בס׳ד

"Where does it say that you have a contract with G-d to have an easy life?"

the Lubavitcher Rebbe



"Failure is not the enemy of success; it is its prerequisite."

Rabbi Nosson Scherman



6 Nov 2011

A time of grief

Many years ago, my friends and I went to be menachem aveil a teacher of ours who lost his teenaged daughter in a bus bombing in Jerusalem. We were apprehensive,not knowing what words to utter. But, we came away amazed at the rabbi's ability to give us chizuk during his time of grief. I thought of this incident when I read the Torah thought by Rabbi Dr. Raymond Apple.
Unfortunately, there have been too many tragedies recently. Just today, I read about a three-year old girl who died in a fire and a three year-old boy who was niftar. Also, a young boy in Monsey was hit by a van.
Please pray for Moshe Yisroel Ahron ben Hentcha Baila and for Chaya Efrat bat Hadas.

Some views suggest that hearing of Isaac’s near death gave Sarah a shock which proved fatal. She had not known of God’s call to Abraham and only heard of the whole course of events after they were over and after Abraham and Isaac came home.
The impact of her death is described in next week’s sidra, Chayyei Sarah, in Chapter 23 of B’reshit which tells of the death of Sarah and how Abraham mourned for her. He came lis’pod l’Sarah v’liv’kotah – “to eulogise Sarah and to weep for her”. The narrative follows a peculiar order, first the eulogy and then the weeping. It cannot possibly be that Abraham did not realise the extent of the tragedy at first and only started weeping once he had put the occasion into words.
The truth may really be quite the opposite. Abraham was genuinely torn to pieces by the death but he knew that Sarah belonged to the family, to the community, to history, and not just to him personally. He felt he had to comfort the others first and to sum her up for them before he could give way to his own individual grief.
http://www.oztorah.com/2011/11/stages-in-mourning-vayyera/

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