Ricky Blank

Chayei Sarah

In this week’s Parashah, Chayei Sarah, we read that Sarah passed away at the age of 127. While Avraham was sad, and mourning the death his wife, Sarah, he needed to organise a burial place for her to be laid to rest. Since Abraham is an immigrant, a foreigner in the land, it is harder for him to find a burial spot, to lay his wife to rest.

Abraham sent his servants to the “old country” – in search for a wife for his son; as Avraham was not living in his homeland but as an immigrant in a “new land”. This didn’t stop him from trying to get his son a wife. For us, in today’s society, living in Sydney, this may be considered a bad thing–to have our parents arrange a marriage for us.

While Avraham may not be with us today, the issues of migrants and refugees is one of the most controversial issues in current day society, around the world. The amount of refugees will be increasing dramatically in the future. In Sydney, we tend not to think about the challenges of those having to flee for their lives from an unstable past.

Often those that are seeking better lives in countries such as Australia, want to continue family traditions – even though these family traditions may seem ‘weird’ or ‘strange’ to some. For those feeling from India, China and Bangladesh, the family tradition of arranging a marriage often includes very young children.

Why is it that we continue to let such family traditions continue, even though it may be considered – to us as inappropriate, unlawful or immoral. Do we let these traditions continue because:

We do not want to offend another

Or

We do not want or know how to change the ways of the past, our past or someone else’s?