before what must be considered its climax if not its consequence , - the death of Sarah . Noticing the juxtaposition Rashi quoting Pirkei De Rabbi Eliezer ; hearing that her son had been made ready for sacrifice and had almost been slaughtered , she received a great shock ( literally , her soul flew from her ) - she died
Rabbi Kalonymus Kalman Shapira ( 1889-1943 ) in sermons delivered in the Warsaw ghetto between the fall of 1939 and the summer of 1942 , in a majestic work known as Eish Kodesh (“ Holy Fire ”), brings the following audacious insight on this episode . Sarah ’ s death was a conscious surrender of her life . - Sarah committed suicide as a supreme act of theological protest , an act designed to teach God that human beings cannot cope with trauma as horrific as the loss of a child .
Close and slow reading of these astonishing passages exemplify the enormity and centrality of memory to Rosh Hashanah both for us and it would appear for God too . Remembering will be all the more agonizing this year , as we more forcefully will beseech God to renew our year and days of old , to times where families will be reunited , where we will merit to live with security and peace .
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