Jewish Reconstructionist Federation Education Department Torah Mini Lesson Home TorahQuest Home Torah Mini Lesson - Hayei Sara Rashi on Sarah's Death by Rabbi Shai Gluskin Please see "notes" section below for an explanation of Rashi's approach and how we might use this approach to bring students to love Torah study. "Sarah died in Kiryat Arba...Abraham came to bewail Sarah, and to weep for her." Rashi: The narrative of the death of Sarah follows immediately on that of the binding of Isaac, because through the announcement of the binding -- that her son had been made ready for sacrifice and had almost been sacrificed -- her soul flew from her and she died (Pirkei d'rebbe Eliezer 32). Questions for discussion: How does this Rashi (which comes from midrash) affect the interpretation of the binding of Isaac story? What is your understanding of the meaning of the binding story? How does this midrash fit in (or not fit in) with your understanding of the meaning of the binding story? Some notes: Rashi's commentary does not maintain an internal consistency. For example, in one comment on the binding Rashi quotes a midrash that explains the story as God's answer to a challenge from Satan. Yet a couple comments later Rashi offers that Abraham misheard God. There he suggests that God's command was take take Isaac up to witness a sacrifice. Because of this lack of consistency, it's probably not a good idea to try to argue what Rashi believed about a certain text. What Rashi does well then is to give permission to ask many questions and pose different answers without having to claim any of them as the only valid question or answer. In this way, Rashi's methodology models a pluralistic approach to Torah study. It's helpful to point out Rashi's implicit questions as a way of affirming our students' own questions. It's probably more important for students if they can relate to Rashi's questions than his answers. This is ironic, because Rashi's questions are always stated explicitly in the text. In our example above, some implicit questions are, "How did Sarah feel about the whole binding episode? Did she know? When did she know? Did she try to stop Abraham? This are questions that our students also might be asking. And though Rashi isn't comprehensive in his answer, our students can resonate with tradition in knowing that they weren't the first ones to ask. Sometimes Torah study can be alienating for students; the stories are odd with lots of troubling information as well as missing information. Commentary and midrash is a way to make the experience of Torah study something draws kids in, especially when they have tough questions. To share Rashi's questions is to be intellectually close to him. In this way our students will a camaraderie with Jews of all time who have felt comfortable with asking difficult questions. top of page