The Torah tells us that Sarah lived a hundred and twenty seven years. But it expresses this in an emphatic way which has led to a number of different interpretations. It says ‘a hundred year (in the singular) and twenty year (singular), and seven years (plural), the years of the life of Sarah’. Earlier Chabad discourses discuss this, as does the Zohar. The main point is that this verse includes the entire realm of the kabbalistic down-chaining of worlds, both as is above in heavenly realms and as it is within each individual. Hence this discourse seeks to find a teaching relevant to each individual Jew.
The Zohar comments that the ‘hundred’ signifies G-d, in whom all is unified, hence the singular form of the word year. The term a hundred expresses the hundred blessings which a Jew should recite every day (this is a well-known theme in the Talmud and Code of Law). The Rebbe explains that this level refers to Keter, the sum of the ten Sefirot, each of which has ten Sefirot within it, thus making a hundred. Within the spiritual life of the individual, Keter represents the Will and the Delight of the person, which are expressed by the external and inner levels of Keter, respectively.
The twenty signifies the Sefirot Wisdom and Understanding, which are joined in unity (hence the singular for year). Each has ten Sefirot, so the two together make twenty. For the person, this is their own power of Wisdom and Understanding.
Then come the seven lower Sefirot, which express disparate spiritual dimensions, such as the contrasting Kindness and Severity, and hence the term for year is in the plural. For the individual this means using one’s emotions appropriately to serve G-d, leading to positive thought and speech and action.
The verse concludes ‘the years of the life of Sarah’ because through the service of a hundred, and twenty and seven, the person reaches an exalted level beyond, which is beyond number, as the Book of Creation says: before one, what can you count?
This way of discussing the verse means that 100 is the highest, then lower down is 20, and lower still is the number seven. But a contrasting interpretation is seen in Rashi’s discussion of the verse: when she was a hundred, she was as innocent as she had been at twenty (because only at twenty is a person liable for legal punishment); and at twenty she was as beautiful as at seven. Seen in this way, seven is the highest, and then comes twenty, and then finally a hundred.
This can be understood by returning to the explanation by the Zohar and its mention of the hundred blessings. The concept of a blessing is the drawing down of a flow of G-dliness into this world. (The Hebrew word for blessing, Brachah, relates to the word mavrich which means extending a tendril from a plant like a vine). One draws the Tetragrammaton down into oneself, so that it is revealed in the individual. From being revealed in the Jewish people, G-d is then revealed to the world and in this sense is declared to be King of the World, in the usual form of a blessing.
Blessings are a constant feature of Jewish life. There are different kinds of blessing, but almost all of them concern something in the material world. There are blessings recited when carrying out a Mitzva, which usually concerns something practical, such as Tzitzit, Tefilin [or a Shabbat candle]. There are blessings praising G-d for daily events, as in the Morning Blessings, or asking G-d for practical benefits (such as, in the Amida, the blessing on healing and the one for an abundant year). The blessings on partaking of food and drink are obviously about material things. The food and drink are holy, as the verse says ‘the world and all in it belongs to G-d’. By making a blessing on the food, one is not reducing its holiness but rather one is elevating one’s own spirituality so that one will be able to focus on the positive spiritual aspect of the food, rather than its coarser material aspect. In this way the making of a blessing and eating the food enables a revelation of G-d, King of the Universe, in something worldly like food.
The service expressed by the life of Sarah is drawing down G-dliness into the world, into every aspect, from Keter, Will and Delight, through Wisdom and understanding, and one’s emotion and action, as the blessings draw G-dliness into the world to make a dwelling for the Divine.
But this dwelling in the world has an effect which reaches upwards as well. This is why Rashi presents the reverse order of the hierarchy, so that, that which is lowest is highest. Our task is to serve G-d from the essence of our being, and this reveals our essence. From the point of view of the Essence of the Divine, the goal is the creating a dwelling for G-dliness in this world. From this point of view, whether one is serving with Will, Mind, Emotion or Action – all is equal, as Rashi says about the years of Sarah’s life: all were equal for good.
Thus, the explanations by the Zohar and by Rashi complement each other.
Through this service, may we merit the true and complete redemption in which G-d (100) is revealed and the 27 letters of the Alef Bet (including the 5 final letters), expressing Torah are also revealed, and especially the new Torah teachings of Moshiach which will, so to speak, be new even for G-d, as the Talmud says that, responding to a striking statement by the Sages, G-d smiled and said ‘My children have conquered Me’ (Bava Metzia 59b).
Through the Torah we ‘take’ G-d, through the letters from Alef to Tav, and may all this be revealed now, immediately, mamash (really, tangibly), mamash, mamash.
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