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GLOBAL RELIGIOUS LEADERS

Rabbi Hershel Schachter

Kever Avot

הָנ ְ ק ִ מ ְ ל ם ָ ה ָ ר ְ ב ַ א ְ ל ...הל ֵּ פ ְ כ ַּ מ ַּ ב ר ֶ ׁש ֲ א ןֹור ְ פ ֶ ע ה ֵ ד ְ ׂש ם ָ קָּי ַ ו – the National Homeland of his understand how a good Frenchman
ה ָ ר ָ ׂש־ת ֶ א ם ָ ה ָ ר ְ ב ַ א ר ַ ב ָ ק ן ֵ כ י ֵ ר ֲ ח ַ א ְ ו ...ת ֵ ח יֵנ ְ ב יֵני ֵ ע ְ ל descendants. can be buried in another land!”
ם ָ ה ָ ר ְ ב ַ א ְ ל ֹו ּ ב־ר ֶ ׁש ֲ א ה ָ ר ָ ע ְּ מ ַ ה ְ ו ה ֶ ד ָּ ׂש ַ ה ם ָ קָּי ַ ו ...ֹו ּ ת ְ ׁש ִ א
.תֵֽ ח יֵנ ְּ ב ת ֵ א ֵ מ ר ֶ ב ָ ק תַּז ֻ ח ֲ א ַ ל The Ramban (Bereishit 23:19), com- Although he was not that observant
menting on the many acts of kindness of mitzvot, Baron Rothschild felt he
nd Efron’s field, which was in that G-d did for Avraham, highlights should be buried in Eretz Yisrael, rec-
Machpelah, was confirmed … this point. First, despite the fact he ognizing it as our National Home-
Aas Avraham’s, as a purchase in was a stranger, Avraham was accorded land. Ya’akov told his children and his
the view of the children of Chet… And great honor, thereby fulfilling in his grandchildren, as did Yosef, that he
afterward, Avraham buried Sarah his lifetime the promise of ך ֶ מ ְ ׁש ה ָ ל ְ ּ ד ַ ג ֲ א ַ ו – wanted to be buried in Eretz Yisrael
ָ
wife… Thus, the field with its cave was “I will make your name great” (12:2). since he wanted everyone to keep in
confirmed as Avraham’s as an estate for Furthermore, when his wife died, he mind our strong connection to Eretz
a burial site, from the children of Chet. merited that she was buried in “nacha- Yisrael. Nechemiah, upon being ques-
(Bereishit 23:17-20). lat Hashem” – the heritage-land of tioned by King Artachshasta over his

Rav Soloveitchik questioned the repe- G-d. The Ramban thus implies that the downcast appearance, responded in a
tition in these verses. Why do we need acquisition of Ma’arat HaMachpelah, similar vein: רי ִ ע ָ ה ר ֶ ׁש ֲ א יַנ ָ פ ּוע ְ רֵי־אלֹ ַ עּו ּ ד ַ מ
to be told twice that the land was con- specifically as a הָּז ֻ ח ֲ א ה ֵ ד ְ ׂש, represented ה ָ ב ֵ ר ֲ ח י ַ תֹב ֲ א תֹור ְ ב ִ ק־תי ֵּ ב – “Why should
firmed as being owned by Avraham? the beginning of the fulfillment of my face not be downcast when the
G-d’s promise to Avraham that Eretz city of my ancestors’ graves is in ruin?”
The Rav noted an apparent shift in the Yisrael would be his nachala. (Nechemiah 2:3).
status of Avraham’s possession of the
field of Efron, from that of a הָנ ְ ק ִ מ ה ֵ ד ְ ׂש Rav Soloveitchik (Divrei Hashkafah, People have a deep attachment to the
– a purchased field – to that of a ה ֵ ד ְ ׂש 1994 ed., pp. 37-38) recounted an place of kever avot, and Jews are simi-
הָּז ֻ ח ֲ א – an ancestral field. Accordingly, incident he heard from Alain de larly drawn to Eretz Yisrael, where our
he explained the sequence of verses as Rothschild of Paris. In 1949, after the Avot and Imahot are buried. This rela-
follows: at first, Avraham bought the War of Independence, the family of tionship began in our parsha through
the Nadiv HaYadua (“The Famous
field merely as a purchase of real estate. the burial of Sarah Imeinu. 1
However, after he buried Sarah there, Benefactor”), Baron Edmond de Roth-
his relationship with the land was trans- schild, began to make plans to re-inter Adapted from Rav Schachter on the Parsha II.
his remains and those of his wife in
formed; it was now an ancestral heritage
for him, and he understood he would Eretz Yisrael. When General Charles 1 See MiPninei HaRav, 2001 ed., pp. 274-275.
never leave that Land. Indeed, one is de Gaulle heard of the plans, he sum-
moned James de Rothschild, the
not permitted to sell his ancestral field baron’s son, and remarked to him, “I
unless he becomes impoverished, and
even then, he should try not to sell all always thought the Rothschild family
was completely loyal to France. Now, I
of it (Rashi, Vayikra 25:25).
want to ask you, what is true loyalty?”
That is why the phrase תֵֽ ח יֵנ ְּ ב ת ֵ א ֵ מ is De Gaulle answered his own ques-
used in relation to the ר ֶ ב ֶ ק תַּז ֻ ח ֲ א, in tion: “A true Frenchman is one who
contrast to ת ֵ ח יֵנ ְ ב יֵני ֵ ע ְ ל. This denotes was educated in French schools, who
the complete removal of the land fights for France in times of war, who
from the control of bnei Chet into contributes to French society. And a Rabbi Hershel Schachter is Rosh Yeshiva
the possession of Avraham, for good Frenchman is also one who lives, and Rosh Kollel at Rabbi Isaac Elchanan
whom it became a “land of destiny” dies and is buried in France. I cannot Theological Seminary of Yeshiva University.

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