When Abraham asks his servant Eliezer to go and fetch a wife for Isaac from his family in Aram, he makes him take an oath. He is to swear by ‘the G-d of heaven and the G-d of the earth’ not to marry Isaac to a Canaanite. After Eliezer asks what to do if the girl won’t come back with him, Abraham promises him that G-d will help him. ‘The G-d of heaven’ that took him from his father’s house and promised him the Land, will make sure of a suitable wife for Isaac. The Rabbis noticed a discrepancy in the wording of the two statements. When making Eliezer to swear, G-d is referred to as the G-d of both heaven and earth, while when talking of the Divinity that took him from his former home, G-d is referred to only as the G-d of heaven. In explaining this difference the Rabbis make a fascinating comment. Abraham, when talking of his original journey from Ur, at G-d’s behest, only talks of G-d as the G-d of heaven, because that was all He was then. Before Abraham started on his journey and began making G-d’s Name known among people, G-d, as it were, was only the G-d of heaven. Only in his old age, after years of spiritual activity, has G-d, through Abraham’s efforts, become widely recognised and thus also ‘the G-d of the earth’. This profound understanding teaches us much about our role on earth. Of course, in reality. G-d is everywhere and indeed is the ‘place of the world’ itself. Yet, practically speaking, because G-d has given us freewill and thus hides His overt presence, G-d is only found where people recognise Him. Where people choose to ignore Him, it is as if G-d does not exist. It is thus our role, like that of Abraham before us, to make G-d’s presence known in the world. We are thus called by the Prophets G-d’s witnesses. The Jewish people by their life and history, evidence G-d’s presence and make Him ‘the G-d of the earth’. The same choice also lies before us on a personal level. Will G-d be an impersonal creator or the G-d of others, or will he be our G-d, someone with which we have a personal relationship. G-d does not imposes Himself on us but waits to be invited. It is up to us to make Him part of our lives, and the lives of others. As a Hasidic Rebbe once said when asked where G-d is to be found: G-d is found where He is let in.

ALIYAH BY ALIYAH SYNOPSIS

Sidra Statistics

Parshat Chayei Sarah

·         has 105 verses ;

·         is the 5th in Genesis, 5th in the Torah

·         11th longest in Genesis, 33rd longest in the Torah ;

·         has no mitzvot