Parashat Chayei Sarah

We respond differently to difficult situations. There are those for whom it causes a reinforcement of strength, and there are those whom it paralyzes. This week's parashah, "Chayei Sarah," is a parashah of death. And various personas are brought within it, representing a wide range of humanity. Abraham the strong; Sarah, who according to the midrash died of a broken heart; Isaac, who disappears from the text from the binding until his visit to the tent of Sarah, who died at the end of the parashah, three years after her death. We must be sensitive to the personal need of those around us in complex times. To give each one his place.

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