to the next.
[00:29:37] And the second one is a blessing, rested on her doe.
[00:29:42] A third one, a cloud, rested over her tent, signifying God's presence. Now, whether these are literal or not is not the point. The point is that there was blessing that came about through this.
[00:29:55] And, you know, if we apply it to our lives, we can't necessarily give to somebody supernaturally beyond the grave. Right. However, we can instruct them in the ways of Hashem so that they can carry it faithfully down from one generation to the next.
[00:30:12] At creation, God formed man from the dust of the earth. But he didn't just speak life to him and set him loose like the other animals. He breathed into his nostrils the Nishmat chaim, the breath of life.
[00:30:26] From that time, it says man became a Nephesh chayah.
[00:30:32] We all have that divine breath within us. And if we remember, and we need to remember that at all times.
[00:30:38] And so I want to remind us that we have been put on this earth to accomplish a mission and it's waiting for us.
[00:30:48] And so here's what I want you to really pay attention to. Because I struggle with even saying this, but I know that people feel it at times. Some people will feel like, you know, Darren, I'll never be like you. I can't write or create videos or get up in front of crowds. Or maybe you're saying, I'll never be like Rabbi Damien. I'll never be in front of thousands of people teaching, and I'll never be the caliber of leader that he is. Well, here's a news flash. No one is asking you to do something like that. No one is asking you to be someone you're not.
[00:31:22] Just be the best version of the person God created you to be and affect those around you. Love and pour into them genuinely.
[00:31:34] We may never appear on television or YouTube. We may never write a book. We may never be mentioned in a history book.
[00:31:41] That most likely your influences happen around a kitchen table in a friendship through serving someone else anonymously.
[00:31:53] Yet our faithfulness can change somebody's future. And I want to give an example of this that I witnessed last night. Beautiful illustration.
[00:32:05] Because last night I witnessed something I would have never expected a few years ago.
[00:32:11] And he's not in this room that I see. But Ross Z hosted a Shabbat dinner. Okay.
[00:32:19] If you know our history, our family's history with Ross, we go back about 17 years.
[00:32:26] And God has brought Ross a long way.
[00:32:30] And because he has seen this demonstrated over and over and over in our family and other families and other people, he's seen the power of what Shabbat can do in a person's life and others lives and how giving to others is impactful. And it creates relationships, it creates an atmosphere of love and just the presence of Hashem.
[00:32:56] And so he hosted his first Shabbat last night and it affected people.
[00:33:05] You can do the same if it's just that it's something small to bring light into this dark world.
[00:33:16] So my question to you is this.
[00:33:19] What life are you creating beyond the life that's crammed full of your daily doings?
[00:33:28] What are you investing your time into that will outlive you?
[00:33:32] Better yet, who are you investing your time into that will outlive you?
[00:33:39] At Shalom Macon, we teach quite a bit about the practical applications of the scriptures. We focus heavily on personal transformation. Why?
[00:33:48] Is it because we're trying to create a self help clinic?
[00:33:52] No, it's because we want to develop spiritually and emotionally healthy people who are equipped to accomplish the task Hashem has assigned to each of us in this life.
[00:34:05] And guess who those people are?
[00:34:08] Me and you.
[00:34:10] We all have this role to play. And as we grow, we become better equipped to love, to serve, to forgive, and to help others grow.
[00:34:22] Our transformation should begin to affect the world around us, in our homes and in our congregation, and in the lives of people we encounter every day. Think of Sarah.
[00:34:34] Her years could be countered, counted, but the influences of her life continued reaching others well after she had gone.
[00:34:43] We don't know how many years remain for each one of us, but we can take responsibility for how we live today.
[00:34:51] What has Hashem placed before you that you've been putting off?
[00:34:57] What vision has he given you that you haven't acted on?
[00:35:02] Who do you need to call?
[00:35:04] Who do you need to work things out with?
[00:35:07] Who needs your encouragement? Who needs your mentorship?
[00:35:11] Who needs to know the things Hashem has taught you through this journey of life?
[00:35:18] Choose a person, put their name down somewhere where you can circle back and then figure out that next step.
[00:35:25] Someone else may encounter the goodness of God through what you do next.
[00:35:31] Be like Sarah and live your life in a way that keeps giving. And remember, you have a life to live, but you also have a life to give.
[00:35:42] Shabbat Shalom. I'm Darren with Shalom Macon. If you enjoyed this teaching, I want to ask you to take the next step.
[00:35:49] Start by making sure you're subscribed to our channel. Next, make sure you hit the like button on this video so that others know it's worth their time to watch.
[00:35:57] Last, head over to our website to learn more about Shalom Macon, explore other teachings and events, and if you're so inclined, contribute to the work that we're doing to further the kingdom. Thanks for watching and connecting with Shalom Macon.
