5. CHAYYE SARA

By Rabbi Arthur Waskow 11/21/2005

The story of Abraham's death ascribes power to two places, a tomb and a well:

Now these are the days and the years of Avraham, which he lived:
A hundred years and seventy years and five years, then he expired.
Isaac and Ishmael his sons buried him in the cave of Makhpelah (Doubling) in the field that Abraham had acquired.
There were buried Abraham and Sarah his wife.
Now it was after Abraham's death, that God blessed Isaac his son.
And Isaac sat by the Well of the Living-One Who-Sees-Me.
(Gen. 25: 7-8a, 9-11.)

The tomb is "acquired"; at the well, one "sits" and "is seen." Let us explore the meanings of these two places, these two life-paths.

Rabbi Arthur Waskow

Death and Reconciliation: Chayye Sarah

By Rabbi Arthur Waskow*

"Avraham died . . . and Yitzchak and Yishmael his sons buried him." "Isaac and Ishma

Esther Ticktin, 10/27/2004

Our Rabbis ordained for us to read what is now named Genesis Chapter 21 on the first day of Rosh Hashanah and chapter 22 on the second day. If you read along with the
layners, you may have been shocked by the terse styl