AND THE SERVANT SAID TO HIM, "WHAT IF THE WOMAN DOES NOT CONSENT TO FOLLOW ME TO THIS LAND, SHALL I THEN TAKE YOUR SON BACK TO THE LAND FROM WHICH YOU CAME?" ABRAHAM ANSWERED HIM, "ON NO ACCOUNT MUST YOU TAKE MY SON BACK THERE!"

(Bereishit 24:5,6)

 

Why Did Abraham Object So Strongly to the Canaanite Women?

"From the Daughters of the Canaanites" - Lest they say I entered the land through inheritance and bequest, but I only want it by God's hands, that he give it to me as a possession.

(Hizkuni 24; 3)

 

We must recall that when Abraham rejected the Canaanite women, the people of Aram were also idolaters. It follows that Canaan's moral corruption, rather than its strange gods, motivated his decision. Paganism is in essence an intellectual error that can be corrected. However, moral corruption takes hold of the whole of a person's being, to the depths of the soul and the emotions. Here [in Canaan], Abraham could not hope to find his son a modest and morally pure wife, a wife who would bring to his home the pearl of nobility and the purity of morals.

 (R. Samson Raphael Hirsch, Bereishit 24: 4)

 

 

HAGAR/KETURAH FROM "BE'EIR L'CHAI RO'I"

Pinchas Lazer

Throughout the ages, exegetes and preachers have reflected upon the juxtaposition of biblical events as they are transcribed in the parshiyot "Yayeirah" and "Haye Sara." Prof. Uriel Simon, among others, has attended to the linguistic and thematic connections between the expulsion of Ishmael and the binding of Isaac. Authors of the midrashim point to a causal link between the binding of Isaac and Sarah's death.

It is especially interesting to see how Rashi (24: 62) employs the midrash to explain one of the verses leading to the first encounter between Isaac and Rivkah:

"Isaac had just come back from the vicinity of Beer-lahai-roi - for he had gone to bring Hagar to his father Abraham for him to marry her." The midrash in Bereishit Rabbah (60: 14) that serves as Rashi's source offers a richer description of the connection between Hagar and the place's name:

"'Isaac had just come back from mavo [the vicinity, alternatively, the coming],' He came from coming, where did he go to? 'Beer-lahai-roi' [literally, 'the well-to-the-living-who-sees-me], he went to bring Hagar, who had sat by the well, and said to the one who lives eternally, 'see me in my disgrace.'"

"'And Isaac went out walking [Heb: lasuah] in the field toward evening." Siha can only mean prayer, for it is written (Psalms 102) 'A prayer of the lowly man when he is faint and pours forth his plea [siho], and it also says, 'Evening, morning and noon I complain [asiha] and moan and He hears my voice.'"

The author of Midrash Tanhuma (Hayyei Sarah, 8) praises Hagar extravagantly. In connection with the midrashic idea that Isaac sought out a wife for his father Abraham, just as Abraham had earlier found a wife for Isaac, Tanhuma states:

"Isaac said: 'I have taken a wife and my father remains lacking a wife?' What did he do? He went and brought him a wife. Rabbi said: She was Hagar, who was Ketura; and why was she called Ketura? Because she was tied up like a wineskin. And our Rabbis said: He took a different woman.

And what was Rabbi's reason for saying that Hagar was Ketura? Of Isaac it is written, 'Isaac had just come back from the vicinity of Beer-lahai-roi', that [place] of which it is written, 'And she [Hagar] called the Lord who had spoke to her, 'You are El-roi'' (Bereishit 16) from here you learn that she was Hagar. Another explanation: Why did they call her Keturah? Because her deeds were as pleasing as incense [ketoret].

Both midrashim find in the words "Beer-lahai-roi" a hint to the encounter of Hagar, Sara's maidservant, wife of Abraham, and mother of Ishmael, with God. Beer-lahai-roi is the "place where the prayer of his maidservant was heard" (Sforno), the place where Hagar was granted an epiphany, and the place where Isaac chose to pray Minhah.

The author of Bereishit Rabbah chose to emphasize Hagar's cry to God, "see me in my humiliation", while the author of Midrash Tanhumah emphasizes Isaac's concern for his father. In both midrashim, as well as in the parasha itself, there is a feeling of closure.

"Isaac then brought her into the tent of his mother Sarah, and he took Rebecca as his wife. Isaac loved her, and thus found comfort after his mother's death." With his marriage to Rebecca, Isaac completes the period of his mourning for his mother, and at the same time acts to end his father's mourning by bringing Hagar/Keturah to him.

The authors of Midrash Rabbah emphasize that by bringing Hagar to Abraham, Isaac achieved a tikkun ("repair"). This deed creates another moment of closure: God had paid attention to Hagar's suffering (the name Ishmael is explained- "For the Lord has paid heed to your suffering") and had seen her humiliation when she was banished by Sarah, and this suffering and humiliation required tikkun (see Baal haTurim, Ramban, and ReDaK). Isaac was the one to bring closure to this cycle of events and afterwards establish (metakein) the Minhah prayer, as is explained in the Gemarah (Berakhot 26b):

"Isaac established the Minhah prayer, for it is written 'And Isaac went out walking [lasuah] in the field toward evening.' Siha can only mean prayer, for it is written (Psalms 102) 'A prayer of the lowly man when he is faint and pours forth his plea [siho].'"

Isaac's prayer is both an act of tikkun and an act of establishment [takkanah]. He prays in the place where God attended to Hagar's suffering and saw her humiliation; he decides to repair the evil caused her by his mother, and afterwards to recite a prayer established for future generations. Isaac's prayer is a plea (sicha) that connects with the suffering and humiliation of Hagar, mother of his brother Ishmael, ("A prayer of the lowly man when he is faint and pours forth his plea [siho]"). He hears her cry in his prayer, the sound of her weeping, and the sound of the weeping of Ishmael, his brother.

Similarly, we see how the Gemarah in Rosh HaShanah (33b) deduces the character of the shofar blasts, teruah and shvarim from Sisra's mother:

"It is written: 'It shall be a day of truah for you' (Bamidbar 29), and this is translated: It shall be a day of sobbing for you. And it is written in connection with Sisra's mother (Judges 5), 'looking through the window, Sisrah's mother sobbed.'"

The Sages were sensitive to the suffering and tears of mothers, and not only to the crying of Jewish mothers.

The Minha prayer is the final prayer of the day. One must manage to recite this prayer "towards evening", before the setting of the sun. Will we succeed, before the sun sets, while we are reciting Minhah, to listen to the suffering and crying around us and repair that which requires repair?

Pinchas Leiser, the editor of "Shabbat Shalom", is a psychologist.

 

 

"Also the sons of Adam, also the sons of Man"

"Also the sons of Adam, also the sons of Man": What does "also the sons of Adam" mean? These are the sons of Abraham, of whom it is written "the greatest person ["adam"] among the giants" (Joshua 14:15), also - to include the sons of Ishmael and Keturah. "Sons of man" - these are the sons of Noah, of whom it is written: "a righteous man" (Bereishit 6: 9).

(Midrash Tehillim, 49)

 

"And he will be like a planted tree" - The Holy One Blessed be He took him and planted him in the Garden of Eden.

Another interpretation: That the Holy One Blessed be He planted him in the Land of Israel.

"That gives its fruits in season" - that is Ishmael.

"And whose leaves shall not wilt"- that is Isaac.

"And everything he does succeeds" - that is the sons of Keturah.

(Midrash Tehillim, 1)

 

Anyone can do teshuvah (repent) and teshuvah atones for all.

"And Isaac and Ishmael buried him": From here we know that Ishmael repented, and allowed Isaac to walk before him, and that is the good old age spoken of in connection with Abraham. (Rashi 25:9)

"Haye Sarah" ["the times of Sarah's life"]: Rashi explains, "they were all equally for the best". Although that regarding Ishmael it is written, "and these are the years of the life of Ishmael," one should still say that he repented, in accordance with Rashi's comment on the verse, "And Isaac and Ishmael his sons buried him", for a convert who has just converted is comparable to a new-born child, and all of his preceding years, all of the evil he wrought, is accounted as nothing, and he is as one who repented each day of his life.

(Daat Zekeinim MiBaalei HaTosafot; 23:1)

 

Kiryat Arba - Four Cubits

One should contemplate upon this parasha, which hints that even if a person's rank is magnified, and he comes to posses the entire world and all that is in it, [in the end] he owns nothing but the four cubits of his grave. Abraham was given the entire Land as a gift, and first he purchased there the Maarat HaMachpeilah, in Kiryat Arba, which is Hebron (Rabbeinu BeHayyeih, 23: 20).

"...and this is the portion of each person in his world, that he is buried in the space of his four cubits (kiryat arba amotav), a hint to those four cubits left to Abraham after the entire land was given to him as a gift, in reality, that is all that is left to any human being from all his greatness and property that he acquires in his lifetime."

(Y. Leibowitz: Sheva Shanim shel Sichot al Parashat HaShavua, p. 94).

 

 

Readers Respond (To the article by Prof. Daniel Statman - Shabbat Shalom "Netzavim-Vayelech")

 

The article is founded upon the claim that the expression "Holy Land" is never used in the Tanach in reference to the Land Of Israel, but it fails to account for the verse, "The Lord will take Judah to Himself as His portion in the Holy Land, and He will choose Jerusalem once more" (Zechariah 2: 16).

Yossi Aurbach - Efrat

 

In "Shabbat Shalom" of Netzavim-Vayelech, Danny Statman presents two traditional Jewish models for relating to the Land of Israel : The scriptural model of the Land as a "goodly Land" [eretz hatovah] that serves as a reward to those who observe the Torah, and the model of the "Holy Land" [eretz hakodesh], which entirely lacks, or almost entirely lacks, any scriptural foundation.

It is true that the expressions Eretz Hakodesh and Eretz Kedosha do not appear in scripture. However, we do find an equivalent phrase, "admat kodesh" (Zechariah 2: 16). Since the scriptural notion of holiness refers to a state of belonging to or being dedicated to God (who is the essence and source of holiness), the Land which bears God's name must posses a great degree of holiness. Thus, it is called, "the land of God" (Hosea 9: 3, see also Jeremiah 2:7), "God's portion" (Jeremiah ad loc, II Samuel 26: 19, Psalms, 79: 1), and "God's estate" (Joshua 22: 19). In contrast, areas outside of the Land are referred to as "impure land" (Joshua loc cit, Hosea 9: 3).

In any case, rather than presenting two models, scripture offers one model encompassing two aspects: Responsibility and blessing. That is to say, the Creator wishes Israel to dwell in the Land and worship Him there through fulfillment of the commandments peculiar to it.

God will bless the Land's fruits on the condition that Israel fulfils His commandments and in order to help them fulfill His commandments. The Land's fruits are intended to enable the worship of God, and will in any case fail if Israel does not fulfill its part of the covenant.

It is clear that there are different ways to rank the importance of the holiness of the Land of Israel in comparison to other religious and human duties, but there is no reason to ignore the basic scriptural motif of the Land's holiness.

Menachem ben Yashar - Massuot Yitzchak

 

Danny Statman - response to critics

Leibowitz would answer his critics by saying that they quibble about the interpretation of a verse, or find some contrary quotation, while ignoring the obvious. I will follow his example, and repeat: Any unbiased reading of scripture, and especially of Devarim, the main object of interest in my article, will immediately perceive that the Land of Israel is described as a goodly land, flowing with milk and honey, which is promised as a reward for proper religious and ethical behavior, and not as a holy land the dwelling in which is invested with any independent religious value. It is not the conquest of the Land, but rather the performance of commandments, that constitutes the focus of Torah and holiness. (Just check how many hundreds of times the root "kadosh" [holy] appears in scripture, only once in reference to the Land of Israel!). Arrival in the Land merely affords an opportunity for the performance of additional commandments ("And when you come to the Land...and you shall take from the first of all fruits of he earth", see Rashi there). As Rabbi Aviah HaCohen pointed out to me, one may find a notion of the Land's holiness in the books of Vayikra and Bamidbar, but this underlies a strict religious-ethical demand upon the people, rather than a religious-national right to the Land. In the days of Jeremiah (see especially chapter 7) the people refused to understand the fact that residence in the Land and the enjoyment of its fruits are conditional upon worthy behavior. They failed in this again in Ezekiel's time (23: 24-5), and some of them continue in this error even today, taken in by the false promises of those who "foretell" the redemption.

 

 

 

 

 

Editorial Board: Pinchas Leiser (Editor), Miriam Fine (Coordinator), Itzhak Frankenthal and Dr. Menachem Klein

Translation: Kadish Goldberg

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