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A Jewish Matriarch: Sarah Teaches Us That We Have the Power to Stay Young
A Torah scroll. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.
When a famous person passes away, newspapers try to capture their life and accomplishments in an obituary. The greater the person’s achievements, the longer and more detailed the obituary.
Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik noted that for Sarah, the matriarch and first lady of the Jewish people, we might expect a detailed account. Yet, she is remembered in this week’s parsha with one sentence: “These were the years of Sarah: a hundred years, twenty years, and seven years. These were the years of Sarah.”
Why does the Torah phrase Sarah’s age of death so unusually, dividing it into “a hundred years, twenty years, and seven years”? Why not simply say Sarah was 127?
The Midrash explains: at 100, Sarah was as beautiful as at 20; at age 20, she was as free of sin as at seven.
But this answer raises another question: the phrase “these were the years of Sarah” seems redundant. Rashi explains it means all her years were equally good. This phrase doesn’t just answer how old Sarah was, but reflects her essence. The Torah isn’t simply relating how many years the Matriarch Sarah lived, but who she was and how she lived. Sarah was 100, she was 20, she was seven.
In his words: “Sarah was a seven-year-old innocent child when she reached the age of twenty and a twenty-year-old lovely woman when she reached the ripe old age of a hundred. … The adult in Sarah did not destroy the child. Maturity did not do away with childhood. No matter how developed, no matter how capable and experienced a woman Sarah became, in the deep recesses of her personality there still existed an innocent child … This did not mean that her mind did not ripen with age, that she did not benefit by repeated events in her life or that her personality was not enriched by wisdom and life experience. However, Sarah still retained within her personality the young girl she once was.”
Rabbi Soloveitchik continues to say that the three traditional periods of life, namely childhood, youth, and adulthood, need not be mutually exclusive. Rather than replacing one with another, Sarah united them. She was simultaneously a child, a youth, and an adult.
Most of us move through life by replacing one stage with the next. Leaving childhood, we develop passion and idealism in youth but often lose our innocence. University campuses, where many great social movements began, illustrate this tension. They are spaces of youthful idealism, but also of lost purity. Similarly, in adulthood, as we gain wisdom and experience, the passion and idealism of youth often fade.
In one of my favorite Billy Joel songs, “Angry Young Man,” Billy Joel writes: “I believe I’ve passed the age of consciousness and righteous rage, I found that just surviving was a noble fight. I once believed in causes too, I had my pointless point of view, and life went on no matter who was right or wrong.” Winston Churchill captured this, saying, “Anyone who is young and not a liberal has no heart. Anyone who is old and not a conservative has no brain.”
I am not saying that we necessarily become more selfish as we age, but that a natural part of maturation is an exchange of idealism for wisdom and experience.
Imagine, though, if we could have it all. If we could be 100 years old with the wisdom of age, the passion of youth, and the innocence of childhood. That was Sarah.
Sarah maintained the purity of childhood and the idealism of youth throughout her life. As she grew older, gaining the wisdom of experience, she remained both innocent and passionate. This combination made her a transformative force.
Sarah’s example inspires us in two ways. First, young people entering the working world can strive to maintain their idealism. Professional aspirations or daily concerns need not extinguish passion for noble causes, like a love for Israel or other values. However, this depends on having the right mentors. Misguided teachers can corrupt youthful idealism, as seen when campus ideologies lead students to support unjust causes — like the “innocent” and “idealistic” support for Hamas and terrorism.
Second, combining childhood innocence with adult wisdom is vital in religious life. Rabbi Soloveitchik explained that the mitzvah of Torah study requires the ability to think conceptually and critically — not to accept things at face value, but to challenge and question, which a child is less capable of doing. On the other hand, says The Rav, when the Jew puts down the Sefer and picks up the Siddur, it is now the child who becomes the expert. Whereas Torah study requires self-confidence and self-assertion, prayer requires humility and self-negation. To pray means to surrender, to feel dependent on a greater force, something an adult with their highly developed mind and confident stature has a difficulty doing. Only an innocent child with his heightened sense of helplessness can come before God and pray in the ideal way Judaism demands.
To live fully as Jews, we must embrace both the innocence of childhood and the sophistication of adulthood. Sarah’s life teaches us not to replace one stage with another, but to integrate them. By doing so, we not only engage with all aspects of Judaism but also stay young at heart, carrying the qualities of every life stage into each moment.
Rabbi Mark Wildes is the founder and director of the Manhattan Jewish Experience (MJE), a vibrant community for young Jewish professionals, and the author of The 40 Day Challenge: Daily Jewish Insights to Prepare for the High Holidays and Beyond the Instant: Jewish Wisdom for Lasting Happiness in a Fast-Paced Social Media World.
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Hamas Celebrates ICC Arrest Warrants for Israeli Leaders, European States Say They’ll Comply With Court Decision
European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell attends a press conference on the day of EU-Ukraine Association Council in Brussels, Belgium, March 20, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Yves Herman
Hamas, which launched the war in Gaza with its massacre across southern Israel last Oct. 7, welcomed the International Criminal Court’s decision to issue arrest warrants on Thursday for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
“We welcome the International Criminal Court’s issuance of arrest warrants for terrorists Netanyahu and Gallant on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity,” the Palestinian terrorist group said in a statement. “We call on the International Criminal Court [ICC] to expand the scope of accountability to all criminal occupation leaders.”
Hamas, which rules Gaza, also called on countries around the world to cooperate with the ICC’s decision “to stop the crimes of genocide against civilians in Gaza.”
Senior Hamas official Basem Naim praised the ICC’s ruling in comments to Reuters.
“This is an important step on the path to justice and bringing justice to the victims but it remains a limited and spiritual step if it is not backed practically by all countries,” he said.
Izzat al-Risheq, a senior Hamas member based in Qatar, was quoted by Israel’s Ynet news outlet as saying that “regardless of the possibility of implementation, the truth that has been revealed is that international justice is with us, while it is against the Zionist entity. This increased awareness and the exposure of the true terrorist face of the occupying entity is in the interest of the Palestinian cause and its future and strengthens our future goal of liberation.”
Meanwhile, several leaders and countries in Europe expressed support for the ICC following its decision to issue arrest warrants for Netanyahu, Gallant, and Hamas terror leader Mohammed Deif for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza conflict.
The European Union’s outgoing foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, said the ICC’s decision was not political and should be respected and implemented.
“This decision is a binding decision on all states, all the state parties of the court, which include all members of the European Union,” he said. “The tragedy in Gaza has to stop.”
Dutch Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp addressed the arrest warrants in parliament.
“The Netherlands obviously respects the independence of the ICC,” he said. “We will examine the ruling, but the position of the cabinet is clear: We are a party to the Rome Statute, and based on the Rome Statute [which established the court] and the ICC Implementing Act, we are obliged to cooperate with the ICC, and we will also do that.”
Veldkamp added that the Dutch government “won’t engage in non-essential contacts” with Netanyahu and concluded, “We will act on the arrest warrants. We fully comply with the Rome Statute of the ICC.”
Irish Prime Minister Simon Harris called the warrants “an extremely significant step” and added that anyone in a position to assist the ICC in carrying out its work must do so “with urgency.” The country’s Foreign Minister Micheál Martin emphasized that Dublin is a “strong supporter of the ICC,” urging countries to “respect its independence and impartiality, with no attempts made to undermine the court.”
Spain’s second Vice-President and Labor Minister Yolando Diaz praised the ICC’s decision.
“Always on the side of justice and international law,” Diaz said on X/Twitter. “The genocide of the Palestinian people cannot go unpunished.”
Belgium’s deputy prime minister, Petra De Sutter, called for fellow European countries to “impose economic sanctions, suspend the [EU] Association Agreement with Israel and uphold these arrest warrants,” referring to the deal that established the legal basis for the EU’s current extensive trade ties with Israel.
“War crimes and crimes against humanity cannot go unpunished,” De Sutter added on X.
The Swiss Federal Office of Justice said it would have to arrest Netanyahu or Gallant if they entered Switzerland and initiate extradition to the ICC, arguing it is obliged to cooperate with the court under the Rome Statute.
French Foreign Ministry spokesperson Christophe Lemoine said France’s reaction to the warrants would be “in line with ICC statutes” but did not clarify whether France would arrest the Israeli leaders if they came to the country, citing legal complexities.
Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said his country would consider how to interpret the decision and act together with allies. “We support the ICC,” he said. “The court must play a legal role and not a political role.”
Norway’s Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide said, “It is important that the ICC carries out its mandate in a judicious manner. I have confidence that the court will proceed with the case based on the highest fair trial standards.”
In Sweden, Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard said Swedish law enforcement determines the arrest of subjects of ICC warrants on its territory, adding that the country “supports the court’s important work and protect its independence and integrity.”
A spokesperson for British Prime Minister Keir Starmer did not confirm whether Britain would implement the warrants.
Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg criticized the warrants as “incomprehensible and ludicrous” but said Austria would implement them as a party to the Rome Statute.
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‘Appalled’: Jewish Organizations Around the World React to ICC Arrest Warrants Against Israelis Over Gaza
International Criminal Court Prosecutor Karim Khan speaks during an interview with Reuters in The Hague, Netherlands, Feb. 12, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Piroschka van de Wouw
Jewish organizations around the world reacted on Thursday to the International Criminal Court (ICC) issuing arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defense chief, Yoav Gallant.
The court announced that it issued the warrants for alleged crimes against humanity and war crimes committed in Gaza, where Israel has been fighting the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas for the past year. An arrest warrant was also put out for Hamas terror leader Ibrahim al-Masri, better known as Mohammed Deif.
The American Jewish Committee (AJC) said it was “appalled” at the ruling against the two Israeli leaders. “This reckless, irresponsible decision is a gross distortion of international law that harms the court’s credibility, completely undermines its core mandate, and emboldens enemies of democracy around the world,” it wrote in a statement.
AJC continued, “Rather than acknowledging the reality that Israel’s military actions in Gaza are solely focused on defeating the internationally recognized terror organization Hamas, securing the safe return of the 101 hostages still held by the terror group, and protecting Israelis from further attack, the court embraced the false claims that Israel is acting with malicious intent toward Palestinians, restricting humanitarian aid as a tool of punishment, and deliberately attacking and harming civilians.”
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) called the ICC’s decision a “shameful and wholly political action on the part of the court.”
“The ICC’s rationale is rooted in unsubstantiated and specious claims, which run counter to the realities on the ground in Gaza, and send a disturbing message equating Israel’s war of self-defense with Hamas’s terrorism,” the ADL added. “The court has ignored its own principles and practices in service of a political ruling. The court’s moral lapse only serves to further embolden extremists and incite violence against Jews and Israel. We urge global leaders to unequivocally reject the ICC’s wrong and dangerous decision.”
The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) called on the US Congress to impose sanctions on the ICC for its ruling.
“The ICC has reached a new low in its morally bankrupt and legally baseless attacks against the Jewish state,” it wrote. “Congress must now act to sanction ICC officials.”
AIPAC, the foremost pro-Israel lobbying group in the US, argued that “Israel is our democratic ally fighting on the front lines against our shared enemies” and that “in the past, the ICC has also targeted the US, and today’s decision could set a precedent to be employed against America and other democratic countries.”
Internationally, Jewish organizations also lambasted the ICC’s decision.
The Central Council of Jews in Germany wrote on X that the warrants were an “absurdity.”
“Israel is defending itself against Islamist terror in Gaza and Lebanon after the Hamas massacre on October 7, 2023,” the group added. “The semantic dualism alone of putting Israel on a par with Hamas borders on impudence and a completely misguided understanding of the role of an international criminal court as a result of anti-Israel propaganda.”
The president of the European Jewish Congress, Ariel Muzicant, said in a statement that “in issuing for the first time arrest warrants for leaders of a democratic country together with one for a dead terrorist [Deif], the ICC has shown itself to be no longer fit for purpose.”
Muzicant continued, “It is beyond shocking that the leaders of a democratic state defending its own citizens can be made into international fugitives after a brutal invasion with a terror organization that uses rape, murder, and kidnap as its principal tools of war.” He pointed out that “just this very week, the UN’s own agencies noted that Hamas have been looting dozens of aid trucks for their own population.”
The World Jewish Congress also made a statement, writing “The ICC’s decision not only undermines the pursuit of peace but also disregards the recognized right of a nation to act in self defense when facing the actions of Hamas, a recognized terrorist organization responsible for the attempted annihilation of Israel’s civilians.”
Argentina’s umbrella Jewish organization, the Delegation of Argentine Israelite Associations (DAIA), said in a statement that the warrants “constitute a direct attack on the right of the State of Israel and all nations to defend themselves against the most brutal terrorism.”
“With this order, issued against leaders of a democratic country, the ICC has definitively chosen to position itself on the side of terror, criminalizing and internationally isolating the State of Israel in the context in which this country is fighting an existential war in its defense and in that of the free world,” DAIA continued. “It is imperative, once again, to remember the murders, rapes, and kidnappings of Oct. 7, 2023 against the Israeli population, which is why the representative entity of the Argentine Jewish community demands the immediate return to their homes of the 101 kidnapped people at the hands of Hamas terrorism.”
Countries that are party to the Statute of the International Criminal Court are now obliged to arrest Netanyahu and Gallant if they enter their territory. The US is not such a country, as it withdrew from the Rome Statute, the treaty that created the ICC. The ICC also has no jurisdiction over Israel as it is not a signatory to the Rome Statute. However, the ICC has asserted jurisdiction by accepting “Palestine” as a signatory in 2015, despite no such state being recognized under international law.
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Pro-Hamas Group at Columbia University Calls to Ban Hillel From Campus
Pro-Hamas Columbia University students march in front of pro-Israel demonstrators on Oct. 7, 2024, the one-year anniversary of Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israel. Photo: Roy De La Cruz via Reuters Connect
A Columbia University organization which calls itself the “Palestine Working Group” (PWG) is waging an aggressive campaign to gut Jewish life, calling for the abolishment of the campus’ Hillel chapter in a recent statement.
“Hillel is complicit in manufacturing propaganda and consent for the Zionist entity’s imperialist and colonial projects,” PWG said on Monday, issuing its invective on the Instagram social media platform. “The program works directly with Israeli universities and provides Columbia and Barnard students with funding to vacation to ‘Israel’ — an ethnostate responsible for the murder of over 180,000 Palestinians in the last year alone. Sever all ties with Hillel. Academic boycott now.”
Reputed to be the largest Jewish collegiate organization in the world, Hillel International is a “home away from home” for the 180,000 students at over 850 colleges who avail themselves of its religious services, relationship building opportunities, and recreational activities. PWG’s assault on it appears to have been prompted by an upcoming event at Columbia, in which Israeli journalist Barak Ravid will speak as a guest of the Kraft Center for Jewish Student Life — where the Hillel chapter serving both Columbia and Barnard College students is located — and the Institute of Global Politics (IGP).
“The Institute of Global Politics and the Kraft Center will be hosting Barak Ravid, a Zionist, pro-Trump journalist to discuss the ‘Israel-Hamas War,’ PWG said in its statement. “Evidently, Columbia doesn’t believe the Zionist entity’s demolition of Beit Lahia and the blockage of Khan Younis, in just this past week alone, justifies the use of the word genocide.”
PWG has since deleted the statement from its Instagram page, but not before it was widely shared on social media, where it has been lambasted.
“Hundreds of thousands of Jewish students visit Hillel to celebrate Jewish holidays, connect with their Jewish identities, and safely gather in community,” Jewish on Campus, a nonprofit organization, said about the outrage. “When students single out Hillel and attempt to exclude one of the lone Jewish organizations from their campus, their Jewish classmates are denied their right to live as Jews. A call to push Hillel off campus is antisemitism, plain and simple. We won’t be silent.”
Columbia University professor Shai Davidai, who has allegedly been persecuted by school officials for describing the pro-Hamas movement as one which flagrantly supports terrorism and murdering Jews, told The Algemeiner that PWG is showcasing its illiberal values.
“The fact that these student organizations find it objectionable to host a speaker just because of their religion and/or nationality tells you everything you need to know about them,” he said. “It’s time for Columbia to decide whether it stands for open support for terrorism or open exchange of ideas.”
The campaign to kick Hillel chapters off college campuses is not new. The campus group National Students for Justice in Palestine (NSJP) launched the initiative, titled “Drop Hillel,” in October, just weeks after the one-year anniversary of Hamas’s massacre across southern Israel last Oct. 7.
“Over the past several decades, Hillel has monopolized for Jewish campus life into a pipeline for pro-Israel indoctrination, genocide-apologia, and material support to the Zionist project and its crimes,” a social media account operating the campaign said in a manifesto published in concurrence with its launching. “Across the country, Hillel chapters have invited Israeli soldiers to their campuses; promoted propaganda trips such as birthright; and organized charity drives for the Israeli military.”
The idea has already been picked up by pro-Hamas student groups at one college, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, according to The Daily Tar Heel, the school’s official student newspaper. On Oct. 9, it reported, a member of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) unveiled the idea for “no more Hillel” during a rally which, among other things, demanded removing Israel from UNC’s study abroad program and adopting the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement. Addressing the comments to the paper days later, SJP, which has been linked to Islamist terrorist organizations, proclaimed that shuttering Hillel is a coveted goal of the anti-Zionist movement.
The #DropHillel campaign comes amid an unprecedented surge in anti-Israel incidents on college campuses, which, according to a report published in September by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), have reached crisis levels.
Revealing a “staggering” 477 percent increase in anti-Zionist activity involving assault, vandalism, and other phenomena, the report — titled “Anti-Israel Activism on US Campuses, 2023-2024” — painted a bleak picture of America’s higher education system poisoned by political extremism and hate.
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
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