Shalom Friends;
Our Parshat HaShevua, Chayei Sarah is sponsored by Yirmi and Rochelle Gold and family of Ramat Beit Shemesh who dedicate this vort Lilui Nishmas the Yahrtzeit of HaRav Chaim Zev Malinowitz, z”l. To the Gold family, many thanks for your sponsorship and your continued kindnesses.
You can celebrate a Simcha — a birth, a Bar/Bat Mitzvah, a Chassuna or other Simcha event in your life, or commemorate a Yahrtzeit of a loved one, or for whatever other reason by sponsoring a Parshat HaShevua.
Please forward to your relatives and friends and encourage them to sponsor a Parshat HaShevua. And please be in contact with me with any questions, or for further details.
Best Regards,
Moshe Burt
olehchadash@yahoo.com
skype: mark.burt3
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Most of the final perek of Parsha Vayeira in Torah speaks of the events of the Akeidat Yitzchak which then segues into Sarah Imeinu’s passing and to Avraham’s acquiring the Ma’arat HaMachpeila for her burial, and ultimately the burial of the Avot and Imot.
Rabbi Shmuel Goldin provides a context, questions and various understandings regarding acquisition of the Cave of Machpeila (Ma’arat HaMachpeila) for Sarah’s burial in his sefer, “Unlocking The Torah Text”, Volume One, Sefer Breish’t, pages 101-102):
Parshat Chayei Sarah opens with the death of Sarah and the purchase of the Cave of Machpeila by Avraham as a burial site. (Rabbi Goldin citing Sefer Breish’t, Perek 23, posukim 1-20)
Torah dedicates no less than twenty sentences to the negotiations between Avraham and the Hittites [particularly with Ephron ben Zohar, the Hittite] concerning the purchase of the Cave of Machpeila as a burial site for the patriarchal family. This is more text than was dedicated to the entire story of Akeidat Yitzchak. (Rabbi Goldin providing the posukim re: the Akeidat Yitzchak, Sefer Breish’t, Perek 22, posukim 1-19)
A variety of approaches are suggested by the classical commentators. The Talmud, in a passage echoed elsewhere in Midrashic literature, sees the entire story of the purchase of the Cave of Machpeila as a testament to Avraham’s loyalty and fortitude. Even the Satan has to admit: “I have traveled across the whole world and have found no one as faithful as Your servant [Avraham]. You promised him, ‘Arise, walk the length and breadth of the land for I will give it to you.’ Yet when the time came to bury Sarah and he could not find a site for her burial, he did not question Your ways.” (Rabbi Goldin citing Talmud Bavli Bava Basra 15b)
Some authorities actually suggest that this episode is one of the ten tests administered to Avraham throughout his lifetime. (Rabbi Goldin citing Ramban on Sefer Breish’t, Perek 24, posuk 19)
Other sources see this… as… record for perpetuity of the clear claim of the B’nei Yisrael to specific areas of the land of Israel. The details serve to underscore and cement the legal, contractual nature of our ownership. (Rabbi Goldin citing Midrash Rabbah, Sefer Breish’t, Perek 79, posuk 7)
How ironic that in our time the city of Hevron and the Cave of Machpeila have once again become the flashpoints for violent dispute between Israel and her neighbors. The Torah’s recordation of Avraham’s purchase of this land remains frighteningly prophetic. We are told that we will need, across the ages, every possible proof that the land of Israel belongs to the Jews.
Rabbi Goldin refers to Hevron and the Cave of Machpeila as having, in our time, again become flashpoints. However, Hevron and the Cave of Machpeila are NOT the only flashpoints in the ongoing violent dispute between Israel, and the PLO and it’s brother terrorists of Hamas and Hezbollah, not to mention their evil benefactor — Iran.
There is an intriguing commentary regarding the dialogue leading up to Avraham Aveinu’s acquisition of the Ma’arat HaMachpela for 400 shekels of silver from Ephron the Hittite.
The first of the two posukim spoken by Avraham to Ephron the Hittite in our Parsha says, in part:
“I give the price of the field, accept it from me …” ( Breish’t, Perek 23, posuk 13 Rendered to English in the Artscroll Stone Chumash)
The sefer Torah Gems notes:
“…That a man may marry a woman by using money to effect the marriage is deduced in the Talmud (Kiddushin 2) by drawing a parallel from this verse. But the parallel goes beyond merely the acquisition of the land of the Ephronite and the acquisition of a wife. Just as in a marriage the act of acquisition is only the beginning and not the end, because that is when all one’s obligations begin — food, clothing, etc. — the same is true in our dealings with the Ephronites. Nothing ends with written contracts and agreements. We pay, pay and pay again, and yet they keep demanding more from us.” (Torah Gems, page 182 quoting Rabbi A.M. Amiel)
Somehow these last sentences, “Nothing ends with written contracts and agreements. We pay, pay and pay again, and yet they keep demanding more from us” seem to ring true in our ongoing struggle to maintain our Jewish presence and sovereignty in Eretz Yisrael against the Arabs, the Moslems, under the guise of a bogus, fake “palestinian people
Rav Goldin now discusses two-word phrase used by Avraham as he negotiates with Ephron and the Hittites — “ger v’toshav” (“Unlocking The Torah Text”, Volume One, Sefer Breish’t, page 103):
Avraham… opens the dialogue with the Hittites dwelling in Hevron: “Ger v’toshav anochi imachem,” “I am a stranger and a citizen together with you.” (Rabbi Goldin citing Sefer Breish’t, Perek 23, posuk 4)
Avraham’s self-description is, therefore, inherently self-contradictory. Is he a citizen or a stranger? It would seem that he cannot be both.
Rashi immediately notes the problem and offers two possible solutions:
On a pashut pshat level, Avraham is saying, “I am a stranger from a different land, who has come to live with you.”
On a Midrashic level, Avraham is saying, “It is up to you. If you treat me well, I will deal with you as I am but a stranger who has no rights to the land. If not, I will consider myself a citizen, and take this property by law.”
Rabbi Goldin now brings further understanding (“Unlocking The Torah Text”, Volume One, Sefer Breish’t, page 102)
Other authorities understand this narrative [the negotiations for purchasing the Cave of Machpeila] as underscoring the deep respect that must be shown, according to Halacha, towards the dead. With meticulous detail, Torah records Avraham’s extraordinary efforts to secure a proper burial for Sarah.
From that time onward, Avraham’s descendants will continue to care for those who pass from this world with honor and dignity. The Chatam Sofer goes so far as to learn from this episode the Halachic requirement to purchase a burial plot, rather than simply receive it as a gift. (Rabbi Goldin citing Responsa Chatam Sofer Yoreh Deah 332)
Our Parshat Chayei Sarah is the time, annually, when the members of Beit Tefillah Yona Avraham now commemorate Lilui Nismas the third Yahrtzeit of HaRav Chaim Zev Malinowitz, z”l. Rav Malinowitz held a deep love for Eretz Yisrael, as well as speaking often about the Kedusha of the Land. For a number of years, he encouraged the Kehilla to take annual trips to Hevron and the Ma’arat HaMachpeila on the Shabbos before Rosh Hashana. He often visited Kever Yosef. With the Shmitta year having just passed, we recall he taught the Kehilla about Shmitta and promoted and worked with organizations such Otzar Ha’Aretz in facilitating the keeping of Shmitta according to Halacha. The Rav celebrated with us in three Hachnasat Sifrei Torah including one in Yesha and one in Gush Katif, in Shirat HaYam (in the months before the expulsion in August of 2005) as well as the celebration in Beit B’nei Rachel in Kever Rachel. He protested against the Expulsion, including giving a passionate talk to the Kehillah about Gush Katif in the weeks leading up to the Expulsion.
Further along in Perek 23 of our Parsha are three critical posukim:
“And Avraham heard Ephron … and … weighed for Ephron the silver which he [Ephron] spoke about in the ears of the B’nei Chais, four hundred shekels of silver that merchants used.” (Breish’it, Perek 23, posuk 16)
On the words, “And Avraham heard”, the Rashbam commented:
“A hint is sufficient for a wise man.” Ephron spoke as if he were a man of generosity. He spoke to Avraham with great respect and ostensibly offered him the burial site free of charge. However, Ephron mentioned in passing, “The four hundred shekels … is nothing between friends. Your friendship is more precious than money. Bury your dead.” (Rashi and Rashbam on Breish’t, Perek 23, posuk 15)
But Avraham was perceptive, with his finely-honed intuition, and understood Ephron’s real intentions; he didn’t really want to give the land away for nothing. Avraham responded to Ephron’s real inner wishes, not to the outer, simple meaning of his [Ephron’s] words. (Growth Through Torah, Rabbi Zelig Pliskin, on Parsha Chayei Sarah, pages 57 – 58).
Rabbi Pliskin speaks of understanding the true meaning of what others say in a context of correcting and refining one’s midos. He writes that “this ability to differentiate between what someone says and what he means is an attribute that we must develop. For many areas of spiritual growth it is essential.” (Growth Through Torah, Rabbi Zelig Pliskin, on Parsha Chaye Sarah, page 58)
However Rabbi Pliskin’s discussion of refining one’s perceptiveness and intuition extend beyond the striving for perfection of midos in Everyman. Avraham Aveinu who, in his time, was THE pre-eminent leader of mankind as well as builder and proponent of a then revolutionary concept: belief in an infinite being who controls every aspect of the world’s existence, correctly read the reality of his relationship with the other peoples. He read the reality of his relationship with Ephron and, with an eye to both Hashem’s promise to create a people from him [Avraham] and to all of future history, he acted accordingly in paying Ephron the four hundred shekels of silver.
And so, the posuk which begins; “And Avraham heard”, is inextricably tied Perek 23, posuk 13 above it which reads, “I give the price of the field, accept it from me …”
Remembering back to Parshat Breish’t and Torah’s opening posuk accompanied by Rashi’s commentary:
“In the beginning of Hashem’s creating the heavens and the earth” (Sefer Breish’t, Perek 1, posuk 1 as rendered to English in The Sapirstein Edition, The Torah: With Rashi’s Commentary, pages 4-5)
Rashi comments:
…If the nations of the world will say to Israel, “You are bandits, for you conquered the lands of the seven nations who inhabited the Land of Canaan,” [Israel] will say to them, “The whole earth belongs to the Holy One, Blessed be He. He Created it and He gave it to the one found proper in His eyes. By His wish He gave it to them, and by His wish He took it from them and gave it to us.” (Rashi commentary on Sefer Breish’t, Perek 1, posuk 1 as rendered to English in The Sapirstein Edition, The Torah: With Rashi’s Commentary, page 4)
Undoubtedly, Israeli leaders have brought crises upon themselves by subverting Avrahamic wisdom and intuition to the embrace of distorted Sodomized Western morality in their blind expedience in attempting eradication of Jewishness from Israeli consciousness.
As this vort is being written, we are a few weeks away from elections. Hopefully, in the run-up to elections, and the next government will not follow any third country edicts calling for emasculation [used in a rhetorical sense to make the point] of any individual or political entity based on their Ahavat Hashem and Ahavat Eretz Yisrael.
Thoughtful, perceptive, insightful Israelis will hopefully have contemplated both Avraham’s payment to Ephron the Hittite, and the continuous, multitudinous payments throughout our history, through to today in both human life terms, as in monetary terms, as well as our first posuk of Torah, as they cast their votes.
May we, the B’nei Yisrael be zocha that our brethren — the refugee families from Gush Katif be permanently settled and be made totally whole — be totally restituted for all that was stolen from them, that the thrice expelled families of Amona be restored to their rebuilt homes and the oft-destroyed Yeshiva buildings in Homesh be rebuilt, all at total government expense; due to alt-leftist-agendized, supreme court legalized Yassamnik gunpoint. Baruch Hashem that our dear brother Jonathan Pollard is now in his second year at home in Eretz Yisrael and embarking on a new chapter in his life. May Esther Yocheved bat Yechiel Avraham have an aliyah in Shemayim and may her spirit and memory continue to lift Jonathan to at least 120 years. May the MIAs be liberated alive and returned to us in ways befitting Al Kiddush Hashem — as with the return in April, 2019, via Russia, of the remains of Zachariah Baumel, as should the remains of the two chayalim from the Gaza War of eight years ago. May we have the courage and strength to stand up and physically prevent the possibility of Chas V’Challila any future eviction of Jews from their homes and prevent Chas V’Challila the handing of Jewish land over to anyone, let alone to enemies sworn to Israel’s and Judaism’s destruction and eradication. And may we soon and finally see the total end to the Communist Chinese corona virus pandemic and all like viruses. May we fulfill Hashem’s blueprint of B’nei Yisrael as a Unique people — an Am Segula, not to be reckoned with as with “the nations” and may we be zocha to see the Moshiach, the Ge’ula Shlaima, as Dov Shurin sings; “Ki Karov Yom Hashem Al’Kol HaGoyim”, the Ultimate Redemption, bimhayrah b’yamainu — speedily, in our time”, — Achshav, Chik Chuk, Miyad, Etmol!!!
Good Shabbos!
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Moshe Burt, an Oleh, is a commentator on news and events in Israel and Founder and Director of The Sefer Torah Recycling Network. He lives in Ramat Beit Shemesh.
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