B"H

Monday, Mar-Cheshvan 20, 5780 / November 18, 2019

In the beginning of this week’s Parsha, Chayei Sarah, we read about Sarah’s passing and how Abraham went about to search for a burial plot for her.  He meets Efron who owns a piece of land with a cave (Me’arat Hamachpeila) in it and offers to buy the land. 

Efron offers to give Abraham the parcel of land as a gift, but Abraham insists that he wants to purchase it. After some discussion, he bought it from Efron for the price of 400 silver shkalim. He buried Sarah there and 38 years later, Abraham was also buried there.  In addition, Yitzchak and his wife Rivkah and Yaakov and his wife Leah, were also buried in the Me’arat Hamachpeila.

To this day the Me’arat Hamachpeila in the city of Hebron, is one of the holy sites in Israel, where Jews come to pray. Every year on this Shabbat, Chayei Sarah, when we read the story of Abraham’s purchase of the Me’arat Hamachpeila and Sarah’s burial, the small Jewish community in Hebron hosts a special Shabbat attended by many Jews from all over Israel and elsewhere.

Later in the Parsha, the Torah relates in great length how Abraham’s servant, Eliezer, went about to find a wife for Yitzchak (Isaac). He chose Rivkah and brought her back with him. After testing her kindness and generosity, Eliezer was sure that he made the right choice. When Yitzchak brought her into his mother, Sarah’s, tent and seeing that the same miracles which happened to his mother also happened to her, did he realize Rivkah’s greatness and was comforted after his mother.  The void which Sarah left when she passed away, three years earlier, was filled through Rivkah.

Q.  Why did Abraham insist on purchasing the plot of land and not accepting it as a gift?

A.   Although all of Israel was given to Abraham and his descenda

nts, the Jewish people, as a G-dly gift, he wanted to make sure that no one ever claims that the Me’arat Hamachpeila does not rightfully belong to the Jewish people (as many unfortunately claim today).  Abraham wanted to buy it and pay it’s full value so that no one can ever argue that it doesn’t belong to his descendents.

Q.Parshat Chayei Sarah literally means, "the life of Sarah," How can the Parsha be called, “life of Sarah,” when we read about her physical death and burial?

A.Our sages say, "The righteous, even after they die are called alive, while the wicked even when they are alive are called dead."  Sarah, being the matriarch of the Jewish people, who live on to this very day, was considered "alive" even after physically leaving this world.

In addition, the Torah tells us in this Parsha that, when Yitzchak brought Rivkah into his mother's tent, "He was comforted after his mother."  For it was as if Sarah was still there.  Thus, Sarah continued living through the deeds and mitzvot of her son Yitzchak and his wife, Rivkah.

HAVE A VERY GOOD, HAPPY, HEALTHY AND SUCCESSFUL DAY