Just as every man is obligated to say, "When will my deeds be like those of Avraham, Yitzchak, Yaakov," so every woman is obligated to strive to the levels reached by the Holy Mothers. Their achievements are part of us, hidden deep inside, helping us to transform ourselves towards the living power of a holy life (Pri Tzaddik, Breshit 70).
"The field of Ephron arose": it was looked upon as a lowly place when it was the property of Ephron but now it came into the possession of a great man, Avraham, and its true stature was seen (Maharal on 23:17).
Chaya Sarah
Reb Shlomo Minyan HarNof
(R. Raphael, email: [email protected])
The Woman Of Valor
"Avraham came to speak of Sarah's greatness and cry for her" (Bereshit 23:2) The Midrash Rabbah says that Avraham spoke the praises of "Eishet Chayil," A Woman of Valor, for Sarah. Because she was the perfection in this world of the love of Hashem. This middah of kindness imbued her completely till not only her inner will but also her physical being desired only this as well: to do holy deeds that Hashem desires. And this degree of transforming one's self is like what David said, "I direct myself to go to this place or that but my feet take me to the House of Prayer and the Place of Seeking." That even without the conscious instruction of the mind, David's body itself desired prayer and learning. And this is what it says in Eishet Chayil, "The flesh of her palms radiates desire to do for Hashem." That even without having to instruct them, her hands would reach out to express Hashem's kindness in the world.
And further on it says in this poem of Eishet Chayil from Mishlei, "She plans how to take the field and acquires it." And this seems to say that it was through Sarah that the Cave of the Machpelah was acquired. But we could ask, What did Sarah have to do with buying the place where she was buried? Avraham didn't even begin to approach the Chittim about taking the Cave until after Sarah had died.
But we can understand this from what the Zohar says, that the 400 shekels that Avraham paid for Ma'arat HaMachpelah had to do with "the 400 worlds of holy desire." Avraham's real ability to acquire the Cave came from his level of holiness that extended to this very high place. This is the real value that enabled him to acquire the Machpelah. He reached this by taking his desire for this world and transforming it into a spiritual life. Through this he merited the 400 worlds of holy desire which is the 400 talens of silver (kesef, related to kisuf which is the word for desire or longing) with which Avraham was able to acquire the Machpelah from Ephron.
This transformation that Avraham went through is hinted at by what it says in the midrash that "Ephron didn't see anything special in the Machpelah." Because until a person has transformed himself he can't see the light of holiness that lies buried in this world. And that's what it means that before this time Ephron had no desire to sell the Cave, because Avraham had not yet fully transformed himself so as to behold the power of the light. Only after the Akeida when Avraham had given absolutely everything that he had in this world, everything that was beautiful and desirable in his heart - Yitzchak, the only one of his soul - then he knew that he was fitting to acquire the cave of Machpelah. Because there is no greater love than what a person has for his child deep within him. This is where a person's worldly existence is completely tied to his soul. It is the final bastion of safety within that he guards from evil and it seems that it needs to be protected at any cost, that giving it up means death. And this is precisely what Hashem asks from Avraham: go to the place within that you guard and bring this last preciousness to Hashem as an offering, and Avraham accepts this. "Here, Hashem take the innocence that comes from the deepest place inside of me." And through offering this in holiness to Hashem - not withholding it - he purifies the deepest depths within himself and all of his world. He reaches the 400 worlds of holy desire, purifying the four directions of the world, the four elements that everything is made up of, the forty days of one's physical formation in the womb, the forty years of wandering in the Midbar, the four hundred years in Mitzrayim - all the physical is suffused with holiness through this; and this bestows the power of redeeming from the depths of impurity.
And this is what the Zohar means when it says that Machpelah (meaning the place of doubling) refers to the enfolding of the two heys of Hashem's name. That is, that the upper hey and lower hey are included one in the other in the Cave of the Machpelah the place of doubling which is the place of physicality that holds in its depths the opening to the spiritual through Gan Eden.
And the transformation of desire in this world so that it serves the holiness of the next world was most embodied by Sarah Imeinu. This was the basis of the whole of her life and it is her inheritance to all the generations that follow. Even Avraham was shaped in this level of holiness by Sarah and this explains why it is fitting that Avraham recited for Sarah this pasuk in Mishlei, "She prepares to take the field and acquires it." Because Avraham's connection to the 400 worlds of desire comes through Sarah.
(See Shem MiShemuel 212)
Flowing Back Into Oneness
The Torah says that Sarah was buried in Kiryat Arba which means the Place of the Four and which is also called Chevron, the point of connection. Because Sarah took the four disparate elements of physical existence - earth, water, air, fire - and linked them back to Oneness. And this place of four was at first the burial place of the four Anakim, the giants who had occupied Cana'an. But now it became the burial place of the spiritual giants, the four couples, Adam and Chava and the Avot and Ima'ot. Because if, in this world, the giants of Cana'an were strong of body, the Avot and Ima'ot embodied the strength of the spiritual worlds. The whole of their lives was a cleaving to the upper world and this is connected to what we see in parashat Bereshit, that the four rivers that spread out into the world emerged from a single source in holiness. (See the Maharal on the pasuk.)
Length Of Days
"And Avraham was old with length of days."
Rebbe Nachman says that a person has "length of days" when he attaches himself to the infinite light that is expressed in any particular day. Because every day of our lives comes from the six days of creation, which have their root in the first day when Gd created the light and the darkness. And Gd hid the light with which Adam in his innocence saw from one end of Creation to the other. And this type of seeing has to do with length of days, where one sees to the spiritual depths of the things of this world. But in order to get to the hidden light of any particular day a person has to pass through the darkness that covers the light.
He needs to tame the forces that oppose him in the darkness, the snakes and scorpions of the spiritual darkness that are put there to protect the light from unworthy comers. And this is why we sometimes get confused and mixed up when we want to come close to Hashem. Because in order for a person to pass through the darkness he needs to find the gate that is appropriate to him. In the Gemara this question was discussed. One tanna asked another, "How did you merit length of days?" And the other tanna answered, "I yielded with regards to money." This is the gate of Avraham Avinu whose passage to the light was through love. Because when one gives in this way, letting go of money that he held onto for the sake of acquiring the things of this world and he finds instead within his silver the desire for the next world, through this he purifies himself (literally makes his mind shiny like glowing silver).
And then when he will come to the darkness, the spiritual forces that opposed him and confused him because he was burdened with desire for physical pleasures, these same forces will become his helpers admiring the glow of his holiness. The same snakes and scorpions will escort him, announcing his presence to the Master, "One who is worthy desires to come close."
And it may be that a person needs to come close through the gate of teshuvah, by shedding tears of regret when he says the Shema, which is pronouncement of the Oneness of Hashem. This will also bring him favor so that the spiritual forces of darkness will come to help him and bring him to the light that is the true length of days.
For Sarah
In the Cave of Couples I will make a place
my beloved
with the wealth of blessing I will take for you
a piece of ground
let them ask from me what they will, I will weigh it out without anger
my beloved
and with silver tears of joy I will bring back what is ours
The Zohar (124a) explains that Ephron is another name for the angel Du-mah who rules over the dust of the grave. In the future, the Zohar says, he will "have to give an accounting for the tzaddikim that are buried in the earth." Rebbe Nachman (see Lekutei Moharan, lessons 23 and 25) says that "afar" is related to sadness. Dust epitomizes the qualities of being cold and dry, and when the spleen is cold and dry this causes sadness. The opposite of this is kesef, silver, which also spells "kisuf" meaning will or desire. Avraham made a deal with Ephron, exchanging his silver for Efron's "dust," paying him four hundred silver shekels for the Machpelah.
When a wicked person sees the money of the righteous, he is struck by its beauty. It seems to glow with all kinds of colors. This is related to the holiness with which the righteous handle their wealth. For them money is there only to help them do Hashem's will. It is filled with their desire for holiness and their joy at doing good deeds. When a wicked person sees this money, he confuses the beauty of the tzaddik's holy desire with the wealth itself. The rasha desires, more than anything, to have the beauty of the tzaddik's money, but he wants to keep it for himself. But as soon as he grasps it, the money begins to lose its beauty. It becomes dull like dust and the cycle starts again, the rasha's jealousy over the wealth of the tzaddik stirring in him the desire to swallow everything.
Ephron saw Avraham's wealth and he traded away the cave to get it. All that Ephron saw there was dust, but Avraham's vision saw the most spiritual things there. He beheld the splendor of Adam HaRishon. The Baal HaTanya says that the four hundred shekels of silver given by Avraham represent the four hundred worlds of holy desire that emanate from the highest, highest place. Avraham's desires were for the most sublime salvation and this, unbeknownst to Ephron, is what invested the money with such attractiveness. Avraham at the same time was, as Rashi says, acquiring a house, a place of burial, a first foothold in transforming the Holy Land to reach its potential, its redemption, its resurrection in holiness.
Rebbe Nachman says that the Angel of Death is like someone who tries to swallow everything, but the tzaddikim cannot be swallowed. They sit at the back of his throat. At the right time they cause him to gag and vomit and when he does, he not only spits out the holiest ones but brings up everything, even the littlest souls. When Avraham gave the money, when his desire for holiness went into the depths, it could not stay there forever. It planted a seed that would bring the future resurrection.
Mitzvot
According to Sefer HaChinuch there are no mitzvot in parashat Chayei Sarah.
At A Glance