This sheet on Genesis 23 was written by Jane Kanarek for 929 and can also be found here
Why does the Torah tell us of Sarah’s death right after it tells us the story of the Akeidah, the binding of her son Isaac? Rashi answers that when Sarah received the news that her son was almost slaughtered, her soul flew from her and she died.
Rashi’s draws his brief answer from earlier midrashic traditions. In one of these traditions, when Isaac returns from the Akedah, Sarah asks him where he has been. He replies that his father took him on a journey and was about to kill him when an angel interceded. On hearing Isaac’s answer, Sarah cries out six times, cries which correspond to the shofar sounds, and then she dies (Leviticus Rabbah 20:2). The midrash from Leviticus Rabbah focuses on the effect of Abraham’s actions on Sarah. She dies from shock, from the news of what her husband was about to do to their son.
But Rashi’s briefer comment, one that does not name Abraham, offers us another possibility. Genesis 23:1 concludes with the words “shenei hayyei sarah,” most easily translated as, “the years of Sarah’s life.” But the word “shenei” (years) can also be understood midrashically as “two.” Sarah had two lives, or rather two understandings of her life: one from before the Akeidah and one after. When Sarah receives the news of her son Isaac’s near slaughter by his father, she finally understands what she did to Hagar in casting her out with her son Ishmael to almost death in the desert. She dies not only because of her husband’s actions, but also because of her own.
Sarah dies after the Akeidah from a deep and tragic sadness, knowing now the suffering she caused another mother like her.
Rashi’s draws his brief answer from earlier midrashic traditions. In one of these traditions, when Isaac returns from the Akedah, Sarah asks him where he has been. He replies that his father took him on a journey and was about to kill him when an angel interceded. On hearing Isaac’s answer, Sarah cries out six times, cries which correspond to the shofar sounds, and then she dies (Leviticus Rabbah 20:2). The midrash from Leviticus Rabbah focuses on the effect of Abraham’s actions on Sarah. She dies from shock, from the news of what her husband was about to do to their son.
But Rashi’s briefer comment, one that does not name Abraham, offers us another possibility. Genesis 23:1 concludes with the words “shenei hayyei sarah,” most easily translated as, “the years of Sarah’s life.” But the word “shenei” (years) can also be understood midrashically as “two.” Sarah had two lives, or rather two understandings of her life: one from before the Akeidah and one after. When Sarah receives the news of her son Isaac’s near slaughter by his father, she finally understands what she did to Hagar in casting her out with her son Ishmael to almost death in the desert. She dies not only because of her husband’s actions, but also because of her own.
Sarah dies after the Akeidah from a deep and tragic sadness, knowing now the suffering she caused another mother like her.
Rabbi Jane Kanarek is an associate professor of rabbinics and an associate dean in the Rabbinical School of Hebrew College.
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