Print version: Ibn Ezra Chaye Sarah

Ancestral Land (Chayei Sarah)

“Each blade of grass has its spot on earth whence it draws its life, its strength; and so is man rooted to the land from which he draws his faith together with his life.” – Joseph Conrad

Our Matriarch Sarah dies, and Abraham spends a veritable fortune to buy a plot in which to bury his wife. The Torah lingers over every detail. We are shown the negotiation step by step, the careful language, the social politeness, the insistence on a formal transaction. The final price is stated explicitly: four hundred shekel. According to the classical commentators, it was an exorbitant sum. To translate that into modern imagery, Abraham is paying the kind of price people pay today for a tiny piece of land in Monaco, one of the most expensive places in the world. This is not a symbolic payment. This is a serious financial sacrifice.

It is striking how much attention the Torah gives to this act of acquisition. Why such emphasis on a burial plot? Why must Abraham insist on buying it, and why will he not accept it as a gift?

The Ibn Ezra (on Genesis 23:19) suggests a profound answer. He writes that there is something unique about the land of Israel, something different from every other place on earth. Israel is the ideal resting place for the dead. Abraham understands that this land is not simply geography. It is destiny. To be buried there means to belong there forever.

But Ibn Ezra adds one more point. The land is not only the best place for the dead. It is the best place for the living.

May our hearts face the land even when our feet cannot.

Shabbat Shalom,

Ben-Tzion

Dedication

To the return of the remains of Hadar Goldin, hy”d.