In this week’s parsha, we are told of the death of Sarah at age 127. Yet the Torah describes her age in an unusual way – it tells us Sarah was 100 years, and 20 years, and seven years old.

Rashi famously comments that this strange description of Sarah’s age is telling us something about her characteristics – that in some way when she was 100, it was like she was 20, and when she was 20, it was like she was seven. It sure sounds nice… but what does it mean??

How was Sarah like a 20-year-old, or a seven-year-old? And is there some lesson we can learn, some larger message we can take from this odd recounting of Sarah's life?

Rabbi Fohrman thinks that there is a lesson hidden here, a profound insight about how to live a successful life.

Parshat Chayei Sarah tells the tale of Abraham’s servant (presumably Eliezer) and his search for a wife for Isaac – but hidden within this account is a series of words and phrases whose echoes we find, almost word for word, elsewhere in the Torah.

At face value, this 'other' story seems to have little to do with the story of Eliezer finding Rebekah by the well: It’s about the selection of one of Israel’s national leaders, not about finding a wife.

But in this video, Rabbi Fohrman suggests that the two stories have quite a lot in common indeed – and that the Torah is showing us the common thread that links Isaac and Rebekah's marriage with the idea of kingship. This video pushes beyond the obvious answers and offers a novel idea about what makes nations rise and fall, and what makes marriages succeed or fail.

Parshat Chayei Sarah – which translates to “The Life Of Sarah” – tells us that Sarah lived to the age of 127. It seems like mere trivia, the kind of thing that you forget as quickly as you read it.

But Rabbi Akiva, the great sage of the Talmud, noticed something curious… that this number, 127, pops up in one other place in the Bible: It’s the number of provinces in the Persian empire in the days of Achashverosh and Queen Esther.

Clearly, it’s got to be a coincidence, right? What could Sarah’s age possibly have to do with Persian provinces? But Rabbi Akiva doesn’t think it’s mere coincidence – and after watching this video, you might not either.

You know how Abraham’s servant chose Rebecca as Isaac’s wife, right? He settled at the well and waited for a woman who would offer him and his camels water… and sure enough, Rebecca came along and did just that — plus she was from Abraham’s family! Perfect. But when we step back to look at the way that the Torah tells us the story of finding Isaac's wife, it’s actually pretty odd. We read about what Abraham’s servant did, how he found Rebecca, what he said to her… but then we read the story once again — practically word for word — when the servant recounts it to Rebecca’s family. Why are we told the story twice??

But the thing is… it’s not exactly word for word. There are some key differences, and if you pay close attention, you’ll find that those differences reveal a hidden story: a story about why Rebecca was chosen as Isaac’s wife, who she really was – and why she was fit to be the daughter-in-law of Abraham.