The Eternal life of Sarah
The Torah reading Chayei Sarah (“The life of Sarah”) begins by telling of Sarah’s passing. This evokes an obvious question: Why is the reading entitled “The life of Sarah”? Sarah’s lifework was to reveal the purpose of existence. Her death did not end her influence. As the events in the Torah reading indicate, she continued to bear fruit, she had true life. The deeds a person performs in life have an influence on his descendants. Therefore, the goodness with which a person endows his family and environment creates an ongoing dynamic and eternal good. And this dynamic continues to bear fruit after the person’s passing. This explains why the name of the Torah portion is "the life of Sarah". Sarah was righteous to the extent that her deeds created an eternal impact on the world.
In this context, some sources reveal that the soul exists in a Noahide as well. "So said G-d the Lord, the Creator of the heavens and the One Who stretched them out, who spread out the earth and what springs forth from it, who gave a soul to the people upon it and a spirit to those who walk thereon" (Isaiah 42:5). Also, the great Kabbalist the Arizal in his book Etz Chaim gate no. 50 chapter 8 brings that Noahides have a soul within their bodies. The soul revives the body, a body without a soul cannot live. The soul has to rule the physical body and direct him to perform the 7 Noahide commandments. Their function is to refine and elevate the world so the world can be spiritually uplifted. Thus, eternal life, a soul within a physical body also applies to a Noahide that observed the 7 Noahide laws.
This can happen only in this physical world, in the World of Action. Even though the light of the soul descends and becomes concealed in this world, however, this is why the 7 Noahide commandments were given, to reveal the soul that exists within the body and to spark the ongoing eternal goodness.
Brought By Rabbi Moshe Bernestein
Rabbi Moshe Bernestein is a writer and a Community Rabbi in Netanya, Israel. He believes in making connections between the Jewish People and the Noahides worldwide in order to share and enhance the knowledge of the Torah's Universal Code for Humanity and fulfil Isaiah's Prophecy 11:9 " And the world will be filled with the knowledge of G-d as the waters cover the oceans".
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