פרשת חיי שרה תש"י - קניית מערת המכפלה

מקצר רוח THROUGH ANGUISH (lit. shortness) OF SPIRIT — If one is in anguish his breath comes in short gasps and he cannot draw long breaths. In a somewhat similar manner to this I heard this section expounded by Rabbi Baruch the son of Rabbi Eliezer, and he cited the following verse to me in proof of his explanation: (Jeremiah 16:21) “This once will I cause them to know My hand and My might, and they shall know that My Name is the Lord”. Rabbi Baruch said: we may learn from this text that when the Holy One, blessed be He, fulfils His words, even when it is a matter of punishment, He makes it known that His Name is the Lord; and, of course, this is all the more so, when He fulfils His words in a matter of bestowing reward. — Our Rabbis explained it (this section) as having reference to what precedes it — that Moses said (5:22): “Wherefore hast thou done so evil [to this people]”. Whereupon God said to him, “Alas, for those that are gone (i. e. the patriarchs) and are no more to be found! I really have reason to deplore the death of the patriarchs. Many a time did I reveal Myself to them by the name ‘God Almighty’, and not once did they ask Me, What is Thy Name? (i. e. what is the name that describes Thy true essence); but thou hast at once said (Exodus 3:13) “[If they ask] ‘what is His name’, what shall I say unto them?!” (Exodus Rabbah 6:4; Sanhedrin 111a).

וגם הקמתי וגו׳ ALSO I SET UP [MY COVENANT WITH THEM TO GIVE THEM THE LAND OF CANAAN], and yet when Abraham wished to bury Sarah he could not obtain a grave until he purchased one at a high price. So, too, in the case of Isaac, people strove with him for possession of the wells which he had dug. Similarly, of Jacob it is stated, (Genesis 33:19) “He purchased a parcel of field,” in which to pitch his tent. Yet none of them criticised My dealings with them, whilst you say “Wherefore hast Thou done so evil [to this people!]” — But this Midrashic exposition does not fit in with the text for several reasons. Firstly, because Scripture does not state “And they did not ask of Me regarding my Name, the Lord”. And if you say in refutation of my objection that they did not mean that ושמי ה' לא נודעתי actually signifies that they did not ask what is My Name, but it means “He did not tell them that this was His Name and yet they did not ask Him what it was”, then I reply that these words cannot mean that He did not tell them His name, for at the very first when He revealed Himself to Abraham at the Covenant “between the pieces’’ it is said, (Genesis 15:7) “I am the Lord (אני ה׳) who brought thee out from Ur of the Chaldees”. Further (secondly), how does the context run on to the statements which Scripture places after the above verses, viz., “And I have also heard etc.” and “Wherefore say unto the children of Israel etc.”? Therefore I say: let Scripture be explained in its literal sense so that each statement fits into its proper setting, but the Midrashic exposition may also be given, if you like, as it is said (Jeremiah 23:29) “Is not my word like as fire, saith the Lord, and like a hammer which, by the force of its own blow, the rock at which it strikes shatters in pieces”.

“And he bought the part of the field where he had pitched his tent from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem, for a hundred kesitas.” (Bereshit 33:19) R’ Yudan bar Simon said: this is one of the three places about which the nations of the world cannot defraud Israel and say ‘this is stolen property in your hands.’ They are – the cave of the Machpela, the Holy Temple and the grave of Yosef. The cave of the Machpela, as it is written “And Abraham listened to Ephron, and Abraham weighed out to Ephron the silver…” (Bereshit 23:16) The Holy Temple, as it is written “And David gave to Ornan for the place shekels of gold weighing six hundred.” (Divre HaYamim I 21:25) The grave of Yosef, as it is written ““And he bought the part of the field where he had pitched his tent…” (Bereshit 33:19)

AND AFTER THIS, ABRAHAM BURIED SARAH:

And afterwards, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah, facing Mamre, which is Hebron, in the land of Canaan. The explanation of "And afterwards, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah,etc., which is Hebron, in the land of Canaan." is that the Torah returns to describe the field the place and land, for the whole section refers to the 'the children of Chet and Efron the Chiti; therefore the Torah mentions at the end that its "in the land of Canaan" which is Israel. Likewise, in the beginning it says "in Kiriat Arba, -dwhich is Chevron in the land of Canaan" And all this is to make it clear Sarah died in Israel and buried there fort the Chitim were one of the Canaanite families. In my opinion the reason for these passukim is only to note that this was the land of Canaan and not the land of Pelishtim. For the Torah says "Avram dwelt in the land of the Pelishtim many years" and all of his sojourning's were in that land- in Gerar, the Gerar valley, and Be'er Sheva, and from there to Chevron and from Chevron to there; therefore the Torah mentions that Chevron is in the land of "the Canaanites who dwells in the mountain" and not in the land of the Pelishtim which is [often] mentioned [in connection] with Avram. Then in the end The Torah adds [a description of where the cave was] to tell us that the cave which was in the field of Machpelah was "facing Mamre" for this name (i.e. Mamre) was better known at that time. This section was written to tell us of the many acts of kindness that G-d did for Avram. For ha became "a prince of G-d" in the land despite that he had come only to sojourn and he was a lone individual [without a following]. Also, everyone called him "my lord" though he didnt refer to himself this way [for he never said] to them he was a prince or important person. Also in his lifetime G-d fulfilled for him "I will make your name great and you shall be a blessing" [Another kindness G-d did for him] was that when his wife died she was buried in the "heritage land of G-d." Also the Torah wanted to tell us of the place of our forefathers burial., being that we are obliged to honor the site of our saintly forefathers burial. Our Rabbis say this too was one of Avram's tests, that he sought a place in which to bury Sarah, and didnt find until he bought it. I don't know any explanation for the words of Ibn Ezra, who says "[this section was written] to tell us of the eminence of Israel for the living and dead, and also to show the fulfilment of G-d's word to Avram that Israel would be his heritage land." For what eminence do we see here? For Avram wasn't going to transport her body to another place to bury her! Also G-d's promise is on the WHOLE land [not a single burial cave and its field like in tis case] so [its clear] the promise was fulfilled only for his future offspring.

The part of the field. One who acquires a portion in the Holy Land is likened to one who acquires a portion in the World to Come.

And the children of Heth answered Abraham, saying unto him: ’Hear us, my lord: thou art a mighty prince among us; in the choice of our sepulchres bury thy dead; none of us shall withhold from thee his sepulchre, but that thou mayest bury thy dead.’ And Abraham rose up, and bowed down to the people of the land, even to the children of Heth. And he spoke with them, saying: ‘If it be your mind that I should bury my dead out of my sight, hear me, and entreat for me to Ephron the son of Zohar,

במבחר קברנו, they possessed many caves within which to bury the dead, and each family had such a cave reserved for interring its dead. Every corpse was buried in an individual coffin, the overall description of such a place being the word קבר, tomb. This is why the spokesman spoke of איש ממנו את קברו, he considered not the individual grave but the family’s burial grounds. They intended that Avraham should ask one of them to share their family plots with him.

And he spoke with them, saying: ‘If it be your mind that I should bury my dead out of my sight, hear me, and entreat for me to Ephron the son of Zohar,

If it is really your will. I will not bury my dead anywhere else, so if you wish to help me — intercede for me with Ephron. Which is at the end of his field. Avraham noted that Ephron did not use it as a burial ground but considered it simply part of his field.

ופגעו לי בעפרון, that he will sell me this cave even though it is not an agreeable thing for a highly placed person to sell any portion of his land-holdings. We know this from Navot (Kings I 21,3) who had been aghast at the suggestion of selling his vineyard to the king. His precise words were: חלילה לי מתתי את נחלת אבותי לך, “far be it from me to give you any part of my ancestral heritage.”