The Midrash Raba on the book of Genesis (נח,ג) brings a legend about the great Talmudic sage Rabbi Akiba. In it he was giving a public lecture but everybody was falling asleep. To wake them up he asked the question, What was it about Esther that she should rule over 127 nations? He then answered that it was because she was a descendant of Sarah, who lived 127 years. The commentaries add that every year of Sarah's was good and for each of them a province was added to Esther's realm.
The age at the time of death is reported in the Chumash in a simple straightforward way for the line of Adam until Terach, the father of Abraham. However when Sarah dies it does not say her age was 127 years, rather it say her age was, "100 years, 20 years, and 7 years", (Genesis 23:1). Later on it uses the same form for Abraham and Ishmael. It does not use it for Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Aaron, and Miriam. Rashi comments on "the years of the life of Sarah", that, "All of them equally good".
The number 127 is a bridge between Sarah and Esther. There are various ways to examine the idea that people may fall asleep when the teacher is lecturing about Sarah but wake up when they hear about Esther. Even though people do not make a conscious decision to behave like this, they will often doze off, when they have no interest in the subject, but wake up when the subject is of interest.
A dismal way to look at this is that a discussion of a person who was saintly every day of their life may be painfully boring to many people. In the book Derech HaMelech Rabbi Kalonomys Kalmish points out that if an exemplary life reminds the listener of his own failings, he is likely to react with denial. People may be able to listen to something like this in small doses, if it's reduced to a triviality, or the teacher behaves like a fool. But if it's a real life detailed example, sleep may overpower the student. This is even more likely if the person feels obligated to show up for the lecture and even claim that this is the goal to which they aspire.
It is not a total sham, because high ideals may be intellectually pleasing but emotionally difficult and 127 years of this may sound like a prison sentence. On the other hand to be the ruler of a large empire like Queen Esther, with its power, prestige and wealth, may be very emotionally pleasing. Therefore it's menton will quickly rouse the slumberers.
A more optimistic idea is that good people do get tired and discouraged if there good deeds are the cause of aggravation and pain. At some point stories of the righteous become distasteful. They know what righteousness is, but would prefer to sleep through the stories so as not to be reminded of bad experiences. However, being told that good deeds eventually give birth to a big reward, arouses good thoughts and arouses them from their slumber.
One can view righteousness as a merit and a benefit in and of itself. Even so King Solomon in his wisdom said, "there are righteous who get what the wicked deserve, and the wicked who get what the righteous deserve", (Ecclesiastes 8:14), but to delve into it is futile. It comes out that to keep the Torah people need some encouragement in worldly terms that they can appreciate.
לע"נ האמא מלכה בת חיים ז"ל נלב"ע טז ניסן תשנ"ח
העלון ניתן לקבל בדואר אלקטרוני וגם באתר http://dyschreiber.blogspot.com
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