Essay Chayei Sarah

Rabbi YY Jacobson

• November 9, 2023
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• 25 Cheshvan 5784
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• 1446 views

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  To Truly Be Alive

  Why the Torah Mentions Seven Times in One Chapter "Bury Your Dead"

  Rabbi YY Jacobson

  • November 9, 2023

  The Vilna Gaon’s Idea

  The study of Torah is so multi-layered and multi-faceted. You can focus on the theme, on the storyline, on the lessons derived, on the structure, syntax, words, and phrases, on the structure of the verses and portions, and on the hidden meanings. But sometimes we are shocked by that which we do not even bother to notice, because our minds are not trained for such nuanced thinking.

  One of the great minds who zoomed-in to such wonderous aspects of Torah was one of the great Lithuanian sages of the 18^th century, known as the Vilna Gaon. Rabbi Elijah ben Solomon Zalman Kramer, known in Hebrew the Gra (Gaon Reb Eliyahu) lived from 1720-1797, and wrote dozens of brilliant works on all aspects of Jewish thought and law.

  I want to read with you the verse in the opening of Chayei Sarah, and tell me if you notice an apparently unnecessary repetition – not once or twice or thrice, but seven times! And then the last time, there is a significant shift.

  The Storyline

  Here we go, tune in.

  חיי שרה כג, ב: וַתָּמׇת שָׂרָה בְּקִרְיַת אַרְבַּע הִוא חֶבְרוֹן בְּאֶרֶץ כְּנָעַן וַיָּבֹא אַבְרָהָם לִסְפֹּד לְשָׂרָה וְלִבְכֹּתָהּ׃ ג. וַיָּקׇם אַבְרָהָם מֵעַל פְּנֵי מֵתוֹ וַיְדַבֵּר אֶל־בְּנֵי־חֵת לֵאמֹר׃ ד. גֵּר־וְתוֹשָׁב אָנֹכִי עִמָּכֶם תְּנוּ לִי אֲחֻזַּת־קֶבֶר עִמָּכֶם וְאֶקְבְּרָה מֵתִי מִלְּפָנָי׃ ה. וַיַּעֲנוּ בְנֵי־חֵת אֶת־אַבְרָהָם לֵאמֹר לוֹ: ו. שְׁמָעֵנוּ  אֲדֹנִי נְשִׂיא אֱלֹהִים אַתָּה בְּתוֹכֵנוּ בְּמִבְחַר קְבָרֵינוּ קְבֹר אֶת־מֵתֶךָ אִישׁ מִמֶּנּוּ אֶת־קִבְרוֹ לֹא־יִכְלֶה מִמְּךָ מִקְּבֹר מֵתֶךָ׃ ז. וַיָּקׇם אַבְרָהָם וַיִּשְׁתַּחוּ לְעַם־הָאָרֶץ לִבְנֵי־חֵת׃ ח. וַיְדַבֵּר אִתָּם לֵאמֹר אִם־יֵשׁ אֶת־נַפְשְׁכֶם לִקְבֹּר אֶת־מֵתִי מִלְּפָנַי שְׁמָעוּנִי וּפִגְעוּ־לִי בְּעֶפְרוֹן בֶּן־צֹחַר׃ ט. וְיִתֶּן־לִי אֶת־מְעָרַת הַמַּכְפֵּלָה אֲשֶׁר־לוֹ אֲשֶׁר בִּקְצֵה שָׂדֵהוּ בְּכֶסֶף מָלֵא יִתְּנֶנָּה לִּי בְּתוֹכְכֶם לַאֲחֻזַּת־קָבֶר׃ י. וְעֶפְרוֹן יֹשֵׁב בְּתוֹךְ בְּנֵי־חֵת וַיַּעַן עֶפְרוֹן הַחִתִּי אֶת־אַבְרָהָם בְּאׇזְנֵי בְנֵי־חֵת לְכֹל בָּאֵי שַׁעַר־עִירוֹ לֵאמֹר׃ יא. לֹא־אֲדֹנִי שְׁמָעֵנִי הַשָּׂדֶה נָתַתִּי לָךְ וְהַמְּעָרָה אֲשֶׁר־בּוֹ לְךָ נְתַתִּיהָ לְעֵינֵי בְנֵי־עַמִּי נְתַתִּיהָ לָּךְ קְבֹר מֵתֶךָ׃

  יב. וַיִּשְׁתַּחוּ אַבְרָהָם לִפְנֵי עַם הָאָרֶץ׃  יג. וַיְדַבֵּר אֶל־עֶפְרוֹן בְּאׇזְנֵי עַם־הָאָרֶץ לֵאמֹר אַךְ אִם־אַתָּה לוּ שְׁמָעֵנִי נָתַתִּי כֶּסֶף הַשָּׂדֶה קַח מִמֶּנִּי וְאֶקְבְּרָה אֶת־מֵתִי שָׁמָּה׃ יד. וַיַּעַן עֶפְרוֹן אֶת־אַבְרָהָם לֵאמֹר לוֹ׃ טו. אֲדֹנִי שְׁמָעֵנִי אֶרֶץ אַרְבַּע מֵאֹת שֶׁקֶל־כֶּסֶף בֵּינִי וּבֵינְךָ מַה־הִוא וְאֶת־מֵתְךָ קְבֹר׃

  Genesis 23:2: Sarah died in Kiriath-Arba—now Hebron—in the land of Canaan; and Abraham proceeded to mourn for Sarah and to bewail her.

  Then Abraham rose from beside his dead, and spoke to the Hittites, saying, “I am a resident alien among you; sell me a burial site among you, that I may bury my dead.”

  And the Hittites replied to Abraham, saying to him, “Hear us, my lord: you are a prince of G-d among us. Bury your dead in the choicest of our burial places; none of us will withhold his burial place from you for burying your dead.”

  Thereupon Abraham bowed low to the landowning citizens, the Hittites, and he said to them, “If it is your wish that I bury my dead, you must agree to intercede for me with Ephron son of Zohar.

  Let him sell me the cave of Machpelah that he owns, which is at the edge of his land. Let him sell it to me, at the full price, for a burial site in your midst.”

  Ephron was present among the Hittites; so Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham in the hearing of the Hittites, the assembly in his town’s gate, saying, “No, my lord, hear me: I give you the field and I give you the cave that is in it; I give it to you in the presence of my people. Bury your dead.”

  Then Abraham bowed low before the landowning citizens, and spoke to Ephron in the hearing of the landowning citizens, saying, “If only you would hear me out! Let me pay the price of the land; accept it from me, that I may bury my dead there.”

  And Ephron replied to Abraham, saying to him, “My lord, do hear me! A piece of land worth four hundred shekels of silver—what is that between you and me? And your dead you shall bury.”

  Seven Times

  Did you notice a pattern in the phraseology of the discussion? The term burying one’s dead is mentioned seven times!

  1. “I am a resident alien among you; sell me a burial site among you, that I may bury my dead.”
  2. “Hear us, my lord: you are a prince of God among us. Bury your dead in the choicest of our burial places.
  3. none of us will withhold his burial place from you for burying your dead.”
  4. “If it is your wish that I bury my dead, you must agree to intercede for me with Ephron son of Zohar.
  5. I give it to you in the presence of my people. Bury your dead.”
  6. “If only you would hear me out! Let me pay the price of the land; accept it from me, that I may bury my dead”
  7. And your dead you shall bury.”

  In a regular discussion such as this, the actual phrase of burying the dead might appear two, three, or four times. It seems that anytime the Torah can insert the phrase to bury the dead it does, even if completely superfluous.

  But there is something even stranger. While six of the times it refers to burying the dead, “bury my dead, bury your dead.” The seventh time, at the conclusion of the negotiations, Abraham is told, “your dead you should bury”—not “bury your dead,” but “your dead you shall bury.”

  Why does the Torah use such wordy and excessive descriptions of the purpose of Abraham’s purchase? And why, in the last time the phrase is used, does the terminology switch order?

  You might say, who cares? It’s just a story. But the Torah is Divine, every word and phrase are the word of G-d, dictated by the Creator to Moses. Every phrase, every repetition, even the order of a phrase, is infinitely meticulous, precise, and meaningful. As it turns out, this teaches us what it means to truly be alive. It also demonstrates how every phrase in the Torah is full of endless meaning and insight.

  The Answer

  The Vilna Gaon suggests a fantastic and brilliant interpretation:

  Abraham purchased the Cave of Machpela as a family plot. Eventually, as Genesis progresses, we discover that three couples would be buried there:  Abraham and Sarah (Chayei Sarah), Isaac and Rebecca (Vayishlach, Vayechi), Jacob and Leah (Vayechi).

  Jacob makes it very clear right before his passing:

  ויחי מט, כט: וַיְצַ֣ו אוֹתָ֗ם וַיֹּ֤אמֶר אֲלֵהֶם֙ אֲנִי֙ נֶאֱסָ֣ף אֶל־עַמִּ֔י קִבְר֥וּ אֹתִ֖י אֶל־אֲבֹתָ֑י אֶ֨ל־הַמְּעָרָ֔ה אֲשֶׁ֥ר בִּשְׂדֵ֖ה עֶפְר֥וֹן הַֽחִתִּֽי... שָׁמָּה קָבְרוּ אֶת אַבְרָהָם וְאֵת שָׂרָה אִשְׁתּוֹ שָׁמָּה קָבְרוּ אֶת יִצְחָק וְאֵת רִבְקָה אִשְׁתּוֹ וְשָׁמָּה קָבַרְתִּי אֶת לֵאָה.

  “There Abraham and his wife Sarah were buried; there Isaac and his wife Rebekah were buried; and there I buried Leah—The Last Grave.”

  Now, the Talmud relates a fascinating and tragic story about the funeral and burial of Jacob. According to instructions, his body was taken to the Holy Land to be buried in Hebron, in the Cave of the Machpalah. A massive entourage accompanied Jacob on his final journey: Joseph, the viceroy of Egypt, together with all his brothers, all of the grandchildren, many ministers, soldiers, servants, and friends, a “huge camp” as the Torah puts it.

  When the procession arrived at the Cave of Machpalah to bury Jacob, one man suddenly appeared to contest it. Who was it? It was Jacob’s twin brother Esau. There were three double-plots in the cave, one per couple. One was used for Abraham and Sarah. The next, for Isaac and Rebecca. And then one more plot was used for Leah. Now, there was only one remaining plot in the burial cave. Who would get it? Esau argued that when their father Isaac died, he left the children two plots, to be divided between the two sons. Jacob used his plot already for Leah; the last remaining plot belonged to Esau. 

  Now, the truth was that Jacob had purchased and bought the plot from Esau. That is why he has instructed Joseph and made him swear that he would bury him in the grave which “I prepared for myself in the land of Canaan,” since Jacob made sure to buy off the plot from Esau, years earlier, for an extraordinary huge sum of money. But Esau denied this. The children of Jacob claimed that they did have the document, but that they had left it in Egypt. Esau insisted that they were thieves, and that Jacob had no permission to be buried there. Esau stopped the burial procession.

  This was before the days of Federal Express, and certainly before the days of sending a picture via WhatsApp. They sent Naftali, one of Jacob’s twelve sons, who was well known as the speediest runner among the brothers to retrieve the sale document. (Indeed, before his death, Jacob referred to Naftali as a “deer.”)  

  Naftali was dispatched on a marathon to Egypt, as Jacob’s body remained on the ground. Esau stood bye to guard that no one violate justice, and the entire entourage stopped short.

  Jacob had a grandson whose name was Chushim. He was the son of Dan, a very strong young man, and he was deaf. He was also impaired in his speaking. Unable to hear anything, he was not privy to the entire dispute between his great uncle Esau and his uncles, the children of Jacob. Chushim inquired from someone about the delay of the burial, and he was told (via sign language or in writing) what was happening. Chushim, the deaf grandchild, was horrified. "Until Naftali returns from Egypt, my grandfather should lie over there in disgrace?" he exclaimed.

  Chushim took a club and struck Esau. But the strike was too hard; Esau died as a result. He was beheaded. The Talmud concludes that this tragically fulfilled the prophecy of Rebecca who once told Jacob, "Why should I lose both of you on one day?" Esau’s head, the Talmud and Midrash say, rolled into the burial plot pf his father Isaac. Father and son were reunited in death.

  A Plot for Seven

  Ah, says the Vilna Gaon, now everything is crystal clear. The seven expressions of burying the dead in the story of the purchase of the burial cave are a prophetic reference to the seven people who would eventually come to rest in the cave.

  (The Talmud says that Adam and Eve were also buried there. But they were buried earlier, before Abraham purchased the plot. Hence when the Torah speaks of “bury your dead” it is referring only to those who would still be buried following Abraham’s purchase.)

  The Time of Death

  But there is a profound difference between the first six and the last one, the seventh. The first six, Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebecca, Jacob and Leah, were people of virtue, true tzaddikim, men and women aligned with their souls and Creator. Esau, the seventh person who made it into the cave, was of a different world. His behavior was immoral and promiscuous. 

  Hence, the distinction in the expression of the first six times and the seventh. Why does the Torah use the phrase “burying the dead” when talking about the righteous, and then change the order to “the dead being buried” in reference to Esau?

  The Talmud states, “the righteous even in death are considered alive.”[1] Because the tzaddik’s life is aligned with his or her inner Divine soul and consciousness. The body is a conduit for the soul, a physical channel for the Divine light of the soul, like a lightbulb for light. So even after the tzaadik is “unplugged,” the life continues. What is more, the positive influences of good people allow their memories to continue long after their bodies have been laid to rest.

  This is why, in reference to the righteous, the Torah says “bury your dead.” In a spiritual sense, the burial precedes the death because the soul and legacy lives on. As the Talmud states, “Jacob did not die; his children are alive, so he is alive.”[2]

  You look at some of the greatest people of our history. Their death did not conclude their story. Even after they passed on and were brought to burial, their soul, influence, love, light, truth, values literally can be felt in the world and in the hearts of living human beings.[3] 

  Conversely, the Talmud states, “the wicked even in their lifetimes are considered as dead.”  When a person lives an immoral and empty life, escaping from one distraction to another distraction, even when they are physically alive, there is an internal deadness. Esau, who devoted himself to the empty pursuits of hedonism, adultery, idolatry, and murder, lived an empty life, misaligned with his essence, with his own source of life. In that sense, he was a “dead man walking.” He was a shell of his true self, not his real self. Therefore, in the seventh time, the Torah says, “your dead you shall bury.” For Esau and his ilk, death takes place prior to the actual burial. He does not have to die to be dead.

  For some people, they need not be physically alive to live; and for others, they need not be physically dead to die.

  This explains also why the name of this portion is “the life of Sarah,” though it is focused on events after her demise. Together with Abraham, Sarah pioneered the Jewish settlement of the Land of Canaan, and as described in the opening chapter of Chayei Sarah, her burial in the Cave of Machpeilah achieved the first actual Jewish ownership of a piece of land in the Holy Land. Sarah devoted her life to the creation of the first Jewish family, and indeed the story of Rebecca's selection demonstrates how Sarah's successor embodied the ideals upon which Sarah founded the Jewish home.

  __________

  [1] Berachos 18

  [2] Taanis 5b

  [3] Why then does it even say “bury your DEAD?” The Vilna Gaon quotes Shabbos 152, that before the resurrection even the tzaddikim will revert back to earth for an hour (See the explanation Sichas 20 Av 5732). So way after their burial there is some form of “death.”

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