This portion is called Chayeii Sarah, the life of Sarah, and it begins, these are the year of the life of Sarah. Sarah was 100 and twenty and seven. And Sarah died. These is much to say about that. How she was in Kiryat Arba and Abraham comes to bury her. How he buys a burial place. How he eulogizes her. But that’s not the part we are reading today. Come back another year for that part. 

Today I want talk about one verse. 

Isaac was walking in the field toward evening. Some say that is meditating. We learn from this that meditating has a place in Judaism. Even walking meditation, whicn is a form that resonates with me. 

Last week we talked about prayer. Abraham prayed. Abraham prayed with Abimelech. Praying as we learned is about going to yourself, finding yourself. As the Artscroll siddur (Siddur Kol Yaakov) teaches,in its introduction,  “The Hebrew verb for praying is מתפלל; it is a reflexive word, meaning that the subject acts upon himself. Prayer is a process of self-evaluation, self-judgment.” 

Mediating is without the judgement. It is about just being. It can be about connecting with the Divine. Meditation is a practice that focuses your mind and gain greater awareness of your: 

• self 
• thoughts and inner experience 
• surroundings 
• moment-to-moment needs 

What you choose to focus on may depend on the type of meditation you practice, and the various types of meditation may offer slightly different benefits. 

Isaac’s walk is the basis for our afternoon service, mincha. Abraham arose early in the morning. That’s shacharit, our morning service. Isaac meditated in the afternoon, mincha and Jacod dreamed at night, that’s maariv.  

Let’s remember Issac. Isaac, whose father was willing to kill him, was never quite the same. How could he be? Today we would call it PTSD, Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome. His experience, left untreated, led to generational trauma as we will see as the coming weeks. Whatever happened to Isaac and whatever label we might give it now, it is clear that he suffered. 64% of Americans according to one CDC study suffer from at least one Adverse Childhood Experience, an ACE. While trauma-informed care, in schools, in other settings with children can help, meditation can play a role too.  

This is Veteran’s Day. Much of what we know about PTSD comes from studying veterans and Holocaust survivors. Many of the leading experts in PTSD are in Israel. A 2013 pilot study of 42 veterans with PTSD, a small sample size, but still, suggests the loving-kindness meditation, sometimes called the metta meditation that I taught last week can boost positive emotions, ease depression and promote self-compassion. It can help counterbalance feelings of anxiety, irritability, sadness and self-criticism. 

Is that what Isaac was doing in the field? It’s not clear. But when he lifted his eyes, he saw Rebecca, discovered love and was comforted on his mother’s death.  

We could do well to try it in these anxious times. 

Repeat each phrase after me:
May I be happy. May I be well. May I be safe. May I be peaceful. 

Think about a friend, a neighbor, a relative.
May you be happy. May you be well. May you be safe. May you be peaceful. 

Now think about someone you don’t like, maybe even hate, maybe even an enemy.
May thay be happy. May they be well. May they be safe. May they be peaceful. 

May it be so. Ken yehi ratzon.