"And Sarah's lifetime was one hundred years and twenty years and seven years" (Genesis 23:1). Rashi offers his famous comment: at one hundred she was like twenty (free from sin), and at twenty she was as beautiful as when she was seven. Rebbe Elimelech of Lizhensk asks a question most readers skip: why does beauty at age seven matter?
He identifies two levels of righteous living encoded in Rashi's explanation. The first level: avoiding sin. "At one hundred, she was like twenty"—she never violated a positive or negative commandment. This is the baseline of holiness, the commitment to keep God's law.
The second level is subtler and more demanding: sanctifying permitted things. A person eats, drinks, wears beautiful clothes—all perfectly allowed. But do they do so with sacred intent? When you dress well, are you adorning the Image of the King? When you eat, are you fueling your service to God? Sarah achieved this. "At twenty, she was like seven"—just as a child who plays with adornments has no vanity, no desire for expensive jewelry, no craving for status, Sarah's every act of self-care was directed toward heaven.
The reward for this orientation is contentment. A person whose intentions are directed to heaven feels satisfied with whatever they have. Their life is truly theirs. But a person whose intentions are self-serving never has enough. Nothing satisfies. Their life, Rebbe Elimelech says bluntly, "is not really life."
He adds a second reading connecting Sarah to the Talmud's teaching (Menachot 43b) about one hundred daily blessings. "Do not read mah (what) but me'ah (one hundred)"—when a person reaches true humility, seeing themselves as mah (nothing), they can sanctify all one hundred blessings, corresponding to the one hundred sockets of the Temple itself.
And Sarah’s lifetime etc (Genesis 23:1) - And the explanation of Rashi "at the age of one hundred she was as a woman of twenty etc beautiful as when she was seven". And for start, what difference does it make that she was as beautiful as she when was seven? And it appears that Rashi z"l intended that his words would hint to two levels that a person should behave all days of their life. The first is that one should be careful and guard oneself against any type of sin and transgression, one should not transgress any positive or negative commandment. And the second level is that even in permitted things, such as eating and drinking, one interjects all of it in holiness, intending them for heaven: that is, when a person dresses in nice clothes, and wears beautiful adornments, one should intend to be adorning the Image of the King, as explained in the Gemara [source not found], and so in every thing one's intention should be to heaven. And when one behaves in such a way, then anything one has, be it money, clothing, they will feel satisfied with what they have, and will be glad because of that, and their life will be theirs. But if one's intent is not for heaven in any of that, then they will always feel lack, and nothing will ever be enough for them, and they will find that their life is not really life, and is not theirs at all. And this is really the simple hint "as 100, she was like 20" that there was no sin in her regarding positive or negative mitzvot. "And 20 as she was 7" is a hint to the second level, that is, just as a child that tries to adorn themself they have no idea how to embellish themself, and they do not have the desire to adorn themself with expensive jewelry, so too Sarah was at age 20, which is the time when a person is supposed to conquer the desire to embellish oneself, and to adorn oneself, and all the other worldly matters, and every intent she had, in every adornment and embellishment, was to heaven. Or we can say - "the years of the life of Sarah etc" (Genesis 23:1) through what we read in the Gemara, "a person is obligated to bless one hundred blessings every day, what is the source? 'What, Israel, does Ad-nai your God ask of you?' (Deut. 10:12) etc do not read mah (what) but me'ah (100)."(Menachot 43b:15). And one needs to say that the explanation is that the essence of the root of a person is to be in a great surrender, and humble in one's own eyes, and think of oneself as "mah", and then one can act on one's deeds as if the Mikdash was still around, and this is the hint of the 100 blessings, as they correspond to the 100 sockets that were in the Mikdash. And this is the explanation of the Gemara "do not read mah , but me'ah", meaning, when you reach the level of mah, in surrender, you will be able to fix also 100 sockets, meaning, that you will be able to act in your deeds as in the time of the Mikdash. And this is "The years of Sarah’s lifetime"(Genesis 23:1), and "Sarah" is a hint of even when the tzadik is in the level of nukvah (one of the feminine expressions of Divinity), they should in any instance be humble and surrendering, and to this "100 years" hints, corresponding to the 100 sockets. And "20 years" (teaching seems to be missing). And "seven years" is a hint to fix the seven days of construction, since "shanah" is the gematria of "sefirah". And sit with this to understand. Or say ~ that Rashi z"l hints with this words for a person to learn the ways of Hashem. There are two levels in the ways of humans. The first is when a person, in their childhood, maintains their studies and learns with diligence, that learning is called "beauty", which is the beauty of the Blessed Creator. When a person ages, that is, above twenty years old, when their mind is intensely concentrated in knowing Hashem, then the person begins to search their deeds, and sees is they were done properly to honor the Blessed One in truth, and sees and understands that they have not fulfilled their obligation at all, in any way, not in dealing with Torah nor mitzvot, in any deeds or studying at this point, since they learned for some position, or to glorify themselves, or wanting some personal benefit and then the person will fear and regret their past, and will strengthen themselves to fix themselves in all their deeds and learning Torah, that all should be equal for the good, in the Name of the Exalted Blessed One, and not for their own benefit. And behold it is known that in the holy book "Duties of the Heart" it is written: 'there is no devotion as the devotion of the beginning' (paraphrase of Duties of the Heart, Third Treatise in the Service of God), since every thing that is done, is done at its beginning with desire and courage with all the effort necessary. And this what Rashi z"l explained: "at age 100 like age 20 regarding sin", meaning, just as at age 20, when a person is searching their deeds and finding lacking in them, and seizing with strength the way to fix them, which is the first beginning, as explained, so too she [Sarah] was at age 100, at that same level, and "as age 20 like age 7 for beauty" (Rashi on Genesis 23:1:1) also is understood in that way, since in learning one needs also to exert oneself greatly to understand God's Torah just as when one did at their tender age. And the tzadik that behaves like that, as explained, merits eternal life. And this is "the years of Sarah's lifetime" (Genesis 23:1), using the name Havayah , connecting with eternal life, "the years of the lifetime of Sarah, all equally good" (Rashi on Genesis 23:1:2) is a hint that once the tzadik reaches that level, then all is similar in their eyes, all is for the good. And behold, a person really needs to strengthen oneself to devote oneself regarding eating and drinking in holiness and purity, that through this they are able to release the holy sparks, and through this they merit eternal life. And this is what Avraham our father PBUH said to the angels "rest under the tree" (Genesis 18:4), meaning under the tree of life, and through this "let me get some bread", that is, through eating, as explained. And this is "Ad-nai said 'behold the human etc and now lest he reaches and takes also from the tree of life and lives forever'" (Genesis 3:22) one can say that it is explained in that way: behold, the Holy Exalted Blessed Name, in God's great compassion, wants that a person would fix what they have broken, through teshuvah. That is why the Holy Exalted Name said 'and now', meaning, now that the First Human sinned, how will he fix his sin? Lest, and maybe there is a fixing of extending their hand to seize and grasp the tree of life through eating, releasing the holy sparks through eating in holiness, and this is 'and he will eat and live forever', meaning, through eating there will be a way of grasping eternal life, and therefore 'Ad-nai send him out of the Garden of Eden to work the soil' (Genesis 3:23) since in the world to come there is no eating or drinking, and so only in this world one can raise holy sparks, as explained. And the tzadik that behaves in holiness, in Torah and in eating and in drinking and in all their deeds, continues the flow of lovingkindnesses to the world. And this is "Avraham was old, advanced in days" (Genesis 24:1) meaning, zaken, old, as in 'one who acquired wisdom' zeh kanah chochmah, (Sifra, Kedoshim, Chapter 7 12) and one reaches the level 'days', to continue the flows of lovingkindnesses that are called 'days', through "by day Ad-nai commands God's lovingkindness" (Psalms 42:9) and "Ad-nai blessed Avraham with everything" (Genesis 24:1), that the tzadik who continues the flows needs to have the intent to include all of Israel, and to not doubt oneself at all, as if there is no one else in the world, only that the Holy Blessed One watches out for the tzadik, and blesses them in the inclusion of all Israel, even though the tzadik does not watch out for themself, and this is "and Ad-nai blessed, etc, in everything" - meaning, in the inclusion of all Israel. And behold the complete tzadik, as explained, goes continuously in revelation, but one who is not in that level needs to 'walk modestly' (Micah 6:8) to fix their internalness, and this is [how we can understand] "and he said to the eldest servant in his house [the one ruling over everything that he had, and said 'put your hand under my thigh']" (Genesis 24:2). Meaning, the complete tzadik we spoke of says to the second tzadik, who is not yet at that level [of being complete], and is just like a servant at that level, that they still need to walk modestly, as explained, fixing their internalness, and this is "eldest in his house". "The one ruling over everything that he had" - meaning even though they [the second tzadik] are at the level of ruling over this trait of not feeling jealousy towards their fellow, that they do not covet nor desire nor envy other people in their possessions, which is the essence of walking in the ways of Hashem, to take out from one's heart jealousy and coveting of money (which is the essence of what impedes service to God), and this is "the one ruling over everything he has", that they are content with what they have, and does not covet what others had. And the complete tzadik wants to bring them also to the great level, and so he says "put your hand under my thigh" meaning, connect with him. And this is the hint of "my thigh", which is called "yesod", which is connectedness, as known. And this that is said regarding our father Yaakov, PBUH, "and the sun shone as he passed Penuel [and he as limping at the thigh]" (Genesis 32:32) meaning the "Sun" is lucidity and great holiness, that was shining and illuminating him as he passed through Penuel. Penuel is an expression for Panu El, [vacating God] and this is when a person separates their awareness from holiness, then, immediately, "and he limps on his thigh", meaning, that one has a lack in the thigh. And when he [Yaakov] passed through Penuel, meaning, that he did not separate his awareness at all from holiness, and this why then "the sun shone to him". We find then that a person needs to connect themself with complete tzadikim in their holiness and their lucidity, and to guard oneself so one will not vacate God from their awareness, and devote oneself in all the traits above mentioned. And Hashem will help us to serve God in truth, and Hashem will be with us as God was with our ancestors. Amen, may it be God's will.
