פרשת חיי שרה תש"ז - קניית מערת המכפלה

And when the days of weeping for him were past, Joseph spoke unto the house of Pharaoh, saying: ‘If now I have found favour in your eyes, speak, I pray you, in the ears of Pharaoh, saying:

And afterwards, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah, facing Mamre, which is Hebron, in the land of Canaan. The explanation of "And afterwards, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah,etc., which is Hebron, in the land of Canaan." is that the Torah returns to describe the field the place and land, for the whole section refers to the 'the children of Chet and Efron the Chiti; therefore the Torah mentions at the end that its "in the land of Canaan" which is Israel. Likewise, in the beginning it says "in Kiriat Arba, -dwhich is Chevron in the land of Canaan" And all this is to make it clear Sarah died in Israel and buried there fort the Chitim were one of the Canaanite families. In my opinion the reason for these passukim is only to note that this was the land of Canaan and not the land of Pelishtim. For the Torah says "Avram dwelt in the land of the Pelishtim many years" and all of his sojourning's were in that land- in Gerar, the Gerar valley, and Be'er Sheva, and from there to Chevron and from Chevron to there; therefore the Torah mentions that Chevron is in the land of "the Canaanites who dwells in the mountain" and not in the land of the Pelishtim which is [often] mentioned [in connection] with Avram. Then in the end The Torah adds [a description of where the cave was] to tell us that the cave which was in the field of Machpelah was "facing Mamre" for this name (i.e. Mamre) was better known at that time. This section was written to tell us of the many acts of kindness that G-d did for Avram. For ha became "a prince of G-d" in the land despite that he had come only to sojourn and he was a lone individual [without a following]. Also, everyone called him "my lord" though he didnt refer to himself this way [for he never said] to them he was a prince or important person. Also in his lifetime G-d fulfilled for him "I will make your name great and you shall be a blessing" [Another kindness G-d did for him] was that when his wife died she was buried in the "heritage land of G-d." Also the Torah wanted to tell us of the place of our forefathers burial., being that we are obliged to honor the site of our saintly forefathers burial. Our Rabbis say this too was one of Avram's tests, that he sought a place in which to bury Sarah, and didnt find until he bought it. I don't know any explanation for the words of Ibn Ezra, who says "[this section was written] to tell us of the eminence of Israel for the living and dead, and also to show the fulfilment of G-d's word to Avram that Israel would be his heritage land." For what eminence do we see here? For Avram wasn't going to transport her body to another place to bury her! Also G-d's promise is on the WHOLE land [not a single burial cave and its field like in tis case] so [its clear] the promise was fulfilled only for his future offspring.

And he spoke unto Ephron in the hearing of the people of the land, saying: ‘But if thou wilt, I pray thee, hear me: I will give the price of the field; take it of me, and I will bury my dead there.’

IF ONLY YOU WOULD HEED TO ME! This is equal to, "if you, if you would listen it me" but its meaning is as though its written with one "if" "if you would listen to me" The double expression comes to emphasize the matter. like "turn aside, my lord, turn aside to me" and "Are you better, better [than Balak]" Like ''saying about Him saying'' and "And I where can I go?" "And I turned my attention and I saw" and "for the entire assembly all of them are holy" All of these are a reiteration of the an idea. Likewise in my opinion "'if' so much as a thread to a shoestrap or 'if' I shall take" is equal to "if so much as a thread to a shoestrap I will take from anything of yours" [without the second "if"] Alternatively, he was saying "if you are [in thought] as you have said" meaning "[if] your mouth and heart are consistent in this matter," "and if you will listen to me" Likewise, we find "And their brothers said to them 'What are you?'" [meaning: what are your true thoughts] Another similar expression is "Why am I this?" Perhaps this is also Onkelus, who translates "if you will do kindness for me" meaning: "[if] you will do what I wand as you said"

לא יכלה means will not withhold, just as (Psalms 40:12) “Thou wilt not withhold (תכלא) Thy mercies”, and (Genesis 8:2) “And the rain was restrained (ויכלא).

ופגעו לי — This phrase signifies entreaty, as (Ruth 1:16) “Do not entreat (תפגעי) me”.

ויפגע AND HE LIGHTED — similar are (Joshua 16:7) “and it reached (ופגע) unto Jericho”, and (Joshua 19:11) “and reached (ופגע) to Dabesheth”. Our Rabbis explained it in the sense of “praying”, just as (Jeremiah 7:16) “Neither make intercession (תפגע) to me”. Thus we may learn that Jacob originated the custom of Evening Prayer. Scripture purposely changed the usual word for “praying”, not writing יתפלל, “And he prayed” (which would have been the more appropriate word, but ויפגע which means to hit upon a place unexpectedly), to teach you also that the ground shrunk before him (the journey was miraculously shortened) as it is explained in the Chapter גיד הנשה (Chullin 91b).

לא אדני NAY, MY LORD — You are not to buy it with money.

אך אם אתה לו שמעני BUT IF THOU WOULDST ONLY HEAR ME — You tell me to listen to you (verse 11) and to accept it without payment. I do not desire this: BUT IF THOU WOULDST ONLY HEAR ME!—i.e. I only wish that you would listen to me and do as I ask.

אך עצמי ובשרי SURELY THOU ART MY BONE AND MY FLESH — Really, I have no reason to take you into my house, since you have brought nothing with you; but because of our relationship I will put up with you for “the space of a month”. Thus, indeed, he did, but even this was not for nothing, for he tended Laban’s sheep.

אך את שבתתי תשמרו BUT NEVERTHELESS MY SABBATHS SHALL YE KEEP — Even though you be anxious and alert to do the work promptly the Sabbath nevertheless you must not set aside on its account. The words אך and רק wherever they occur in Scripture have limitative force (Rosh Hashanah 17b; cf. Rashi on Rosh Hashanah 17b on אכין ורקין). Here Scripture intends by the word אך to except the Sabbath from the days on which the work of the Tabernacle may be done.

ביני ובינך BETWEEN ME AND THEE — Between two such friends as we are, of what importance is that? Nothing at all! Leave business alone and bury your dead!