Rabbi Mansour 09

פרשת חיי שרה

ויהיו חיי שרה מאה שנה ועשרים שנה ושבע שנים שני חיי שרה

"And Sarah was a hundred years and twenty years and seven years

old; these were the years of the life of Sarah"

Rashi explains the unique wording of the Pasuk; "One hundred like twenty

in regards to sin and like seven in beauty". Rashi also says: "כולן שוין

לטובה" , "All equal for the good". Sarah was pure and free of sin throughout

her life.

This week's Parasha speaks of the passing on Sarah Imeinu. The

מדרש says "When Sarah died אדם הראשון started speaking the Targum of

Unkulus". What is the meaning of this Midrash? Why would Sarah's

Passing cause Adam to speak in Targum (the Aramaic interpretation of the

Torah)?? The explanation is, that up until Sarah's passing, when a person

died, that person went to Adam in עולם הבא and asked him; why did you

sin?! As a result of your sin, death was decreed on the world! Now look

what had to happen- we had to die! Adam would answer them: How about

you?! You did many more sins than I did! It was a good answer, but when

Sarah passed away the פסוק says; .. מאה שנה ועשרים שנה and רש'י explains

כולן שוין לטובה , she was pure for all of them. This would be the first time that

someone would come to Adam and ask him why he sinned and he would

not be able to answer back. He couldn’t answer; "look at you"; because she

was a צדקת , and free of sin! Adam started to read the Targum Unkulus. The

Targum explains the Pasuk simply .. והוו חי שרה מאה ועשרין שנין - "Sarah lived

127 years" The Targum does NOT give the Derasha of Rashi that she was

pure of sin. Adam therefore started speaking Targum in order to try and

"ignore" the fact that Sarah was free of sin when she demands to know why

he sinned!

Rashi says; כולן שוין לטובה "all equal for good". How are we to

understand this? After all, Sarah experienced many difficulties! She was

barren, kidnapped, etc. The answer is a lesson to all of us. After a person

passes away they see that life was all good. It is only after they pass on

into the next world that they realize that everything that happened was for

the good. Sarah however was different; she realized that all was good even

during her life. She understood that everything Hashem does is for our

good!

When a person is concentrating on something he will sometimes

squint his eyes, or when he is looking for something he will squint his eyes.

Why do we squint our eyes? This is in order to block out and not see all the

distractions; this helps us focus on what we are really trying to see. Closing

the eyes a little bit, is an idea of trying to focus. When a person is in pain he

closes his eyes totally. Why? Because he is trying to tap into and focus on

a much deeper idea, that really everything is good, even this pain. He is

focusing on this spiritual concept of מעין עולם הבא , and that takes an even

greater focus, so he closes his eyes totally. This is why we close our eyes

when we recite Shema Yisrael. In Shema we say: ה' אלקנו ה' אחד . Both

Hashem's name of kindness and judgment are really one and everything is

all good!

ואברהם זקן בא בימים

"Avraham was old, and well advanced in age"

What does it mean בא בימים (literally "came with his days")? Avraham

utilized every single day of his life. He injected into all his individual days

with the service of Hashem. He realized that every day is a unique

opportunity to serve Hashem. No day cannot be repeated again, to serve ,

to do the תיקונים ,and effect the same things that this day, and this hour has

to offer! The millennium, century, decade, month, week, day, and hour form

a unique combination of ספירות to accomplish things that are unique to that

moment! For example: now we are in 5770-in the 6th millennium, 6 is the

יסוד (that is why the test of ברית is so hard now). We are in the 8th century,

the 8th decade, in the 2nd month, the 5th week, and the 6th day. Today has a

unique combination of the Sefirot that represents each of these numbers.

Each hour and minute has a configuration as well! What we do affects that

unique combination of Sefirot. We cannot afford to squander any moment!

Shabbat day- the rabbi taught about the Gemara that says that ' ר

שמואל בר יצחק would juggle 3 הדסים (myrtle) at a wedding. Another rabbi

would hold one הדס and say " כלה נאה וחסודה " but ר' שמואל juggled 3 .הדסים

What is the significance of juggling 3 myrtles? The זוהר says that by a

שמחה , the deceased parents and grandparents come down to join in the

שמחה . It says that they are " עקר " (uprooted) from שמים and brought down to

join in the שמחה . Why does it use the term "uprooted" (a word that implies it

was by force)? Wouldn't they want to share in a שמחה of the family? The

answer is, that even angels can get affected when they come down to this

world. We see this illustrated in the story of the angel - who was destroying

סדום - stopped by Avraham’s house first. Why did he have to stop there?

Why not go straight to Sedom?? Avraham gave them a סעודה and that

סעודה fortified them with קדושה (we can imagine what kind of קדושה

Avraham and Sarah put into the food!), that קדושה would help them

withstand the טומאה of סדום . Like it says וסעודו לבכם ואחר תעברו - (first eat,

then you will go). From here we see that the relatives that are in Olam

Haba don’t want to be tainted by this world, they are therefore "forced" to

come down.

The first ברכה that we make under the Chupah is ,שהכל ברה לכבודו

and רש'י explains that the ברכה is; לכבוד המאספים - In honor of "all that

gathered", showing honor and thanks for everyone that came. A deeper

understanding is that when the Torah referrers to צדיקים that pass on, it

says; ויאסף אל עמיו - "he was gathered to his people".When Rashi explains;

לכבוד המאספים "all that gathered" he hints to us that it is also in honor of

those that passed on.

When we make a ברכה on food, it removes all the bad spirits from

the food, so too this ברכה of שהכל ברה לכבודו removes any evil from the

area to "clear the way" for the departed not to get negatively affected from

the impurities of this world.

It also says that all the future descendants of the bride and groom are

under the chuppah as well (that is why the chuppah feels so cramped!!). ' ר

לוי יצחק מברדשוב explains that this is the reason why the bride and groom

are often moved to tears under the chuppah, because just as when a baby

is born the first thing it does is cry, (It cries because it would rather be up in

שמים with Hashem instead of down here!) so too all the future unborn

children under the chuppah brings those same tears to the bride and

groom.

We now understand why he juggled three הדסים . This was in order to

signify that there are three generations here at the wedding; the past,

present, and future. He juggled them up and down showing that the past

and future generations that are in heaven come down from upstairs, then

go back up.

Another explanation as to why he juggled three הדסים is that it says ;

בית יעקב לכו ונלכה באור ה' - when the בית המקדש is up, the name of Hashem

is הויה in its "regular" holy form. However in גלות (exile) once the בית המקדש

was destroyed, Hashem deals with us in three different names of -הסתרה

(concealment). One is: כ-ו-ז-ו (the letters after הויה ), another name is: - ט-ד

ה-ד (the letters before הויה ) and another name is: מ-צ -פ -צ (which is א''ת ב''ש

of הויה ). These three names are the names in גלות (exile) and they are all

the הסתרה of הויה . This is hinted by adding the ' גמט of these coupled with

26 + כ-ו-ז-ו : ( 26 )הויה = 26 + ט-ד -ה -ד 65 = 26 + מ-צ -פ -צ 48 =326

65 + 48 + 326 = 439

439 is the ' גמט of 439 =גלות . This shows us that these are the names

in גלות . Our goal is to bring back the name of הויה like in the times of the

Beit Hamikdash and to send "back up" the 3 names of הסתרה that we have

now. The Pasuk says that Hashem said to הרם את מטך -:משה רבנו - "lift up

מטך "(lit; your stick) the word מטך is ר'ת of the names . מצפצ טדהד כוזו

We also see a רמז in תהילים when דוד המלך said שמחתי באמרים לי בית

ה' נלך ששם עלו שבטים – when we go up to the Beit Hamikdash, that is when

עלו שבטים - the word 361 =שבטים which is the ' גמט of the 3 names on there

own (39+22+300=361). That is when the three names of concealment (that

total 361) go "up" and the name of הויה "comes down".

A wedding is similar to the rebuilding of the Beit Hamikdash, it says

whoever gets married is like they are rebuilding a "ruin of ירושלים ". (The

reason why it is rebuilding a ruin instead of just building a new house is

because, we don’t want to be "so smart" and have new ideas, we want to

stay with the heritage of old!)

When we "rebuild" the Beit Hamikdash we cause the name of הויה to

come down. This is hinted in the word כלה (bride). כלה stands for ' כי לה

המלוכה , showing that this is the time for the kingdom of הויה . We also see in

תהילים -in the פסוק mentioned earlier- : שמחתי באמרים לי "I am happy when

they say to me" The word לי hints to the statement made by the groom: הרי

את מקודשת לי . This shows us that when a couple gets married -" -עלו "שבטים

it sends up the three names of concealment (361) and brings down the

name of הויה . This is also hinted in Gemara when it says כיצד מרקדין לפני

הכלה - "how do we dance לפני הכלה "? The word מרקדין also broken up to

mean מרק-דין to break the judgment, this is what happens when the name

of הויה comes down. This is what the צדיקים have in mind when they dance

and jump, - to send up the names of הסתרה and to bring down הויה through

the שמחה of the wedding and they dance " לפני הכלה " - in front of ' כי לה

המלוכה - in front of Hashem!

This is some why the rabbi juggled three הדסים , in order to show that

three names were going "up" and the name of הויה comes "down" instead.

Perhaps this is why he specifically juggled myrtle. The leaves of the

myrtle have three leaves coming from each stem and this alludes to the

same idea.

This week we celebrated in our Shul the Bar Misvah of Shemuel

Franco, the son of Ike Franco. Interestingly, his name is שמואל and his

father’s name is יצחק . This makes the Bar Misvah boys name: שמואל בר

יצחק - the exact name of the Rabbi whose juggling actions we have been

discussing!! This is no coincidence as everything that is said in our holy

Shabbat Shiur has an extra סיעתא דשמיא (heavenly assistance)!!