The midrash (Bereishit Rabbah 58:3) on our parsha records a story of when R’ Akiva was sitting and expounding the Torah and noticed that the audience was dozing off. He wished to wake them up, so he said: “Why was Esther seen fit to rule over one hundred twenty-seven provinces? [What merit did she have?] Rather, [the answer is this:] Let Esther, who was a descendant of Sarah—who lived for one hundred twenty-seven years—come and rule over one hundred twenty-seven provinces.” Based on this midrash, Rav Nissan Alpert explains that Sarah’s name was therefore changed to Sarah—from the original, Sarai—for she “ruled” over the entire world (sarah can mean authority or dominion).
From the continuation of Rav Alpert’s comments, it seems that Sarah reigned over the world in the sense that she showed dominion over her circumstances in life — whatever she experienced in the world and whichever situations she found herself in, whether life was smooth or whether it was difficult, it didn’t bring her down, and it didn’t affect her faith and influence her outlook and path in life (see Limudei Nissan, Chayei Sarah). It would seem to emerge from here that much like Sarah “reigned” over the world—over what she experienced in her world, so did her descendant, Esther.
We may ask: How did Sarah maintain such strength, exercising dominion over her life and remaining firm despite what she experienced in her life? After all, she endured tremendous challenges! She was childless until she was 90 years old, abducted twice by two kings, and experienced all the difficulties of dealing with Hagar and Yishmael. Indeed, as Rav Shalom Noach Borozevsky (Netivot Shalom, Chayei Sarah) puts it, “All of Sarah’s life was filled with pain and troubles”! How then did Sarah remain above the waters of life—unaffected by the changes and challenges that she experienced in life?
Perhaps this can be explained from an insight uncovered from the aforementioned midrash itself. The question can be asked, that seemingly, R’ Akiva attempted to awaken his students; but what about R’ Akiva’s insight was so noteworthy and inspiring that this would stir up the crowd? The Chidushei Harim (cited by Ohel Moshe, Chayei Sarah 23:4) seems to explain what R’ Akiva was essentially imparting to his audience as follows: If 100 and 27 years of Sarah’s life merited Esther to rule over 100 and 27 provinces, so the calculation comes out that for every year of Sarah’s avodat Hashem, Esther merited to rule over one entire province. Now, a province contains many, many cities. And one city contains many districts. And one district contains many streets. (So each day was worth a “city,” and each hour was worth a “district,” etc.) It thus emerges that from a single moment of Sarah’s Avodat Hashem, Esther merited to rule over something of significance, like a street, etc. This can teach us the importance and value of every single moment of Torah study and avodat Hashem! The value and importance of time and what can be gained from just a mere moment is what R’ Akiva was trying to inspire his students with—that every moment is precious, and thus by sleeping they were losing out.
The implication from this insight perhaps is that Sarah’s life was one that was completely productive, totally devoted to doing good, constantly serving Hashem. We might similarly see this from the first pasuk in our parsha. Our parsha begins by saying that “Sarah’s lifetime was 100, 20 years, and seven years; the years of Sarah’s life.” The midrash (ibid, 58:1) on this pasuk brings the pasuk in Tehillim (37:18)—“Hashem knows the days of the perfect,” and learns from this pasuk that “just as they [the righteous] are perfect, so are their years perfect.” Rav Shimon Schwab explains that in regard to righteous people, their every moment and every act is for the sake of Hashem, for the sake of fulfilling His Will, and hence, their years (in this context, Sarah’s) are “perfect” (Maayan Beit Hasho’eivah, Chayei Sarah). This may indeed show how Sarah’s entire focus in life was to serve Hashem and grow, and that every situation she faced in her life was utilized for that very purpose. This might also be seen from Rashi in our parsha: While the phrase “the years of Sarah’s life” may seem superfluous, Rashi explains that this phrase comes to teach us that the years of Sarah’s life “were all equal for good.” At first glance, the years of life that Sarah experienced and lived through might not at all appear to be “all equal for good” given the enormous challenges she experienced (as mentioned earlier)! Yet, like the above, when Rashi says that Sarah’s years “were all equal for good,” perhaps this means that they were all utilized “for good”—for doing good deeds; that no matter what she went through, all her experiences were all seized as “equal” opportunities “for good”—for serving Hashem, for growth, for making a positive difference in her life and in the lives of others.
Coming back to our question—how did Sarah reign over her life? Based on the above, it may be suggested that perhaps it was by realizing the importance and value of each moment and thus utilizing every moment of her life for growth, for serving Hashem. When we strive to grow no matter what “flow” Hashem sends us in life—whether life is smooth or bumpy, whether one experiences exciting times or tough times, they may not adversely affect us because the focus is to grow and do good deeds, no matter what places and situations of life Hashem causes us to experience. Hence, such a person indeed may rule over the world—over his own world, i.e., the situations he faces in his life, since even if life takes a turn and circumstances change, his focus to serve Hashem and make a positive impact remains.
Referring back to the midrash with R’ Akiva, we may ask how it could be that his students—who perhaps were outstanding people in their own right—could doze off during the lecture of the great and holy R’ Akiva? I saw it quoted from the Minchat Aharon who noted that this incident took place after the destruction of the Beit Hamikdash, when the Jews were enduring the Roman oppression with many decrees imposed upon them. Based on this historical perspective, it’s possible to explain that perhaps R’ Akiva’s students were not dozing off in the literal sense, but rather, they were lacking the proper energy and motivation to learn, grow, and to aspire to greatness, due to thoughts of despair and from feeling overwhelmed by their difficult and distressing external circumstances; this may have affected their ability to concentrate and perhaps it’s as if they were dozing off.
Putting things together, we might now gain an even greater understanding of R’ Akiva’s inspiring message to “awaken” his students. We may suggest that perhaps R’ Akiva was essentially imparting to his students the following message: Do you know how Sarah became “Sarah”—a ruler over her world? It’s because her entire focus in life was about growth, and she utilized every moment for doing good, no matter what her situation in life was. And the same way Sarah ruled over her world by utilizing every situation for growth, so did Esther, despite everything she went through in her life. My students, yes we are living in turbulent, difficult times of the post Beit Hamikdash destruction and the Roman oppression. The world seems dark, and it appears like we are the victims of circumstance, like we are being dominated and ruled. But it’s not so, because our focus in life is to constantly grow in spirituality, to serve Hashem! If we understand how precious every moment of life is, which can motivate us to keep our focus on growing and doing as much good as we can no matter what our circumstances of life are, then we are the ones that truly reign over the circumstances of life.
Binyamin is a graduate of Yeshivas Rabbeinu Yitzchak Elchanan, and Wurzweiler School of Social Work.
