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Rabbis' Blog

The Holy City of Chevron

Although the entire land of Israel is known as the Holy Land, only specific cities are called “Holy Cities.” One of them is Jerusalem because it is the site of the Holy Temple. Another one is the city of Chevron because it is the site of the “Machpeila Cave” - the burial grounds of our patriarchs Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov and our matriarchs Sarah, Rivka and Leah.

In this week’s parsha, we learn about the passing of our matriarch Sarah and Avraham’s efforts to procure a proper burial site for her. By prophetic vision, he knew that the cave in the property of Efron the Hittite in the city of Chevron was where the first humans, Adam and Eve, were buried, and he determined it the appropriate place for the first Jewish cemetery.

Ironically, Chevron is today one of the cities in Israel where it is complicated for Jews to live. Its thriving centuries-old Jewish community was viciously destroyed by a bloodthirsty arab pogrom in the summer of 1929. Even after the Israeli forces liberated the city during the Six-Day War in 1967, the official policy about allowing the rightful and truthful residents to return to it has been toothless and informed by intimidation and fear from our mortal enemies. As we read the parsha this week let’s appreciate that of all the sites in Israel, Chevron has belonged to us through legal purchase for over 3,700 years, 400 years before the Israelites settled the land.

But here is another important lesson we learn from the Torah narrative of the purchase of the Machpeila Cave. Instead of simply notifying us that Avraham managed to purchase the site, the Torah dedicates many verses recording specific details of his negotiations with the Hittite people.

This was the opening line to his request. “I am a foreigner and a resident among you. Allow me to purchase a piece of property that I can make into a family burial ground within the territory you control so that I can bury my dead wife.”

Why did Avraham find it necessary to present his residential status in their midst? He had been living in the land for over sixty years and it made sense for him to seek burial grounds locally instead of burying Sarah in his original birthplace where he was despised.

With his opening statement, Avraham signaled to the locals how he intended to negotiate with them. He acknowledged they had occupied the land before him and the only way he could own the burial grounds he sought at the time would be through legal purchase. However, if they refused to sell him the grounds he would seize it from them as “a resident,” since G-d had promised the land to him and his descendants.

Avraham’s posture was polite but firm. He was ready to do business fairly but clarified that the land's destiny, by divine gift, was in Jewish hands and not in Hittite hands.

To put it in more relatable terms, Mitzvot should be done with politeness and sensitivity to others, but all obstacles to doing a Mitzvah must be faced with ironclad confidence and uncompromising devotion.

 

When the data is irrelevant

Election season is a busy time for political scientists. During the campaigns, they predict the outcomes, and after the elections, they try to understand them. On both ends they rely heavily on the data, which is what all scientific regimens depend on: data, data, data. While most things in our world can be explained or at least probed with scientific methods based on reliable data, the existence of the Jewish nation today is one glaring exception. The stories in this week’s parsha portray how this anomaly is at the core of our Jewish identity.

Avraham was a man of genuine curiosity, intelligence, and integrity. When he discovered the truth of G-d on his own at a young age he worked tirelessly to promote monotheism in a society dominated by idolatry for centuries. He and his wife Sarah did this holy work together with grace and generosity through their legendary hospitality at the crossroads of civilization. Over time, he came to be respected by friend and foe alike, until all the nations unanimously designated Avraham as a prince and leader among them. But although they respected him, they mocked his monotheistic beliefs.

One of his chief critics was a literal giant of a king named Og. He often argued that although Avraham’s ideas were gradually gaining popularity, the fact he and Sarah had no children of their own meant monotheism was a passing fad in a world that would always remain dominated by idolatry. He predicted that Avraham would ultimately be a footnote in history.

When G-d blessed Avraham at the age of 100 and Sarah at the age of 90 with their son Yitzchak, all the world leaders, including Og, participated in the huge celebration held in honor of the Bris done with the eight-day-old Yitzchak. The Talmud relates that during the feast, Og was asked if he was reconsidering his prediction in light of the miracle of Avraham and Sarah birthing a son.

Og mockingly pointed out some laws of social gravity. Ideological revolutions need large followings and this tiny baby was hardly a match for the mass of humanity comfortably entrenched in idolatry. In addition, Yitzchak was a full century younger than his father - an insurmountable generation gap - and there was no chance the young and probably progressive Yitzchak would ever buy into Avraham’s eccentric beliefs. “And besides,” Og concluded, “I can crush this little child with my pinky finger.”

Things did not work out according to Og’s expert and sage predictions based on the clear data available to him at the time. Four hundred and forty years later, approximately three million of Yitzchak’s descendants waged war on Og’s nation and their leader Moshe killed him with a spear blow to the ankle.

Jewish survival worries many people and recent events make this a valid concern. But searching for the answers or solutions to this problem in social sciences or any academic regimens outside of Torah is as silly as seeking medical advice from a cake recipe. Investing in Jewish education, observance and pride is the only way to ensure Jewish continuity. And it all starts with ourselves as individuals. When we study Torah and do Mitzvot proudly, we become an inspiration for others and pave the way for the realization of the divine promise to our patriarchs and matriarchs of a world enveloped in the awareness of its creator, which will usher in an era of true peace and tranquility for all.

 

Our Deed of Ownership

Someone once asked me why Israel plays such an outsized role in the collective Jewish consciousness. Even Jews who have never been there, have no family living there, and have no grasp on the lifestyle of its inhabitants or its form of government, are very passionate about it.

Outside the Jewish community, there is a tendency to connect what is going on in Israel with Jews outside of Israel. This past year alone proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that what happens in Israel has an impact on Jews around the world. What’s the deal?

In this week’s parsha we learn about Abraham, the first of the Jewish patriarchs. His spiritual journey from his father’s heathen beliefs to discovering G-d the Creator of the world started the process of the creation of the present-day Jewish nation. Abraham’s dedication to G-d and literal self-sacrifice to popularize monotheism made him so beloved to G-d that he was chosen to be the beginning of what would become the “Chosen Nation.” A people entrusted with the awesome task of being G-d’s ambassadors to the world.

The narrative opens with G-d’s instruction to Abraham to move away from his birthplace and travel to “the land I will show you.” When he arrived in the area then called the Land of Canaan, G-d promised him the land would be an eternal inheritance for his descendants. This becomes an integral detail of the covenant G-d makes with Abraham, reiterated numerous times throughout the parsha.

So the Jewish connection to Israel is not coincidental or even historical. Our relationship to this land goes to the core of what it means to be a Jew. Even if we do not live in the geographical location called the Land of Israel, we are bound up with its destiny and whatever happens there matters very much to all of us wherever we may be.

The Rebbe explained that understanding this truth and projecting it to the world is a vital step to ensuring true and everlasting security for our brothers and sisters in Israel and by extension throughout the world. I encourage you to watch this 18-minute film produced by Jewish Educational Media, which presents this foundational idea based on the Rebbe’s teachings and guidance in connection with the ongoing security challenges faced by Israel.

Israel's Deed of Ownership: The Rebbe's Roadmap to Peace, Episode 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmY3-GXJ0Rs

Let us proudly cherish our connection to our eternal homeland and prepare the entire world for the era of Moshiach by doing more Mitzvot and encouraging everyone to increase in acts of goodness and kindness, which will usher in an era of true global peace and tranquility for all.

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