Our parashah is called Chayei Sarah. The Alter Rebbe explains in the Tania that the name of each thing in the holy language is the mark of the Divine energy that defines it in our world and shows us its essence and content. Why is the parashah called Chayei Sarah, when at the beginning it deals with the issue of the end of our Mother Sarah’s life, and then most of the parashah deals with the marriage of Isaac and Rivkah and the passing of Abraham Avinu? And what can we learn from this for our daily service to HaShem?
In fact, all the topics that the parashah talks about are related to the life of our Mother Sarah. Regarding the marriage of Yitzchak and Rivkah, it is written "And Yitzchak took her to the tent of her mother Sarah", Yitzhak agreed to marry Rivkah only when he saw that Rivkah was fair and that she would continue the path of our Mother Sarah. When Sarah passed away Three miracles were missing from his tent, and all returned because of Rivkah: A luminary remained lit from the eve of Shabbat until the eve of the following Shabbat, the dough was blessed and a cloud permanently covered the tent, even three years after the death of Sarah, it was seen that there was a continuity of his spiritual life through the marriage of Yitzchak and Rivkah. About the death of Abraham Avinu it is written “And Isaac and Ishmael buried him”, even though Ishmael was the first-born, he put Isaac forward (and so it is written at the beginning of the verse) because Ishmael did teshuvah. Years before this, Sarah asked Abraham to expel Ishmael from the house because of his behavior. But since he did teshuvah in narrating Abraham's passing it emphasizes that spiritual influence acted on Ishmael and led his heart to teshuvah.
The tzadikim even after death are called alive, as their disciples continue to care for and fulfill Torah and mitzvot in a living and tangible way, according to the level of guidance absorbed and incorporated during the life of the tzadik. The children of Israel call Sarah "our Mother Sarah." As a mother she provides her children with a kosher education with concern and sacrifice. Thus in the Parshah Chayei Sarah we can learn to live according to his will and guidance, accepting to fulfill the Torah and its mitzvot beautifully and strive to reach the category of the holy tzadikim, as our Sages Z"L taught: “Each and every one of the children of Israel must say: 'When will my actions reach the actions of my fathers Abraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov'"
