Sarah Imeinu's Two Lives: The Qualities Needed for Motherhood

The shiur opens with a series of difficulties in Rashi (רש"י) on Parshas Chayei Sarah. Rashi comments that Sarah had no "chet" until age twenty, proved by the pasuk's comparison of her innocence at twenty to that of a seven-year-old. Multiple problems emerge: How can Rashi say "ein chet" when the Acharonim hold she was punished in beis din or after twenty? Why does the Torah (תורה) need to tell us Sarah's beauty—we already know from the story of her being taken to Egypt that she was extraordinarily beautiful? And what is the meaning of the Baal HaTurim's statement that Sarah lived "shnei chayei"—two lives—and that the word "vayihyu" (gematria thirty-seven) indicates the last thirty-seven years (from Yitzchok's birth until her death) were the ikkar of her life? Rabbi Zweig introduces a fundamental distinction between the roles of the Avos and Imahos. The Avos instituted mitzvos—Avrohom was mesaken tefillas shacharis, Yitzchok mincha, Yaakov ma'ariv. The Rambam (רמב"ם) documents how they progressively added mitzvos to the seven Noahide laws. Yet we find no parallel tradition regarding the Imahos. While we know Sarah kept the three mitzvos of niddah, challah, and hadlakas ner (indicated by the miracles that occurred in her tent), the Torah never credits her with instituting these mitzvos for future generations.