Hamaayan/The Torah Spring Edited by Shlomo Katz Parashat Chayei Sarah Volume VII, Number 5 (292) 25 Marcheshvan 5753/November 21, 1992 Why does the Torah devote so much space to the purchase of the "Me'arat haMachpelah"? Ibn Ezra offers two answers, one of which is that it demonstrates the fulfillment of Hashem's promise that Avraham would acquire the land of Eretz Yisrael. Was this Hashem's promise? asks R' Chaim David haLevi (the Sephardic Chief Rabbi of Tel Aviv), shlita. Avraham paid a fortune in silver coins to purchase Sarah's burial plot! With hindsight, and keeping in mind the lesson of "Ma'aseh Avot Siman laBanim" -- that which befell the patriarchs foreshadows that which will befall their descendants -- we can appreciate Ibn Ezra's explanation. The current resettlement of Eretz Yisrael began, like Avraham's settlement before it, not with military conquest, but with the purchase of land at often inflated prices. The Midrash notes that there were three sites in Eretz Yisrael which our ancestors purchased at or above full market value: the burial place of the patriarchs in Chevron (by Avraham), the burial place of Yosef in Shechem (by Yaakov), and the site of the Bet haMikdash in Yerushalayim (by David). What is the importance of this fact? It is significant because of the Halacha that military conquest cannot extinguish private property rights. [Note how the Halacha "knew" thousands of years ago that which is only now coming to be accepted in international law.l Hashem knew, of course, that in our day these three sites -- Yerushalayim, Chevron, and Shechem -- would be inhabited by non-Jews who would call us thieves, and He therefore caused our ancestors to buy these three sites for money, thus sealing forever our claim to them. (Aseh Lecha Rav IV p.82) ************************************ "And Sarah's life vas one hundred years and twenty years and seven years..." (23:1) Rashi notes the repetition of the word "years," and explains that the Torah is comparing all of Sarah's years to each other. She was as beautiful in her old age as she was in her youth, and as righteous in her youth as she was in her old age. Regarding this explanation, Ramban comments: To the contrary, the word "years" seems to separate each number from the others, suggesting that they were different from each other! R' Eliezer M. Shach suggests the following resolution to Ramban's question: Indeed, as Rashi writes, Sarah was righteous and beautiful at every stage of her life. In that sense, the years may be compared to each other. However, by emphasizing this point in a way which separates the different stages, the Torah informs us that at each stage of her life Sarah possessed the righteousness and beauty appropriate for a person of that age (be it seven, twenty, or one hundred). In the words of Chazal, "The minds of Torah scholars become more settled as they age [i.e. they continue to add wisdom commensurate with their level (Bartenura)]." Sarah was beautiful -- even when she was seven years old -- in the sense that a person's deeds are beautiful when they cause those who are aware of that person's stature to praise him or her. This is the Torah's praise of Sarah - that she was aware of the level which was expected of her and she rose to it appropriately. (Michtavim u'Ma'amarim p.62) ************************************ Rashi says that Sarah died upon hearing about the "Akeidah" (Avraham's sacrifice of Yitzchak). Was Sarah, who was a greater prophetess than Avraham, less willing than her husband to heed Hashem's command? Why then did she die? R' Moshe Sternbuch, shlita, explains: It is recorded in the work Maggid Mesharim that an angel told R' Yosef Karo (the author of the Shulchan Aruch) that he would merit to be killed for the sanctification of G-d's name. In his old age, R' Yosef Karo was disappointed that he had apparently lost that great merit, until an angel explained to him that he had done even better: he had lived a life which had sanctified G-d's name. When Sarah heard that her son was to die "Al Kiddush Hashem" -- for the sanctification of G-d's name -- she was disappointed. Why did he not merit to live "Al Kiddush Hashem"? This may explain why Avraham did not tell Sarah about the impending Akeidah. He wished to perform Hashem's commandment without second-guessing; Sarah, he feared, would pray that Yitzchak be allowed the chance to serve Hashem in life. (Ta'am vaDa'at) ************************************ "And Avraham was old, coming along in days, and Hashem blessed him 'baKol' (with everything)." (24:1) "And [Yitzchak] said, 'Who then trapped this food and brought it to me, and I ate "miKol" (from everything)?'" (27:33) "Please take my offering which was brought to you, for Hashem has been kind to me [Yaakov] and I have 'Kol' (everything)." (33:11) Ramban writes: Some see in these verses a deep idea, a secret from among the secrets of the Torah, i.e. that Hashem has an attribute called "Kol" which is the source of everything, as it is written (Yishayahu 44:24), "I am Hashem who makes 'Kol (everything)." R' Shneur Kotler (1918-1982), zatzal, elaborates on this idea: Everything in the world comes from one source (i.e. Hashem's creation), yet there appear to be infinite variations to the forms which things take. Similarly, a person should be capable of responding to every type of situation, but should always be guided by one, and only one, force. In Moreh Nevochim, Rambam demonstrates the application of this idea, writing that concentration and focus are important prerequisites to serving G-d. Esav, like Yaakov, was a person of great spiritual potential, but he was a man of the field" --his mind and his talents were spread over an "area" as vast as the outdoors. Yaakov, on the other hand, possessed the ability to concentrate; he was "a complete person, residing is a tent" -- an enclosed area. (Noam Siach p.16) ************************************ Onkelos (the Aramaic translation of the Torah) states: "Yitzchak brought Rivka into the house and he saw that her deeds were as fine as those of Sarah, his mother, and he married her" (24:67). How many miracles befell Eliezer in his search for Rivka? The road shortened under him, Rivka came out to the well just as Eliezer had prayed for, and Betuel (Rivka's father) who opposed Eliezer died, to name just a few. Yet all of this, notes R' Yitzchak Ze'ev Soloveitchik (1887-1959), zatzal, was not the reason that Yitzchak married Rivka. Rather, he did so because he saw that her deeds emulated those of the righteous Sarah. (Chiddushei haCriz [stencil] p.9) ************************************ June, 1942. Palestine, along with the rest of the Middle East trembled before the advancing armies of Erwin Rommel, the German Field Marshal nicknamed, "The Desert Fox." Although the 17th of Tamuz had not yet arrived, the Jews of the Holy Land already felt as if Tisha b'Av was upon them. Amidst all of this, R' Yosef Kahaneman (the "Ponovezher Rav"), zatzal (1886-1969) informed R' Betzalel Zolti (the then-future Rav of Yerushalayim), zatzal (1920-1983) that he had borrowed 500 pounds and bought land in Bnei Brak on which to build a Yeshiva. R' Betzalel was astounded. "Today, of all days, you spend money to buy land in Eretz Yisrael? With the Jewish people in such danger, how can you even think of building now?!" The Ponovezher Rav smiled and answered, "The precedent for my actions is found in the Book of Yirmiyahu (ch.32), where Hashem commanded Yirmiyahu, in the days just preceding the Temple's destruction, to buy land that would be offered to him for sale. Chazal teach that there were millions of prophets, but only the words of those 55 men and women who taught lasting messages were recorded in Tanach. Yirmiyahu's prophecy teaches us that even when our situation appears darkest we must not forsake the future which we have in Eretz Yisrael." (condensed from The Maggid Speaks, p.185) ************************************ The learning schedule for this Shabbat is: Mikavot 3:3-4 O.C. 514:6-8 Ketubot 25 Yerushalmi - Niddah 2 ************************************ The hard copy distribution of this week's Hamaayan is sponsored by: The Parness family in memory of Max Parness A"H ************************************ Donations to Hamaayan are tax deductible