"His (Abraham) sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him (Abraham) in the cave of Machpalah....." (25:9)
Rashi based on Baba Batra 16b states that since the verse precedes Isaac before Ishmael when referring to Abraham's burial, its an indication that Ishmael had repented (TSHUVA). It seems that the Sages had learned from this verse that Ishmael had acknowledged Isaac has Abraham's true heir, and had thus honored him as such. A question can be asked, How is the honor accorded Isaac by Ishmael an indication of repentance? Can one isolated act be a true indication of one's repentance?
Parashas Chayei Sarah – Talkers and Doers
This week's sedra begins with the death of Sarah and the consequential efforts of Avraham to purchase a burial place from the conniving Ephron in Hevron. Parashas Chayei Sarah then continues with the account of Avraham sending his servant Eliezar to find a wife for Yitzhak in which we see Rivka successfully pass the requirements of Eliezar's specific criteria in which he looked for signs of kindness from a woman who would draw water for him from the well. Following the introduction of Lavan, we then read about the first meeting of Yitzhak and Rivka with the Torah describing how Yitzhak “brought her into the tent of Sarah his mother” [24:67] and then married her. The concluding perek of this week's sedra is dedicated to the final days of Avraham where we are told that he remarried and bore a further six children. Avraham's death is then described where the Torah informs us that he “died at a good old age, mature, and content” [25:8], with the Parasha then closing with a genealogy of the descendants of Yishmael and his death
To explain Ephron's behavior, Rabbi Simcha Zissel Ziv, head of the great 19th century Lithuanian Yeshiva in KeIm, quoted a story about a debate which occurred between the Rambam and the "wise men of the world". The wise men claimed that it was possible to alter the very nature of an animal by teaching it to act in a civilized manner, while the Rambam disagreed. To prove their point, the wise men accepted upon themselves to train a cat to act in a humanized fashion within a given period of time.
When the appointed day arrived, the large crowd gathered was astonished to witness a cat gracefully walking before them like a waiter, setting up tables, spreading tablecloths, and pouring glasses of wine. Everyone was prepared to award victory to the wise men, that is until the Rambam reached into his pocket and pulled out a
The Torah relates, "And it was when he had not yet finished speaking that suddenly Rivka was coming out. . ."(Genesis 24:15). Rabbeinu Bechaya explains that the Hebrew word for "he" used in the passuk is superfluous, and that instead of referring to Eliezer, "he" refers to Hashem. Thus, this verse relates how Hashem interceded to ensure that Eliezer would "chance" upon Rivka at the opportune moment. Moreover, the commentary Toldot Yitzchak explains that because of Rivka's modesty, she rarely ventured to the well, and that Hashem caused her to go specifically on that day.
Now, were a similar scene to play itself out today, one would perhaps fail to take note of the Providential direction of the event. Observers may see a meeting between two people as mere happenstance a casual incidence of "boy meets girl". It is important to realize, however, that in the larger scheme of things, such an incident cannot be viewed as being so simple; Yitckak and Rivka's shidduch
In parshas Vayera we pointed out that the Avos were called Yesharim due to their kind treatment of all people. There is another great example of this trait in our sedra. The psukim clearly illustrate that Avraham treats Efron with the utmost respect; he does not pressurise Efron nor lose his cool with him due to Efron’s incessant changing the price of a burial plot for Sarah Imeinu. But if one looks below the surface, Avraham’s attitude is even more amazing to witness. Not only did Avraham want to bury his wife as soon as possible, he was originally told that he would be given the ma’aras hamachpelah for free. However, Efron soon changed his mind and insisted on selling it to Avraham for a rather steep price. Not only that, but Efron insisted on having Avraham buy the field adjacent to the cave as well, refusing to give Avraham access to the cave without it (see the psukim). Moreover, Efron and Avraham were opposites. Avraham was the ‘say little, do much’ person, whilst Efron was the ‘say a lot, do little’ character - which meant that Avraham was full of humility
The opening pasuk of our sedra notes that Sarah Imeinu was 127 years old when she died. Now there’s another appearance of the number 127 in Tanach. The Megillah tells us that Achashveirosh ruled over 127 countries; and (unsurprisingly) there is a link between these two appearances of the number 127. Chazal tell us that Rabbi Akiva was once giving a shiur, and several students were dozing off (this seems to be an old minhag!). Rabbi Akiva remarked ‘in the merit of Sarah Imeinu’s 127 years, the Jewish People in the 127 countries in the Purim story were saved.’ Suddenly, the students stopped dozing off and began fully concentrating on the shiur. Why; what changed? The explanation I heard was that Rabbi Akiva’s words caused the students to realise the value of time. How? For Sarah’s spiritually wholesome 127 years saving 127 countries meant that each year that Sarah used productively to perform mitzvos saw another country saved. So each month meant another town saved, each week a neighbourhood saved, each day a block, each minute a road, and each second a family (etc.). Thus, the students of Rabbi Akiva realised the importance of making use of every second of their time; using it for constructive purposes. As Rav Sheinberg stressed, when David HaMelech said ‘who is the man who desires life?
If you asked Eliezer, Avraham's servant, what his proudest moment in life was, he probably would have told you at length the story about how he went to find a wife for Yitzchak. However, throughout this entire episode Eliezer's name is not mentioned once; he is referred to as 'the servant' (and occasionally 'the man'). Why is his name ommitted from his greatest achievement in life?
The idea is that just the opposite is true. The word servant (eved) is the greatest accolade one can get when it is in reference to someone like Avraham Avinu. A servant is someone who is willing to
To sponsor this website or to advertise to the thousands of people that see ShortVort.com every month or hundreds that receive the weekly email contact moishe@shortvort.com
Site Dedication
This website is dedicated to the memories of
Moshe Shlomo ben R'Shmuel | Shlomo ben R'Chaim | Aryeh Leib ben Pinchas Tzvi
