Rashi (and other rabbis) wonder about how Sarah died in part because it is unusual for the Torah to report on the death of women, but also because they (the rabbis) see and make connections as a way of reading the Torah. As a result, they are interested in the timing of Sarah's death and ask themselves the question, "How is this event connected to the event that just came before it?" Rashi answers this question by quoting from a midrash that says:
The telling of Sarah’s death directly follows the binding of Isaac, because when Sarah is told about the binding of Isaac, where her son has been prepared for slaughter and then was nearly not slaughtered, her soul flew from her and she died.
Meaning that, according to this very dramatic interpretation, Sarah died from shock.
What do you think about this interpretation? How might you add to it or change it?
(4) “I am a resident alien among you; sell me a burial site among you, that I may remove my dead for burial.”
The expression: “stranger and a resident” or "foreigner and a resident" (ger v'toshav) seems a bit paradoxical (or an oxymoron -- like "The Sounds of Silence" or "sweet sorrow") . What might the expression "ger v'toshav" mean?
QUESTIONS FOR PERSONAL REFLECTION:
When and where do you feel "at home" (a resident)?
When and where do you feel like a stranger (a foreigner)?
When have you felt like both a resident and a stranger?
Consider a person or character whom you know, either from a book, a movie or actual people in your own city or country. How might these people or characters feel like both residents AND strangers where they live? What are the benefits to being BOTH a resident and a stranger? What might be the drawbacks?
Some modern rabbis consider the category of "ger v'toshav" as the modern day equivalent of migrant workers who enter the country on work permits to harvest our food. There are many migrant workers working in the greenhouses of Ontario. What difficulties might such a person encounter in his/her daily life as a result of being a ger toshav"?
Epron offers Abraham the cave as a gift. Why didn't Abraham accept the gift of the cave of the Machpelah? Why did he want to pay a full price for it?