Shabbos Parashas Chayei Sarah - 5778

Shabbos Parashas Chayei Sarah - 5778 Rabbi Hal Miller I am an alien and a resident among you; grant me a holding for a grave with you

that I may bury my dead from before me. [Bereishis 23:4]

Avraham returned from distant places to Chevron in order to bury his wife Sarah. On

his return he was treated as something of a cross between a stranger and a prince.

While working up the burial arrangements, he made this very curious statement.

Rashi asks that one cannot be both an alien and a resident at the same time. He

explains Avraham's position:

An alien from another land, and I have settled among you. If you wish I will be an

alien, but if not I will be a resident and take it by right.

Thus Avraham is merely being polite.

Avraham gave the children of Ches (residents of Chevron) a choice: either treat me as

a stranger and make me a fair sale, or deal with me as the true owner of this land as

assigned by G-d, and I will take it without compensation. The response was, as one

might expect, both ambivalent and equivocal: they would call him a neighbor, but make

a sale as though he were a stranger. Why did Avraham give them this choice? If he was

the rightful owner, why did he have to go through the rigors of making and consummating

a deal? Despite his having heard repeatedly, directly from G-d, that the land would

devolve to him and his progeny, Avraham knew that it falls to us to do our part to make

His will come about in as "natural" a way as possible.Even though we know the

eventual outcome, it is better to bring it about through non-miraculous methods, and

with Shalom where possible. If he was an alien, he would buy, if accepted as a resident,

he had certain rights under the local secular laws. Either way, he would appear to the

residents to be doing the "right thing".

Why is it important which way Avraham was classified? Why did this seemingly small

incident get such significant coverage in the Torah? This might be viewed as one of the most important of all the tests that Avraham faced.

He had just come off the previous one, Akeidas Yitzchok, which most people would

probably view as about the hardest thing he could have faced. After that, anything

would be a let-down. G-d sneaks another one in when Avraham wasn't expecting it;

not only had he not recovered from the effects of the near-loss of his son, but now he

lost his beloved wife of over a century. He could be excused if he drops the ball on his level of faith in G-d, at least a little. Instead, when faced with people who were

demanding he buy a piece of land, at an exhorbitant price, that he clearly already

owns, he settles back in the knowledge that G-d will honor His word to give all this

land to his descendants no matter what. He demonstrates his complete faith, knowing

that all things belong to G-d to be doled out as He sees fit. Avraham, and every Jew since, played a dual role. Each of us is a resident of the country

in which we live, and must work and pray for its welfare. At the same time, wherever we

are in the diaspora across this world, we are always an alien. Thus we say both the prayer

for the welfare of the government where we live, and also for the welfare of the State of

Israel each Shabbos. Today our people are both residents and strangers in our exile around the world. We are

welcomed yet alienated, included yet kept distant, and in many cases, persecuted. Today

also, we are both residents and strangers in our own land, Eretz Yisroel. We are forced to

earn the right to live there, as did Avraham with this purchase of his own land. We are

welcome yet still alienated, free to build yet still awaiting freedom to build the settlements,

and also awaiting the rebuilding of the Temple and its surrounds. We too must have the

faith displayed by Avraham.