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TORAT MIZRACHI MIZRACHI EDUCATORS

Rabbi Reuven Taragin Rabbanit Shani Taragin

The Big Deal

Visiting Was A Big Deal right to the Land by burying in land he Nachshon’s four-month-old son, died
owned after having legally purchased 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 the
take our talmidim to Ma’arat HaMach- Efron to sell him the Ma’ara. Though Arabs had desecrated it. The govern-
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pelah to daven on behalf of the Jewish Efron offers him the land for free, Avra- ment sent soldiers to stop her, but they
people. ham insists on paying full price. He could not hold her back as she carried
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wants his ownership of the land to be
I have visited the Ma’ara many clear, known and indisputable. her dead baby in her arms and marched
times, but this time was very dif- 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- years ago, Avraham buried his wife
empty. We were allowed inside in ically summarizes the story in three Sarah in Chevron, thus beginning the
small groups, each for a short amount segments: Jewish settlement there. I now bury
of time. We were of the few able to
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- Looking Forward
chase, Avraham buried Sarah there.
The Torah Makes A Big Deal My students and I were lucky to visit
3. Pasuk 20: (After and as a result of on the eve of the day we commemorate
Do we really need 20 pesukim? Couldn’t these two actions) the land became
the Torah describe the purchase of Avraham’s achuzat kever. our ancestors’ commitment to avodat
Ma’arat HaMachpelah in two or three? Hashem. May our own commitment
Didn’t Avraham have a simple request? to avodat Hashem and to our ancestral
Why were three rounds of conversation The Deal’s Significance homeland soon afford us the ability
needed to close what one would think The Midrash teaches that others to once again visit Chevron and all of
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was a standard deal and why does the cannot accuse us of having stolen Eretz Yisrael without any limitation at
Torah include the whole discussion? Ma’arat HaMachpelah (or Har HaBayit all.
and Kever Yosef) because it is a precious
It Was A Big Deal site that our ancestors purchased. Sadly, 1 To emphasize their point, Bnei Chet mention
many do dispute our rights to these kevura (burial), as opposed to achuza (estate)
A careful reading reveals an underly- places. Nevertheless, Avraham’s pur- five times (Bereishit 23:6).
ing tension and disagreement about chase – and the subsequent burial of 2 Ibid 23:4, 9.
what Avraham ought to receive. Bnei our ancestors there – should heighten 3 Ibid 23:9.
Chet were willing to give Avraham a our internal sense of our irrefutable 4 Ibid 23:11–16.
burial plot. Avraham wanted more right to ‘the city of our ancestors.’ 5 Bereishit Rabbah 79:7.
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though. He sought an achuzat kever 6 Avraham Ben Sarah – Return to Hebron,
– a burial estate. Many people had Rabbi Noam Himmelstein, The Jewish Star
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and would pass through the Land of We Continue to Connect To January 17, 2013.
Israel. Through his wife’s (and eventu- Chevron Through Burial Rabbi Reuven Taragin is Educational
ally his own) death, Avraham wanted In 1975, soon after the Jewish return Director of Mizrachi and Dean of the Yeshi-
to cement his relationship with and to Chevron, little Avraham, Sarah vat HaKotel Overseas Program.

8 | Photo courtesy of the Jewish Community of Hebron