Parshat Hayye Sarah: Too Much Loss

The Parsha begins by informing us that after receiving the word that Sarah had died, Abraham came to Hevron to eulogize Sarah and to cry for her. The Rav זצ"ל used to emphasize that ordinarily the order is the reverse. First once cries. Only after time passes and perspective returns, can one eulogize the departed and evaluate who they were.

Sometimes, though, one is obligated to suppress one's primal shriek of pain in order to tell the world just who the person was who has gone. That way, the Rav said, we try to involve as many people as possible in mourning the tragedy. Once the eulogy is achieved, we may all let ourselves go and cry out in pain.

This week God recalled unto Himself the souls of two most remarkable women: Rebbetzin Shayndel Feuerstein and RivkA Matitya. They were inspirartions to all who knew them in their חסד, their optimism and their nobility in suffering. They embodied dimensions of עבודת השם, the profudity of which I have never before seen.

I am unsure what mankind did to earn their presence. It is beyond me how He could have taken them away from those that loved and needed them.

ד' נתן וד' לקח יהי שם ד' מבורך.