Page 8 - HaMizrachiChayei Sarah AUS 2020

TORAT MIZRACHI MIZRACHI EDUCATORS

Rabbi Reuven Taragin Rabbanit Shani Taragin

The Big Deal

Visiting Was A Big Deal owned after having legally purchased Nachshon’s four-month-old son, died
it. of SIDS. His mother decided to bury
rev Rosh Hashanah, pre-lock- him in the ancient Jewish cemetery
down, we at Yeshivat Hakotel were Undeterred by the locals’ attempt to of Chevron. No Jews had been buried
Eblessed to receive permission to minimize his request, Avraham asks there since the 1929 pogroms and
take our talmidim to Ma’arat HaMach- Efron to sell him the Ma’ara. Though the Arabs had desecrated it. The gov-
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pelah to daven on behalf of the Jewish Efron offers him the land for free, ernment sent soldiers to stop her, but
people. Avraham insists on paying full price. 4 they could not hold her back as she
He wants his ownership of the land to
I have visited the Ma’ara many be clear, known and indisputable. carried her dead baby in her arms and
times, but this time was very dif- marched to Chevron on foot.
ferent. There was an eerie silence To reinforce the details of Avraham’s As she buried her son, she said, “3,800
as the place was almost completely accomplishments, the Torah method-
empty. We were allowed inside in ically summarizes the story in three years ago, Avraham buried his wife
small groups, each for a short amount segments: Sarah in Chevron, thus beginning the
of time. We were of the few able to Jewish settlement there. I now bury
beseech our avot and imahot up close 1. Pesukim 17–18: Avraham pur- Avraham the son of Sarah, and this will
to daven for us on the night when chased the land (delineated in be the beginning of the rebirth of this
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selichot focus on asking Hashem to detail). Jewish city.”
remember His covenant with them. 2. Pasuk 19: (Only) after the pur-
chase, Avraham buried Sarah Looking Forward
The Torah Makes A Big Deal there. My students and I were lucky to visit

Do we really need 20 pesukim? 3. Pasuk 20: (After and as a result on the eve of the day we commemorate
Couldn’t the Torah describe the pur- of these two actions) the land our ancestors’ commitment to avodat
chase of Ma’arat HaMachpelah in became Avraham’s achuzat kever. Hashem. May our own commitment
two or three? Didn’t Avraham have to avodat Hashem and to our ancestral
a simple request? Why were three homeland soon afford us the ability
rounds of conversation needed to close The Deal’s Significance to once again visit Chevron and all of
what one would think was a standard The Midrash teaches that others Eretz Yisrael without any limitation at
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deal and why does the Torah include cannot accuse us of having stolen all.
the whole discussion? Ma’arat HaMachpelah (or Har HaBa-
yit and Kever Yosef) because it is a
It Was A Big Deal precious site that our ancestors pur- 1 To emphasize their point, Bnei Chet men-
tion kevura (burial), as opposed to achuza
chased. Sadly, many do dispute our (estate) five times (Bereishit 23:6).
A careful reading reveals an underly- rights to these places. Nevertheless, 2 Ibid 23:4, 9.
ing tension and disagreement about Avraham’s purchase – and the subse- 3 Ibid 23:9.
what Avraham ought to receive. Bnei quent burial of our ancestors there – 4 Ibid 23:11–16.
Chet were willing to give Avraham a should heighten our internal sense of 5 Bereishit Rabbah 79:7.
burial plot. Avraham wanted more our irrefutable right to ‘the city of our 6 Avraham Ben Sarah – Return to Hebron,
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though. He sought an achuzat kever ancestors.’ Rabbi Noam Himmelstein, The Jewish Star
– a burial estate. Many people had January 17, 2013.
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and would pass through the Land of
Israel. Through his wife’s (and eventu- We Continue to Connect To
ally his own) death, Avraham wanted Chevron Through Burial Rabbi Reuven Taragin is Educational
to cement his relationship with and In 1975, soon after the Jewish return Director of Mizrachi and Dean of the
right to the Land by burying in land he to Chevron, little Avraham, Sarah Yeshivat HaKotel Overseas Program.

8 | Photo courtesy of the Jewish Community of Hebron