Dear friends,
This week’s parshah, Chayei Sarah, describes the first recorded purchase of land in Eretz Yisrael — Avraham Avinu’s acquisition of the Me’aras HaMachpelah as a burial place for Sarah. On the surface, it seems like a practical act of respect and devotion. But in truth, it was a spiritual turning point: the first tangible expression of the kedushah of Eretz Yisrael as it appears in the Torah.
Already long before this, when Avraham was commanded, “Lech lecha mei’artzecha” — to go “for yourself” — he instinctively set his path toward Eretz Yisrael. The Land was destined for holiness from the very beginning of creation. Chazal teach that Adam HaRishon’s body was formed from the dust of that very place where the Mizbeach of the Beis HaMikdash would one day stand. It was there, too, that Avraham offered Yitzchak upon the altar — revealing that the essence of the Land is bound up with ultimate deveikus, the cleaving of man to Hashem.
Eretz Yisrael may outwardly appear like any other country, but its holiness permeates every aspect of its reality. Its fruits are elevated through maaser; its cycles of time are sanctified through shemittah; and even the simplest household act separating challah — becomes a mitzvah that the Torah connects specifically to our dwelling in the Land. These mitzvos express the deeper truth that material reality itself is meant to be uplifted. The physical is never separate from the spiritual; it only waits to be revealed.
When Avraham paid Efron the seemingly excessive sum of four hundred silver shekels, the Zohar HaKadosh reveals that this was no coincidence. Those arba me’os kesef correspond to the 400 levels of reward awaiting the tzadikim in Gan Eden — a reflection of how physical exchange in this world mirrors and awakens spiritual realities in the next. The number four also hints to the four elemental forces of creation — fire, water, air, and earth — which are elevated and harmonized when we use the material world in the service of Hashem.
Eretz Yisrael to place is what Shabbos is to time, and what the Jewish people are to all of humanity — the inner dimension that gives meaning and life to the whole.
This week, my daughter Devorah has organized a special tour to the holy places — an opportunity for you to connect to the sanctity of Eretz Yisrael and to the tzadikim who rest within it. Each of them carries a unique light and a personal message, guiding you to discover your own point of connection to the Land’s holiness.
Love,
Tziporah
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