PARACHAT HAYE SARAH (5) - HITAT DU JOUR 21 HESHVAN 5787 - 01 Novembre 2026

Hello to you all. Welcome to our daily meeting for the study of the Hitat of the day. Today is Yom Rishon of Parashat Chayei Sarah, the 21st of Cheshvan 5784. I am very happy to be with you again to share this moment together.

I invite you to send us your dedications via WhatsApp at +336 217 24 52. We are just a few days away from the coming of Mashiach. Yes, we must live it this way. As the coming of Mashiach approaches, some wonder with a hint of apprehension .

Must we abandon our beautiful house for a small apartment in Eretz Yisrael? Must we give up all our hobbies, all our physical and material pleasures, will our days be dedicated entirely to the exclusive study of Torah? Some mistakenly imagine that the Geulah deliverance will require renouncing the happiness of our life in exile. They even dread this moment for fear of no longer being able to relax or having to lock themselves away in austere, cold study.

And yet, the Lubavitcher Rebbe teaches us a fascinating perspective. In Hebrew, the word Geulah (redemption) shares the exact same letters as Galut ( exile), with the sole exception of one extra letter, which is the letter Aleph . Should we not expect the Geulah to constitute a total break from the Galut ? It is precisely our acts of Torah and Mitzvot performed during the exile that bring about the Geulah.

The Geulah carries the letters of the Galut because it flows directly from our efforts. The Geulah does not represent a clean slate of our material reality. Most of the positive aspects of our current life will remain. We will keep our material goods, our food, our clothing, our friends, our hobbies.

So, what will change? Well, everything is symbolized by this single Aleph. Everything will be directed toward the most total Kedushah. Chumash.

In today's Chumash, we learn how Avraham Avinu acquired the Me'arat HaMachpelah in Hebron to bury Sarah Imeinu. Having learned the terrible, upsetting news of the Akeidah and how her only son had nearly been offered as a sacrifice before being saved. Sarah Imeinu was struck by a fatal emotional shock that caused her passing at the age of 127. And Rashi highlights that the phrasing of Sarah's age in the Torah is divided into 100 years, 20 years, and 7 years, instead of simply saying 127 years, to emphasize her moral purity.

At the age of 100, she possessed the beauty and spiritual freshness of a 20- year-old woman. At 20, she was as upright as a 7-year-old child. Preserved by a divine miracle that restored her youth before the birth of Yitzhak, she lived her life as a true Tzadeket, an example of virtue. As we saw at the end of the previous Parasha, Avraham Avinu had settled in Be'er Sheva after the test of the Akeidah.

Informed of Sarah's passing, he immediately went to Hebron to take care of her burial. He wished to inter her in the Me'arat HaMachpelah, which was the property of the children of Het, and he requested their permission to acquire a plot of their land. The Bnei Het wished to offer him a plot of land graciously. But Avraham insisted.

He specifically wanted to obtain the cave, declaring himself ready to pay its full value to its owner, who was Efron. Efron feigned generosity by offering to give him the entire field with the cave for free. Avraham Avinu refused. He understood that in reality, Efron wanted to drive up the price and was actually demanding an exorbitant sum.

But Avraham accepted and, without hesitation, gave the 400 silver coins that were claimed, thereby securing the indisputable and permanent ownership of the site of the Me'arat HaMachpelah to this day. We read the 104th and 105th Psalms, and in the first of these, King David celebrates the magnificent beauty of creation and the perfect harmony desired by Hashem in this world. The second verse declares, "You cover Yourself with light as with a garment." In his commentary on the Psalms, the Tzemach Tzedek proposes an interpretation inspired by the Tanya that we are currently studying. This verse also applies to the Neshamah, the soul.

Hashem clothes the soul with the lights of the Torah and the Mitzvot like a garment. These are the Levushim. By adorning itself with these spiritual garments, the soul acquires the capacity to contemplate and appreciate the light of Hashem in Gan Eden. When we perform the commandments, the Mitzvot, Hashem places their luminous radiance upon us so that we too can taste what Hashem feels when a person down here on earth performs the Torah and Mitzvot.

And that pleasure that Hashem feels, we can feel as well at that moment. In today’s Tanya, the Alter Rebbe uses a parable, a Mashal, to explain how the Mitzvot constitute true garments for the soul, allowing it to access the Noam, the divine sweetness in Gan Eden. A Mitzvah connects man to Hashem to establish a bridge between two distinct realities. The bond must engage both shores.

Let us take the example of a pillar. A pillar that connects the floor and the ceiling simultaneously. There must be this direct, powerful, and strong link. Human beings who are anchored in materiality, in physicality, are subject to limitations.

While He transcends all measure. Therefore, the mitzvah is the pillar that connects the two. The mitzvah unites these opposite dimensions. It is performed through a material body or a heart submissive to Hashem, to the infinity of the Holy One , blessed be He.

But its intimate essence contains the will of the Holy One, blessed be He, what is called the Creator's will, the infinite will of Hashem which is purely spiritual. Thus, when an individual performs a material mitzvah with a material body, he appropriates the will of Hashem itself, transforming the action into a garment, what we call that famous spiritual levush. And there, he is able to savor that sweetness of Hashem, that divine light, the depth of the ratzon, the very depth of the will of Hashem in the world to come. This fundamental principle is developed much more deeply in various Chassidic writings, notably in this week's Torah portion and in a maamar delivered by the Lubavitcher Rebbe during a farbrengen on Motzaei Shabbat Parshat Chayei Sarah in the year 5728.

Tav Shin Lamed. Today, Rabbi Yitzchak wrote a kuntras— that is to say, a small booklet, but one of extraordinary depth—titled Kuntres HaTefillah, which explains the nature of Chassidut and prayer according to the Chassidic spirit, many excerpts of which enrich our study in general. Today, the Rebbe cites a passage illuminating the spiritual impact of prayer. Prior study of Chassidic concepts is combined with reflection, internalization, and meditation during It breathes into our prayer, into our divine service, a fervor, a true vitality.

This joy, this vitality, stimulates our moral rigor—that is, what one could call gevurah—a form of seriousness in the observance of all the commandments between man and Hashem; but it also improves our character traits, our middot, our way of behaving toward others, that is to say, between man and his fellow. This preparation for prayer, this concentration we have during prayer, truly creates a form of harmony in a Jew's life, whether with Hashem or with his fellow men. In today's chapter, we study the criteria for measuring land and whether or not to include rocks in the evaluation of the surface area. In this chapter, the Rambam examines the legal capacity of buyers and sellers.

For example, a minor child generally does not possess the required competence , with the exception of a minor older than 6 who carries out urgent transactions under the supervision of the Beit Din after verification of his maturity. In chapter 30 of Lamedici, we talk about acquisition through an agent, what is called a shaliach, as well as the legal validity of a transaction concluded in violation of Shabbat. Although the act here constitutes a religious offense sanctioned by the Bet Din, the sale itself remains legally perfect and irrevocable. You must study the details of all this in the Rambam.

That was the Ritat of the day. I invite you to share it with as many people as possible. May Hashem bless Israel, shower it with happiness, material and spiritual success, so that we may have great success in the education of children in Torah and mitzvot, in our attachment to the values of Chassidut, and may those who are not yet married be able to get married. Say amen, amen from wherever you are, we hear you, it resonates.

May those who do not yet have children be able to have them very quickly. May Hashem send good parnassah in total abundance to all those who need it, see you very soon, we have studied. You can send your dedications via WhatsApp at +336 21 37 24 52, see you soon.