Digital Maggid
November 15, 2011
Sarah’s Escort, part II
Abraham said to Ephron: “Gd forbid I should take anything from a man without paying for it. Tell me the price of the field.” Ephron still did not wish to sell the field to Abraham [he wanted to give it to him as a gift]. The Sons of Ches said to him: “If you don’t sell the cave to Abraham, we will strip you of your status.” So he consented to sell and said to Abraham: “My lord, four hundred silver shekels of land, between you and me, what is its worth?” Abraham understood the meaning (remez), that Ephron was money-hungry, and he gave him what he wanted, four hundred silver shekels in legal tender, fair and square. Abraham wrote out a sales contract in a book and he had four witnesses sign, that that particular field would belong to him and his children after him in perpetuity for a burial property.
Sarah was buried with royal honors in her finest garb. Among those who carried her bier were Shem son of Noah and his son Eiber, Abimelech the king of the Philistines, Oner, Eshkol, and Mamre, plus all the on-lookers from the area who followed her coffin. Also, people from all over the country accompanied her. Young and old mourned her, saying: “Woe! the merciful and the philanthropic!” And their grief was great indeed.
When Abraham approached the cave of Machpelah, he lifted the stone covering the place where he wanted to bury Sarah. But behold! Adam and Eve stood up and said: “How can we be in this grave and in the partition of Sarah? Unto this day we are ashamed of our sin that we sinned in the Garden of Eden. And now, you have brought to us a woman as righteous as Sarah that we should be even more embarrassed?” Abraham said to them: “Go back to your place, and I will pray to Gd for you, that you will no longer be ashamed.” Adam heard this and went back to his grave, but Eve would not go back to her grave until Abraham took her and placed her back in her grave.
Abraham lamented and wept for Sarah and mourned over her for seven days. All the residents of the land came to comfort Abraham and his son Isaac.
When the days of mourning were over, Abraham sent Isaac to Shem to do some learning, and the cave of Machpelah has remained holy and honored to this very day by all people.
THE END
November 14, 2011
The Grief of Abraham and Isaac, part II
Abraham quickly went to Hebron, to Kiryes-Arba and there he found Sarah dead. Abraham wept and said: “Orphans and widows weep for Sarah, for she fed all the hungry, gave drink to the thirsty, and clothed all the naked. Woe! The tongue that consoled the unfortunate, how can it be silenced now? The eyes that were merciful to others, how can they now be closed? How can the hand be weakened that did kindness wiped away tears?” Everyone standing by heard Abraham’s eulogy and wept bitterly until they had lost all their strength.
That same day, the bad news reached Isaac, who was already back at Shem’s house, and he quickly left for Kiryes-Arba. He fell on his face before his mother and wept: “OY! mother of mine! My merciful mother, why have you suddenly forsaken me? I thought I would see again your face that laughed like the sun at noon. I grusted that I would year your good and delightful words again, but now, the sun has suddenly gone dark for me and my heart has become broken within me. How will I console myself after this, now that you are lost to me? how can I can I be happy while I grieve for you?” Isaac hung his head and wept for his mother a great weeping.
When Sarah died, everyone was forlorn, because the whole time our mother, Sarah, was alive, the people of the country were successful in all they did. And from the time of her death, everyone mourned and wept over her death. But Abraham said to them: “Mourn not, my children, for the way of the world is such that saints and sinners both must die in the end.”
November 14, 2011
The Grief of Abraham and Isaac, part I
When Abraham returned to his house in Beer-Sheva (after the binding of Isaac), he saw from afar that all doors of Sara’s house were shut, and he was quite bewildered. He came up to the house and went around it, and behold, the illuminating clouds that usually surrounded her tent had disappeared. Abraham was afraid, and he went up to the tent to peek inside through the windows. But whoa… the lights that usually would have lit up the interior were also shut. Abraham understood that something unfortunate must have happened to Sarah and he ran around to all the neighbors asking about her. The neighbors told him that someone had come looking for Sarah, and he told her that Isaac had been sacrificed, and she had gone to Hebron to look for him.
