“And Sarah died in Kiryat Arba, which is Hebron, in the land of Canaan; and Abraham came to eulogize Sarah and to weep for her.” (Bereshit 23:2)
In the Talmud (Rosh Hashanah 16b), Rabbi Avin said: “Whoever hands over his judgment to Heaven (hamoser dinoh Lashamayim) is punished first, as it is said (Bereshit 16:5): ‘And Sarai said to Abram: “May my wrong be upon you; let Hashem judge between me and you...”’, and afterwards it is written: ‘And Abraham came to eulogize Sarah.’” Rashi comments on this: “He buried her.”
But one may ask: What did Rashi intend to add with this comment? At first glance, the teaching seems to come simply from the fact that Sarah died before Abraham.
We can explain as follows: The Talmud (Yevamot 65b) relates that a woman once appeared before Rav Nachman and demanded that her husband divorce her because they had no children. Rav Nachman replied that she was not obligated in the commandment of procreation, and that if she still insisted on a divorce, she would forfeit her ketubah (the financial settlement stipulated in the marriage contract).
She responded: “Do I not have the right to a child who will care for me in my old age and attend to my burial?” Rav Nachman acknowledged that her argument was valid, and that in such a case, the husband could be compelled to grant the divorce. This is codified in the Shulchan Aruch (Eben HaEzer 154:6).
From this we understand that a woman’s desire for children cannot be claimed on the basis of fulfilling the commandment of “Be fruitful and multiply,” but rather stems from her natural yearning to have a child who will bury her when her time comes. Accordingly, Rashi’s comment becomes wonderfully clear. When Sarah expressed her grievance to Abraham, her wish for children could not have been motivated by the commandment of procreation — since she was not obligated in it — and it would also make no sense for her to speak sharply, saying “May my wrong be upon you,” if she had no rightful claim. Therefore, her true intention must have been her desire to have a child who would bury her upon her death. Yet, because she handed over her judgment to Heaven, she was punished measure for measure: her wish was not fulfilled, for it was not her son Yitzchak who buried her, but her husband Abraham.
This is why Rashi specifies that the Talmud’s teaching — that Sarah was punished — does not derive merely from the fact that she died before Abraham, but from the verse “Abraham came to eulogize Sarah,” implying that he buried her, not Yitzchak. Hence it is deduced that she was punished midah keneged midah (“measure for measure”) for handing her judgment to Heaven. Otherwise, how could her death before Abraham be proof of punishment? Perhaps her time had simply come.
The proof lies in Rashi’s comment—that Abraham buried her, and not her son Yitzchak.
(Zera Shimshon, Parashat Lech Lecha, art. 23)
