11 Nov CHAYEI SARAH: MOST PRECIOUS COMMODITY

The Midrash
(Bereishis Rabba
58:3) states,
“Reb Akiva was
teaching Torah
and saw that his
students were
falling asleep. To
awaken them, he
asked, “Why did
Esther rule over
127 countries?
It’s because her
ancestor Sarah lived 127 years.”
The Chidushei HaRim zt’l explains
that this awakened his students
because it taught them to utilize
each minute of life to its fullest. Had
Sarah, chas veshalom, wasted a year
of her life, her descendent, Esther,
wouldn’t have ruled over the 127
countries.
The Chidushei HaRim elaborates,
“Each week of Sarah’s life granted
Esther a city. Each hour granted

Esther a town worth thousands. This
means that when one oversleeps, he’s
losing thousands of rubles!” This
jolted Reb Akiva’s students awake,
for they became aware of what they
could earn with time. There’s no
greater loss than lost time.
About Avraham it states (24:1),
V’Avraham Zakein Ba Bayamim,
“Avraham was old. He came with
his days…” This also indicates that
he utilized every moment of his life
for avodas Hashem. He came with
all his days.
In a letter, the Yismach Moshe zt’l,
encouraged his son to be cautious
not to waste time. He writes,
“’L’Maan Hashem, For Hashem’s
sake, distance yourself from batalah,
idleness, as distant as a shot arrow. If
a person threw a package of money
into the sea, people would consider
him insane. Even more insane is
someone who throws a drop of his
time away and engages in idle talk.”

Similarly, the Yaaras Dvash (2:10)
writes, “No, my sons. It’s not good
that we waste precious time on
foolish things that have no value.
At night, they waste their time and
when the sun rises, they roll over
from side to side and miss the last
zeman tefillah. One sin leads on to
the next.”
In another location, the Yaaras
Dvash (1:4) writes, “My brothers,
please, awaken from your sleep.
Don’t waste precious time with the
world’s foolishness, such as idle
talk, discussing wars (who will win
and who will lose), hunting, or other
forms of emptiness. These are deeds
fitting for princes, but why should
you waste precious time on them?
It’s very foolish to exchange the
real world for a world of falsehood.
How can one waste time? If one is
destined to die on a specific day, and
someone offers him millions if he
agrees to die one day earlier, I know

that he won’t accept the money,
regardless of the large amount of
money he’s been offered. So, if a
day of life is so precious to you, how
do you waste it with idleness? He
is the shoteh, fool, stated in Chazal
(Chagigah 4), who loses everything
that’s given to him. Because time is
a precious gift from Hashem; with
time, one can know Hashem, attain
perfection, and correct his deeds.