Page 3 - HaMizrachiChayei Sarah AUS 2020

TORAT MIZRACHI

Rabbi Doron Perez

The Obsession

with Land

was not born into a religious family to him and his progeny once again. – stands out more than any other, in
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but grew up in a warm and tradi- G-d makes two distinct and dramatic three distinct ways. First, it is the site
I tional South African Jewish home. covenants with him, promising that of the first legally purchased part of
To the great credit of my dear parents, his children will return after Exile the Land, the Cave of Machpelah,
and through the influence of a young and that the Land will be an ‘Eternal which Avraham acquires to bury
dynamic Rabbi, we began going to shul Inheritance’ for them. 3 Sarah. Second, despite our forefa-
on Shabbat on a regular basis, which thers’ many travels and sojournings,
sparked the beginning of a spiritual G-d forbids Yitzchak from leaving the Chevron is the main area in the Land
transformation. I was 12 years old when Land, despite famine, and he spends where all three of them lived. And
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this family odyssey towards more seri- his entire life there. G-d promises the third, it is where all three sets of our
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ous Torah observance began. Land to him and his children. forefathers and mothers are buried. 9
A good place to start studying Torah To escape his brother, Ya’akov has Therefore, Chevron – more than any
was from the very beginning, so I no choice but to leave the Land, but other place – represents our founding
began with the book of Bereishit. As his whole life revolves around it. In fathers’ and mothers’ extraordinary
I began learning about Avraham, I his dream on departure, G-d assures connection to the Land.
was totally perplexed. The very first him he will return and 20 years later
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time G-d speaks to the very first Jew, commands him to do so. Upon his As I was finishing high school, I made
He commands him to leave wher- return, Ya’akov is promised the Land a further amazing discovery. One of
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ever he is and to journey to another for him and his children. Then after the world’s leading historians, Paul
land to fulfill his destiny. This baffled being pushed into Exile once again, Johnson, had just published his mon-
me. After all, was this really the most to reunite with his son Yosef in Egypt, umental work, “A History of the Jews,”
important thing for Avraham to do Ya’akov asks Yosef to swear to bury in which he highlighted the very same
in order to begin his mission? What him in the grave of his forefathers in reflections about the Land in general
about studying Torah, keeping mitz- the Land. 7 and Chevron in particular.
vot, committing himself to total obe- The book of Bereishit ends coun-
dience to fulfill the will of G-d? terintuitively with Yosef, despite his In his opening chapter, he emphasized
the remarkable centrality of the Land
Incredibly, the more I studied the meteoric success in Egypt, making from the dawn of Jewish history: “The
book of Bereishit, the more I realized his family promise to bury him in election of Abraham and his descen-
that this original encounter between the Land of his fathers. Remarkably, dants for a special role in G-d’s prov-
G-d and Avraham was not an excep- the last verse of the book conveys his idence, and the donation of the land,
tion but rather the rule. It seemed as if death, embalming and placing him in are inseparable in the Biblical presen-
G-d had some type of obsession, so to a coffin. No burial is mentioned. The tation of history.” 10
speak, with this Land. It was clear that message is clear – he is waiting, no Strikingly, Johnson traces the very
matter for how long, to return to the
the new spiritual mission of Avraham beginning of Jewish history to Chev-
and his children was somehow inex- Land with the Children of Israel and ron itself: “The Jews are the most
to be buried there.
tricably linked to this tract of land. tenacious people in history. Chevron
The singling out of a person, a family is there to prove it. It lies 20 miles
This conclusion is inescapable. As and a people for a unique mission is
soon as Avraham arrives, G-d prom- interlocked at every stage with the south of Jerusalem, 3,000 feet up in
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ises to give the Land to his children. singling out of the Land. They are the Judean Hills. There, in the Cave
As he returns from Egypt after the inseparable. of Machpelah, are the Tombs of the
famine, G-d commands him to walk Patriarchs. According to ancient tra-
around the Land, look in all direc- I also noticed that in the book of Bere- dition, one sepulcher, itself of great
tions and promises the whole Land ishit, one city in the Land – Chevron antiquity, contains the mortal remains
Continued on page 4

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