The name of the Parshah, "Chayei Sarah," means "The life of Sarah".

Sarah dies at age 127 and is buried in the Machpelah Cave in chevron, which Avraham purchases from Ephron the Hittite for four hundred shekels of silver.

Avrahams  servant Eliezer is sent, laden with gifts, to Charan, to find a wife for yitzchak. At the village well, Eliezer asks G‑d for a sign: when the maidens come to the well, he will ask for some water to drink; the woman who will offer to give his camels to drink as well shall be the one destined for his master’s son.

Rivkah, the daughter of avrahams  nephew Bethuel, appears at the well and passes the “test.” Eliezer is invited to their home, where he repeats the story of the day’s events. Yitzchak marries Rivkah.

Avraham dies at age 175 and is buried beside Sarah by his two eldest sons, yitzchak and yishmael.

On Thursday and Friday we celebrate Rosh Chodesh Kislev. Kislev is the month of light and joy in which the holiday of Chanukah begins. There are also a few Chassidic holidays during this month.

The zodiac sign for the month of Kislev is the bow.

On Simchas Torah in the year 1977, the rebbe suffered a massive heart attack during Hakafot. The doctors of course wanted him to be admitted into a hospital for care, but the Rebbe requested to bring the hospital to 770 instead. The following weeks were filled with much prayer from the Chassidim who were worried about the health of the rebbe. On Rosh Chodesh Kislev l, the Rebbe walked out from 770 for the first time since the attack. The Chassidik watched with joy and the dancing lasted through the night.

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Chassidus teaches that in the days of Moshiach, prophecy will be a simple and natural occurrence, accessible to everyone, even young children.

The man was totally depressed.

He was standing by the side of the road speaking through the open window of my car. His wife had left him. He had no job. Each day was a burden, and worse yet, he was a burden to the world. In his words, he was "totally useless."

I tried to cheer him up with some words of hope, but he was firm in his belief. I left him with some optimistic thought and darted into a U-turn, happy to go on to something more cheerful.

Suddenly he screamed, "Stop!" I slammed on the brakes just in time to see an extremely fast moving car whiz by. I said to him: "If you hadn't called out, I would have been dead now. A few seconds ago you felt useless without purpose, and now you have saved my life! From this moment on, every good deed I do will also be credited to your account." His face lit up, as the many months of depression fell away.

There is a dawn, and even the darkest nights do pass. No one knows what the next moment holds and to deny hope is to deny the constantly demonstrated fact that, "This too will pass."

Gutman Locks