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Sarah Imeinu (Sarah the Matriarch)
Born: 1813 BCE
Died: 1686 BCE
Only
four women are called Matriarchs: Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel, and Leah (Berachot
16b).
At first she was a princess to her people, then she became a princess to the
whole world (Berachot
13a).
Avraham and Sarah were proselytes
(Bamidbar Rabbah 8:9).
All the proselytes and the G-d-fearing people in the world descended from those
who suckled Sarah's milk (Pesikta
Rabbati 42:23).
The letter yud of Sarai which was removed from her name stood and cried for many
years until Yehoshua ben Nun came and G-d added it to his name (Sanhedrin
107a).
The letter yud flew before the throne of the Holy One, Blessed is He, and said,
"Master of the Universe, have You taken me out of the name of the righteous
Sarah because I am the smallest of the letters?" The Holy One, blessed is
He, replied, "In the past you were at the end of a woman's name, now I
shall place you at the beginning of a man's name: Yehoshua" (Bereishit
Rabbah 47:1).
The yud whose numerical value is ten that the Holy One, Blessed is He, took from
the name of the Matriarch Sarah was divided. Half (i.e., one whose value is
five), was given to Sarah when her name was changed, and half the other to
Abraham when his name was changed. (Yerushalmi
Sanhedrin 2:6).
All Sarah's years passed in gladness and joy
(Lekach Tov, Bereishit 23:1).
Thirty-seven years, from the day Yitzchak (Isaac) was born until the
moment he was bound on the altar, were years of "life" for Sarah.
(Genesis 23:1) (Zohar 1:123a).
Avimelech cursed Sarah, and the curse was fulfilled in her descendant. It is
written, "Let it be for you and eye-covering" (Genesis
20:16).
He said to her, "Since you covered the fact that Avraham was your husband
and thereby you caused me all this grief, may you have sons whose eyes are
covered." This was fulfilled in her son, as it is written, When
Yitzchak become old, his eyesight dimmed (ibid.
27:1) (Bava Kamma 93a).
Avimelech gave her a royal garment and made her a noblewoman, so that no man
would ever approach her. All would hear that she was a queen and would fear her (Tanchuma,
ed. Buber, Vayeira 27).
Avram said, "See, now I know that you are a woman of beautiful
appearance" (Genesis
12:11).
From here you learn that until then he had not known of his wife's beauty, as is
common for other husbands (Eitz
Yosef) (Tanchuma Lech Lecha 5).
Her Righteousness
Who
are the seven prophetesses? Sarah, Miriam, Devorah, Channah, Avigail, Chuldah,
and Esther (Megillah
14a).
Iscah (Genesis
11:29) is
Sarah. Why then was she called Iscah (from the word, gaze)? Because she could
see things through Divine Inspiration (Megillah
14a).
We do not find that the Omnipresent spoke directly with any woman except for
Sarah (Yerushalmi
Sotah 7:1).
The Holy One, Blessed is He, spoke to all other righteous women through an
angel, but to Sarah He spoke through Divine communication (Lekach
Tov, Bereishit 23:1).
At the age of one hundred, she was like a twenty-year-old (i.e., without any
sins deserving of heavenly punishment, for at the age of twenty, one-first
becomes subject to heavenly punishment) (Bereishit
Rabbah 58:1).
The hymn Eishet Chayil, "An Accomplished Woman"
(Proverbs 31),
was said about the Matriarch Sarah, from aleph to tav (Shocher
Tov 112:1).
The Matriarch Sarah was exceedingly modest
(Bava Metzia 87a).
The Patriarch Avraham confounded the views of people and brought them under the
wings of the Divine Presence (i.e., he converted them). Sarah did the same (Avos
d'Rabbi Natan 12:8).
Avraham and Sarah prepared a place of immersion for all, he for men and she for
women (Zohar
1:102b).
May
the merit of the tzaddeket Sarah Imeinu
protect us all, Amen.
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