SUMMARY: In an earlier post we began an investigation of the following problem in Scripture (If you have been following the investigation, you may skip the summary.):
In B'reshith (Genesis) 23:2, Scripture records that Sarah (wife of Avraham/Abraham) died in Chevron (Hebron). This implies that Avraham and Sarah were living in Chevron at this time. Furthermore, it is an accepted Jewish tradition, although not explicit in Scripture, that Sarah died at the time of the Akeydah (the "binding") of Yitzchok (Isaac) described in 22:1-19. If so, why does Avraham's journey to perform the Akeydah at Mt. Moriyah, synonymous with the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, take 3 days (22:4)? Chevron and Jerusalem are not so far apart! Furthermore, verse 19 there states that Avraham went to B'er Sheva after the Akeydah. Why did Avraham not go home to Chevron? And if he lived in B'er Sheva, why was Sarah in Chevron?
We explained in the last post that according to Rashi, Avraham and Sarah most definitely were living in Chevron at the time of the Akeydah, leaving us with 2 questions:
1. Why did Avraham's journey from Chevron to Mt. Moriyah take 3 days?
2. Why did Avraham go to B'er Sheva after the Akeydah and not back home to Chevron?
For the answer to the first question, see this post.
As for the 2nd question, we left off with the Ramban's suggestion that Avraham went to B'er Sheva to give thanks to G-d for the miracle of the Akeydah. But we asked why it was necessary for Avraham to travel three days in the opposite direction for this purpose when he was already on the Temple Mount itself! What was so special about B'er Sheva?
END OF SUMMARY
(And now, the exciting continuation . . .)
Let us explore the answer. Perhaps we can garner a clue from the fact that the Ramban mentions that Avraham went "to B'er Sheva, the place of his eshel, to give thanks for his miracle," whereas the Ramban could have as easily said that Avraham went "to B'er Sheva to give thanks for his miracle." The Ramban specifically mentions the eshel, as though to give us a clue as to the reason the place was special.
And indeed this makes perfect sense when we understand what the eshel was and who Avraham was. Let us examine 21:33 and Rashi's comments there:
"[Avraham] planted an eshel in B'er Sheva. There he called in the name of HaShem, G-d of the World."
Rashi:
"Eshel" - Rav and Sh'mu'el (ed. -- two Talmudic figures) [disputed the identity of the eshel.] One said [it was] an orchard, from which to bring fruits to [his] guests during the meal, and one said [it was] an inn for lodging containing all types of fruit.
"There he called . . ." - By way of this eshel, the name of the Holy One Blessed is He was called Deity of All the World. After they would eat and drink, [Avraham] would say to them, "Give blessing to the One from Whom you ate! You think you ate of mine? You ate of the One Who spoke and [thereby] the world came to be!"
Avraham exemplified the attribute of chesed, or loving kindness, as is demonstrated by his actions in many places (e.g. his hospitality to the wayfarers in 18:2-8, his prayers on behalf of the wicked men of S'dom/Sodom in 18:23-32). It was via this personal strength of his that Avraham directed his service to G-d. (And that is precisely why the Akeydah was his greatest test -- for the one who personifies loving-kindness on earth to be commanded by G-d Himself to sacrifice the only son of his union with his beloved Sarah, born to them in their old age! But I digress.)
Avraham's chief career of kindness, and simultaneously, his chief service to G-d, it seems, was during his extended sojourn in B'er Sheva, where he lived "many days." He was not merely living there, he was running a business of bringing the world to the recognition of G-d through his acts of loving-kindness and giving. Through Avraham, G-d was revealed, recognized as the true giver, the true provider, the true Creator, Ruler and Sustainer. B'er Sheva, therefore, the place of the eshel, became Avraham's unique place of service and connection to G-d. It is reasonable, then, to suggest that even though Avraham and Sarah did ultimately return to Chevron, Avraham maintained a special emotional and spiritual connection to B'er Sheva as a place of his personal connection with G-d. As such, it follows that at the time of his greatest test, and his greatest success, when he had the greatest level of gratitude to G-d, the place he would choose to channel that outpouring to G-d would be that place where his connection with G-d was deepest and most pronounced -- B'er Sheva.
Indeed, we find the concept of setting a particular spot for communion with G-d expressed in a Jew's daily living. The Shulchan Aruch (Orach Chayim 90:19) rules:
One should set a place for one's prayer that one should not change without necessity. And it is not enough that one set for oneself a synagogue in which to pray, rather, even in the synagogue in which one [prays] regularly, one must have a set place.
When I looked up the source for this halachah (law) in the Talmud (B'rachoth 6B), I was astonished to find the following:
Rabbi Chelbo said: Rav Huna said: Anyone who sets a place for his prayer -- the G-d of Avraham is at his assistance, and when he dies they say to him . . ., "[You are] of the disciples of Avraham our father!"
From where [is it known] to us that [Avraham] set a place?
As it is written: "Avraham [went] early in the morning to the place where he had stood [before HaShem (G-d)]" (B'reshith 19:27). (ed. -- i.e. We find that Avraham returned to the same place where he had previously communed with G-d.)
Case closed? I leave it to you to decide.
4 comments:
very very nice. we eatablish makom kavoo'ah! ...and we learn the purpose, as well. I remember many passages that deal with the idea of consistancy being Hashem's most favored concept (rather than different measures or extremes, whether it be in gift giving, offerings, or prayers). I like this - goooood wrap-up!
Great observations. I love the idea of having a place that is powerful spiritually to you. I remember you mentioning that there was a spot at Ohr Someach in the bet medrash where you always liked to stand. That was the first time I'd ever heard of this concept. Great to see it in the text.
Now... I am almost ready to put this topic to bed. However, one thing still annoys me.
Rashi never mentions how Sarah dies. At least I can't find it. As far as I can tell he never tells the story of her death. We rely on a Midrash for that. A Midrash that I have since heard at least 3 different versions of. We assume that the Midrash is true, but I find it very hard to believe that such an important piece of the story is both left out of the text and left out of the Rashi.
I question the validity of the Midrash on the grounds that we hear many versions of the story and that Rashi does not mention it. In fact, you can look it this way, all the questions we've been asking are based on the Midrash conflicting with what we know in the text.
Now, I have an answer for my latest puzzle, but I want to hear your thoughts first.
myst yang --
I have another nice source about consistency in serving HaShem that I'll share with you when I have some more time to transcribe it. Something I heard on a tape recently.
And on that note,
andrew-- We once spoke about this concept and you told me you also felt it was valuable to daven from a particular siddur with which you felt a personal kind of connection. I remember being skeptical that one's connection even to a siddur could be significant. I have come around to seeing it your way.
As for the midrash, Rashi does mention it in his comments to 23:2. See there.
You are right, there are a number of versions of the midrash and I hope to explore them in a future post. Excellent q's.
Check out Rashi's comments to 23:2. That's Rashi bringing in the midrash.
Ahh good. You found 23:2 as well.
That was the answer I was alluding to. When I did find that Rashi, I laughed because in two words Rashi basically answers most (if not all) of the questions I had, and because that Rashi didn't come up in all the times we talked.
The wording of that pasuk really annoyed me. "Avraham came to eulogize and bewail her." Extra word, "came". The English Rashi in the Stone Chumash doesn't mention this Rashi, so I had to go into the Hebrew side. And I don't do Hebrew that well.
As you know (but anyone else reading might not), that Rashi explains the word "came" to mean "From Beer Sheva". This was interesting to me for a few reasons.
Number 1, because up until now the text and the Rashi didn't put Avraham in the right place.
Number 2, because the wording of the text suggests that Avraham knew of Sarah's death on his way back to Hebron, he did not find out once he got back home.
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