"The Sun Rises and the Sun Sets"

26 Marcheshvan 5787
Erev Shabbat Kodesh
Parashat Chayei Sarah - Mevorchim

From the Stone Edition Chumash Commentary...

The Sages teach that the narratives of Sarah's death and the Akeidah follow one another to indicate that she died as a result of that event.  She was told by the Satan that Abraham had actually slaughtered Isaac, and she cried out in grief and died (Targum Yonasan).  This explains why Abraham and Isaac were not present at her death.

R' Yaakov Kamenetsky explained that this cannot mean that Sarah died "accidentally" before her time, because, in connection with Sarah's life span, the Sages teach that Isaac had to anticipate his own possible death when he came to within five years of the age at which she died....  This dictum could not have applied to Sarah if her death was not natural.  Rather, the sense of the Targum Yonasan is that Sarah's time had come in any case, but that the immediate cause of death was the news of the Akeidah.  Some commentators say that her last breath came with the proud knowledge that she had succeeded in raising a son who was willing to give up even his life in the service of God.

In addition, the Torah records the birth of Rebecca before the death of Sarah in line with the tradition that a righteous person is not taken from the world until his or her successor has been born, as implied by the verse (Ecclesiastes 1:5), The sun rises and the sun sets (Sforno, Baal HaTurim).

~ Shabbat Shalom ~