Parashat Chayei Sarah

This week’s parahat starts with the death of Sarah. The text details how Abraham made sure he paid full price for the plot of land where he buried Sarah (which became the Tomb of the Patriarchs – in today’s Hebron). He was offered the land as a gift, but he insisted on paying full price. We need to ask why?

Rashi tells us that it’s because Abraham wanted to make sure no one in the future could come and say we stole the land. The other piece of land that the Torah records the purchase of (for the same reason) is the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. King David bought the land for full value to make sure that the site of the temple can never be claimed by anyone else.

It’s ironic that the two most hotly contested pieces of land today are Hebron and Jerusalem. Apparently, Abraham had very good foresight, but it didn’t seem to help.

The parashat ends with the death of Abraham. Ishamel and Isaac come together to burry their father. Ishamel is that father of Islam, and Isaac is the father of Judaism and Christianity (Isaac’s had two sons, Jacob who father Judaism, and Essau, who fathered the Romans – who became the Christians). The Torah tells us that in the end they all put their differences aside and came together... maybe we will see a parallel some time soon.