To Whom Does Israel Belong? - Chayei Sarah
וַיָּקָם שְׂדֵה עֶפְרוֹן אֲשֶׁר בַּמַּכְפֵּלָה אֲשֶׁר לִפְנֵי מַמְרֵא הַשָּׂדֶה וְהַמְּעָרָה אֲשֶׁר בּוֹ וְכָל הָעֵץ אֲשֶׁר בַּשָּׂדֶה אֲשֶׁר בְּכָל גְּבֻלוֹ סָבִיב. לְאַבְרָהָם לְמִקְנָה לְעֵינֵי בְנֵי חֵת בְּכֹל בָּאֵי שַׁעַר עִירוֹ. (בראשית כג, יז-יח)
The Midrash (Breishit Rabba 79,7) says – "R' Yudan ben Simon says there are three parcels of land over which the nations of the world cannot dispute ownership. They belong to Am Yisrael –
Me'arat HaMachpeila, as it says - וַיִּשְׁמַע אַבְרָהָם אֶל עֶפְרוֹן וַיִּשְׁקֹל אַבְרָהָם לְעֶפְרֹן אֶת הַכֶּסֶף אֲשֶׁר דִּבֶּר בְּאָזְנֵי בְנֵי חֵת אַרְבַּע מֵאוֹת שֶׁקֶל כֶּסֶף עֹבֵר לַסֹּחֵר (בראשית כג, טז).
Kever Yosef, as it says - וַיִּקֶן אֶת חֶלְקַת הַשָּׂדֶה אֲשֶׁר נָטָה שָׁם אָהֳלוֹ מִיַּד בְּנֵי חֲמוֹר אֲבִי שְׁכֶם בְּמֵאָה קְשִׂיטָה (בראשית לג, יו).
The Beit Hamikdash, as it says – וַיֹּאמֶר הַמֶּלֶךְ דָּוִיד לְאָרְנָן לֹא כִּי קָנֹה אֶקְנֶה בְּכֶסֶף מָלֵא כִּי לֹא אֶשָּׂא אֲשֶׁר לְךָ לַה' וְהַעֲלוֹת עוֹלָה חִנָּם. וַיִּתֵּן דָּוִיד לְאָרְנָן בַּמָּקוֹם שִׁקְלֵי זָהָב מִשְׁקָל שֵׁשׁ מֵאוֹת (דברי הימים א, כא, כד-כה).
To prove ownership over a parcel of land, one is required to show the deed of sale. The "deeds of sale" for the above three tracts of land are clearly documented for all eternity in the Torah and were paid for in full. All these three locations were in fact offered to the purchaser as a free gift, however, in all cases the purchasers (Avraham, Yaakov and David) insisted on paying for them in full. Not only were they paid for in full, but their purchase price was inflated way beyond the norm for similar land at the time.
The field of Efron had a bad reputation, it was said to be haunted. Anyone happening to wander into the field reported encountering a demon wielding a sword. As viable real estate it was worthless.
According to one opinion in the Midrash the purchase of Me'arat HaMachpeila did not take place after Sarah died, but long before. In last week's parsha Vayeira, we read that Avraham prepared three dishes of calf tongue in mustard sauce for the visiting angels.
One of the calves ran away and Avraham chased after it into a cave, which he discovered was the burial place of Adam and Chava. How did he know that it was Adam who was buried there? Because the person was 100 amot long (50m)!
After Adam sinned, HKB"H diminished his stature to "only" 100 amot (Sanhedrin 38b). According to the Midrash (Breishit Rabba 58, 8), R' Abahu says that HKB"H "folded" Adam in half and buried him there and that is why it is called Me'arat HaMachpeila from the root of the word כפל.
When Avraham told Sarah of his discovery, she requested that he purchase the land as a burial place for the two of them. As it says in the Midrash (Tanchuma, Chayei Sarah, 3), Avraham's eulogy for Sarah were the words of Eshet Chayil, as they appear in sefer Mishlei. The verse זָמְמָה שָׂדֶה וַתִּקָּחֵהוּ (משלי לא, טז) refers to this request.
The Gemara (Sota 47a) says that there are three types of חֵן. Firstly, what is חֵן? When we say in Birkat Hamazon הַזָּן אֶת הָעוֹלָם כֻּלּוֹ בְּטוּבוֹ בְּחֵן בְּחֶסֶד וּבְרַחֲמִים, what do we mean by חֵן?
The Gemara says that חֵן is something that is inexplicable, it is a feeling of "worth" only to the person who experiences it. The first example the Gemara brings is חֵן מָקוֹם עַל יוֹשְׁבָיו. Why does one person love to live in a bustling city, while another loves the peace and quiet of the country?
It is something that is very individual. The second example of the Gemara is חֵן אִשָּׁה עַל בַּעְלָהּ. Beauty is "in the eye of the beholder" – one man finds a woman beautiful while another doesn't. The third example in the Gemara is חֵן מֶקַח עַל מֶקּחוֹ. Why will someone pay a million dollars for a painting of a "potplant"? Because to them it is inexplicably beautiful and has great worth.
Despite that Efron knew his field was "worthless" real estate, he had a keen eye for an enthusiastic customer. Straight off he understood that Avraham had to have this cave at any cost, so he proposed a "symbolic" figure of 400 silver shekels. A bargain price.
The Gemara (Bechorot 50a) says that Efron asked for 400 "large shekels", קִנְטְרִין. The weight of a קנטר (according to ספר מידות ושעורי תורה, תמו) is 42.5kg of silver. 400 X 42.5 = 17,000kg = 600,000oz. The market price of one ounce of silver (8 Nov 2023, 10:45am GMT+2) is USD 22.50. How much did Avraham pay for this property? Only 13.5 million dollars. A pittance! And he paid it willingly.
The Mefarshim give different reasons why davka 400 shekels. Efron proposed a "symbolic" figure. To Avraham that figure had a different "symbolism". בְּמִעוּט שְׁקִידָתִי I have not found a source for this perush anywhere so take it בְּעֵרָבוֹן מֻגְבָּל.
There are 50 levels of purity that a human can ascend to. Very few ascended to this great height. Moshe, at Har Sinai achieved that level, but he was lowered after the sin with the egel. After Moshe died, he reattained the 50th level, hinted at in his place of burial הַר נְבוֹ, the mountain שֶׁ-"נ" בּוֹ.
Eight other people also attained this level, they are buried in Me'arat HaMachpeila – Adam/Chava, Avraham/Sarah, Yitzchak/Rivkah, Yaakov/Leah. 8 X 50 = 400. Eretz Yisrael and the holy places in it are not simple "real estate", they have deep spiritual symbolism and meaning that does not exist in any other location on the planet.
The main subject of this week's shiur is the umbilical connection of Am Yisrael to Eretz Yisrael.
Periodically, over the generations, the nations of the world dispute our claim to Eretz Yisrael. We are currently living through such a period.
One need only flip through the foreign (and even local) news channels to be "flooded" (Al Aqsa Flood) by a narrative that has become so ingrained in peoples' consciousness the world over and unfortunately, to a large extent, also within Am Yisrael (in Israel and abroad).
A narrative that has been contrived, engineered with intricate, devious precision and propagated ad nauseum by the global media channels with vested interests (economic and political), until it has become an "accepted truth". One only need visit many of the university campuses in "enlightened" Western countries to discover that this narrative has also become part and parcel of academia. A narrative with no basis in truth.
So, who does Israel belong to? Simple, it belongs to HKB"H.
The Torah begins with the word Breishit. Chazal say that this teaches us that the purpose HKB"H created the world is for "Reishit" - Am Yisrael who are called Reishit (Yirmiyahu 2, 3) and the Torah which is called Reishit (Mishlei 8, 22).
Rashi asks a "strange" question on the first passuk in the Torah. If the Torah is meant to be a book of laws (which it is), then why does the Torah not begin with the first law given to Am Yisrael as a nation when they left Egypt הַחֹדֶשׁ הַזֶּה לָכֶם רֹאשׁ חֳדָשִׁים (שמות יב, ב)?
And Rashi answers – שֶׁאִם יֹאמְרוּ אֻמּוֹת הָעוֹלָם לְיִשְׂרָאֵל לִסְטִים אַתֶּם, שֶׁכְּבַשְׁתֶּם אַרְצוֹת שִׁבְעָה גוֹיִם! הֵם אוֹמְרִים לָהֶם, כָּל הָאָרֶץ שֶׁל הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא הִיא, הוּא בְּרָאָהּ וּנְתָנָהּ לַאֲשֶׁר יָשָׁר בְּעֵינָיו. בִּרְצוֹנוֹ נְתָנָהּ לָהֶם, וּבִרְצוֹנוֹ נְטָלָהּ מֵהֶם וּנְתָנָהּ לָנוּ.
The Torah begins with a solitary purpose – to establish that the Land of Israel belongs to G-d and to Him alone. HKB"H, when He wrote the Torah, foresaw that there would be an eternal territorial dispute over the Land of Israel and nipped it in the bud straight from the outset.
Why davka over Eretz Yisrael and not Sweden or Venezuela, for example?
The answer is that Israel is the center of the world. Not the "geographical" center (a spherical globe has no "central point"), but the spiritual center. Chazal (Yoma 54b) teach us that that when HKB"H created the world, the propagation process emanated from a single point אֶבֶן הַשְּׁתִיָּה, which expanded until the entire planet was formed.
This point of אֶבֶן הַשְּׁתִיָּה is the "gateway" between Heaven and earth (Breishit 28, 17). The Midrash (Tanchuma, parshat Kdoshim, 10) says that the entire world converges on this point – Israel is the center of the world, Jerusalem is the center of Israel, The Beit Hamikdash is the center of Jerusalem, the Heichal is the center of the Beit Hamikdash and the Aron Habrit (on top of the אֶבֶן הַשְּׁתִיָּה) is the center of the Heichal. According to the Midrash, Shlomo understood that emanating out from this central point, were roots projecting out to the rest of the world.
When HKB"H created Gan Eden, the central point in Gan Eden was the אֶבֶן הַשְּׁתִיָּה. This was where Adam first sacrificed to HKB"H, where Avraham performed the Akeida, where Yaakov had the dream of the ladder, where David purchased the land for the Beit Hamikdash from Aravna the Jebusite and where Shlomo built the first Beit Hamikdash.
It is the central point, the "gateway" between Heaven and earth, where all the physical elements are raised in spiritual level to the most elevated, 50th level. That is why the person bringing the Korbanot on the mizbeach is called a כֹּהֵ-ן, because he elevates all the elements, חַי (בְּהֵמוֹת), צוֹמֵחַ (מְנָחוֹת/יַיִן/עֵצִים/לְבוֹנָה), דּוֹמֵם (מַיִם/מֶלַח), from the middle, 25th, level כה to the highest, 50th, level ן.
It is the place on earth with the closest "proximity" to G-d! Is it any wonder that this land has been the most fought over in history? Who does not want to be as close to G-d as possible? Even to this very day, it is the center of all the monotheistic religions (which believe in One G-d).
Since Eretz Yisrael has such elevated spiritual stature, it cannot tolerate (it has a zero tolerance for) impurity. As a mashal, when I sit outside in the garden and there are flies buzzing around, they are a nuisance and I "shush" them away, only for them to return seconds later.
They are a part and parcel of the great outdoors and I "tolerate" them as such. However, when there is a fly flying around inside my bakery, in the sterile environment, I have zero tolerance for it, it has to be physically removed/killed before I can continue working.
As a baker, one learns a lot about combatting flies and the musar haskel from that (the yetzer harah is called זְבוּב), but that is the subject of another shiur.
Eretz Yisrael only tolerates those who are spiritually worthy of living in it. If someone is not spiritually worthy, Eretz Yisrael "spits them out". As Rashi says, Eretz Yisrael belongs to HKB"H - He allows only those who are worthy to live in Eretz Yisrael and if and when they become unworthy, He removes them and replaces them with those who are worthy.
HKB"H in בְּרִית בֵּין הַבְּתָרִים promises Eretz Yisrael to Avraham and his descendants for all eternity - כִּי אֶת כָּל הָאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר אַתָּה רֹאֶה לְךָ אֶתְּנֶנָּה וּלְזַרְעֲךָ עַד עוֹלָם (בראשית יג, טו).
Hang on though, you may ask – Avraham's descendants include Yishmael as well? Perhaps Yishmael also as a claim to the land?
Along comes our parsha, Chayei Sarah and tells us no! וַיִּתֵּן אַבְרָהָם אֶת כָּל אֲשֶׁר לוֹ לְיִצְחָק. וְלִבְנֵי הַפִּילַגְשִׁים אֲשֶׁר לְאַבְרָהָם נָתַן אַבְרָהָם מַתָּנֹת וַיְשַׁלְּחֵם מֵעַל יִצְחָק בְּנוֹ בְּעוֹדֶנּוּ חַי קֵדְמָה אֶל אֶרֶץ קֶדֶם. (בראשית כה, ו).
The Yalkut Shimoni there says that in the time of Alexander the Great, the descendants of Yishmael came to contest ownership of Eretz Yisrael, claiming that Yishmael was the firstborn son of Avraham and that Eretz Yisrael is Yishmael's birthright!
Along with the Yishmaelites came two "evil families", Egypt and Canaan. The Chachamim were debating who to send to contest this false claim. One simple man, Gevia ben Kosem said "Let me answer them! If I win, all well and good. If I lose, you can say – he is a simpleton and does not represent us".
Alexander the Great asked "Who is suing who?" The Yishmaelites said "We are suing Am Yisrael and we have a proof from their own Torah. In the Torah it says (Devarim 21, 17) that if you have a man with two wives and the firstborn is born to the 'hated' wife, even so, the birthright still belongs to this firstborn son.
Yishmael is the firstborn son of the 'hated' wife Hagar, so he is entitled to the birthright!" Gevia ben Kosem responded "My lord king, may a father not choose what he wants to give to his sons?" Alexander replied "He may!" Gevia ben Kosem continued "The passuk clearly states וַיִּתֵּן אַבְרָהָם אֶת כָּל אֲשֶׁר לוֹ לְיִצְחָק".
Alexander asked "What about the sons of Hagar?" Gevia replied "The following passuk continues to say וְלִבְנֵי הַפִּילַגְשִׁים אֲשֶׁר לְאַבְרָהָם נָתַן אַבְרָהָם מַתָּנֹת וַיְשַׁלְּחֵם מֵעַל יִצְחָק בְּנוֹ בְּעוֹדֶנּוּ חַי קֵדְמָה אֶל אֶרֶץ קֶדֶם. Yishmael received generous gifts as well, but not Eretz Yisrael!" The Yishmaelites had no leg to stand on and departed in shame.
The Canaanites then said to Alexander "We also have a claim on the land and can bring proof from their own Torah. Throughout the Torah, long before Am Yisrael came along, the land is referred to as the Land of Canaan! It is ours".
Gevia ben Kosem responded to them "My lord king, may a master not decide what to do with his slave?" Alexander replied "He may!" Gevia ben Kosem continued "The passuk clearly states וַיֹּאמֶר אָרוּר כְּנָעַן עֶבֶד עֲבָדִים יִהְיֶה לְאֶחָיו (בראשית ט, כה).
The Land of Israel is ours and the Canaanites are slaves to you, Alexander the Great!" The Canaanites had no leg to stand on and departed in shame.
The Egyptians then said to Alexander "We too have a claim and can bring proof from their own Torah. It says in the Torah that 600,000 of them left Egypt and וַיַּשְׁאִלוּם וַיְנַצְּלוּ אֶת מִצְרָיִם (שמות יב, לו), they left laden with our gold and silver and all our possessions.
We want it back!" Gevia ben Kosem responded "My lord king, 600,000 of Am Yisrael worked 210 years for their Egyptian masters. What is the rate for a day's work? One Dinar?" Alexander's wise men did a calculation of how much the Egyptians owed Am Yisrael and before they even reached 100 years money owed, the Egyptians saw that the sum would bankrupt them, so they fled in shame!
A similar story is related in the Gemara (Sanhedrin 91a), however, the name given there is Gevia ben Pesisa, not Gevia ben Kosem.
Continued in Part II
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