Hidden Treasures

Abraham quickly went to Hebron, to Kiryes-Arba and there he found Sarah dead. Abraham wept and said: “Orphans and widows weep for Sarah, for she fed all the hungry, gave drink to the thirsty, and clothed all the naked. Woe! The tongue that consoled the unfortunate, how can it be silenced now? The eyes that were merciful to others, how can they now be closed? How can the hand be weakened that did kindness wiped away tears?” Everyone standing by heard Abraham’s eulogy and wept bitterly until they had lost all their strength.

That same day, the bad news reached Isaac, who was already back at Shem’s house, and he quickly left for Kiryes-Arba. He fell on his face before his mother and wept: “OY! mother of mine! My merciful mother, why have you suddenly forsaken me? I thought I would see again your face that laughed like the sun at noon. I grusted that I would year your good and delightful words again, but now, the sun has suddenly gone dark for me and my heart has become broken within me. How will I console myself after this, now that you are lost to me? how can I can I be happy while I grieve for you?” Isaac hung his head and wept for his mother a great weeping.

When Sarah died, everyone was forlorn, because the whole time our mother, Sarah, was alive, the people of the country were successful in all they did. And from the time of her death, everyone mourned and wept over her death. But Abraham said to them: “Mourn not, my children, for the way of the world is such that saints and sinners both must die in the end.”

When Abraham returned to his house in Beer-Sheva (after the binding of Isaac), he saw from afar that all doors of Sara’s house were shut, and he was quite bewildered. He came up to the house and went around it, and behold, the illuminating clouds that usually surrounded her tent had disappeared. Abraham was afraid, and he went up to the tent to peek inside through the windows. But whoa… the lights that usually would have lit up the interior were also shut.  Abraham understood that something unfortunate must have happened to Sarah and he ran around to all the neighbors asking about her. The neighbors told him that someone had come looking for Sarah, and he told her that Isaac had been sacrificed, and she had gone to Hebron to look for him.