קניין כסף או מאת ה' • מהו הלקח מהניסיון לרצות את הגויים | הרב אליהו ובר

We are reading the weekly Torah portion about the process of purchasing a field . The weekly portion begins with the life of Sarah, speaking of our Matriarch Sarah, her passing, and Abraham coming to mourn and weep for her. But anyone who reads the portion—the first section, the entire first part— hardly deals with Sarah at all. It begins like this: that our Matriarch Sarah lived 127 years and passed away, and then our Patriarch Abraham begins negotiations. A precise description of all the negotiations: how much for the field, how much for this, how did the negotiations go? At first they didn't want to, then they did want to, then they didn't want to sell, they agreed he could bury her, and all sorts of things. And in the end it is mentioned, yes, true, and they really did bury Sarah, but the verse concludes with the field and the cave within it belonging to Abraham—meaning, our portion is actually not about the burial of Sarah at all. By the way, it is also mentioned that our Matriarch Sarah passed away, but our subject is the acquisition of the Land of Israel. And the word that is the foundation, the word "field," repeats itself several times. Also towards the end of the portion, when they bury our Patriarch Abraham, it is written that they buried Abraham in the field that Abraham bought. And in the meantime, by the way, Isaac went out to meditate in the field toward evening. If we want to give our portion a name, " The Portion of the Field" is the name of the portion— "Parashat Sadeh." There is a very, very, very essential connection between the Cave of the Patriarchs and the Place of the Temple. Yesterday afternoon Rabbi Golmint touched on this a bit here, but there is a well-known and famous Midrash that that there are three places where the nations of the world have no argument. They know they have no room for a claim on any place, as Rashi already brings at the beginning of the Torah. And there are three places where we even have a deed, we have a title—what is our proof that we bought it for full price? Three places: The first place we bought for full price is the Cave of the Patriarchs, and later there were arguments and discussions about it, and Jacob and Esau argued over it—is there any field that is an absolute purchase? And a second place written in the Torah that they bought for full price, we will see it now: the tomb of Joseph in Shechem, they bought it for "kesita" coins, and it is written in the Book of Joshua that they buried Joseph in that same field bought with the "kesita." So Joseph is already the second place, and the third place is the Temple Mount , which King David also bought for full price. So there are three places where the nations of the world are not sure it's ours? Right, those three places—the three places that are the most certain in the world to be ours. I think the three places they argue about the most are these very places. One must understand what is special. Why these places, they fight over them. So it truly turns out that if our holy ancestors took the trouble to buy these places, there must be something special about them. It is said that the field Abraham bought is a special field. And our Sages say that in the morning, before they offer the daily morning sacrifice, they say, "the face, the face of the entire East," which is in Hebron . There is a connection between Hebron and the site of the Temple, the matter of the field that connects the two. There is a passage in the Zohar about Isaac going out to meditate in the field in connection with the Cave of the Patriarchs, and there is indeed a connection between these two places. There are those who In the past, when it was impossible to come to pray here, the Cave of the Patriarchs was a place of prayer; Caleb ben Jephunneh already prayed there. Today, when it is possible to pray on the Temple Mount, is there no such thing as praying in other places? Of course, one should not give up on any place in the Land of Israel, not that, but there is holiness and there is merit in the place. But today, when one can pray on the Temple Mount, there is no, there is no such thing as "don't go pray" at the Cave of the Patriarchs, or at Joseph's Tomb, or anything else. There is a place to safeguard these sites, like all of the Land of Israel, and even more so, but then there is a very, very special issue that they were purchased. But I want to think, perhaps an additional explanation as to why the nations of the world argue about them the most: precisely because we bought them for full price, connecting it to the Rambam every week. >> Yes, I think one of the problems is precisely that we bought them for full price. The Holy One, blessed be He, said He is giving us more of the Land of Israel; what, are you starting to play games then? Our forefathers knew what they were doing, but there is a point the Holy One , blessed be He, wants to tell us: precisely in the places where you think they will have no complaint, you will see that is where the complaint will be . Many times, we come to appease, to appease the nations, as if to tell them : "Oh, yes, yes, we surely, we...not exactly, not like they describe us." We come to appease them, and usually, precisely on these points, that is where we fall. King David tells us in Psalms: "I am for peace, but when I speak, they are for war." We truly want peace. When we are ready to speak of peace, war immediately begins. And what King David said, he wrote it in Psalms, and for some reason , for some very clear reason, because if King David wrote it in the Psalms this way, it hasn't stopped to this very day . Every time they talk about peace, a war begins. This is the order, and King David testifies to it. So also with the issue that you buy for full price, you have here Araunah the Jebusite, 400 years Araunah sits here and you don't say anything to him, nothing at all. It truly had such an effect that the Midrash writes that his acquisition was not a complete acquisition. And why? Because you did not conquer what was near your palace. And the questioner will ask, why conquer ? After all, he bought it for full price , so he could have bought it a little earlier with money. So no, there is an issue here of "you shall conquer"—they told you to conquer the Land of Israel. They asked you to conquer, not to buy. So of course it is very good that we are redeeming the Land of Israel today, both with money and with wealth and with possession and in all sorts of ways. It is all with money and with deeds and with possession that we buy the lands, but we must still remember that if we come to appease—in the end, we don't always gain much. Here is an example: Abraham our forefather tries to appease the Children of Heth in such and such a way, and the field was established, and the cave that was in it was acquired by Abraham as a burial place. And how many nations of the world fight with us over the Cave of the Patriarchs? King David bought this place, and here one cannot even argue—not the Ishmaelites who are the seed of Abraham—there is no one, it is King David. King David, only someone who is the seed of King David can make claims here, or the people of Israel who bought it, they took money from everyone . Nevertheless, with all this, and the Bible is accepted by everyone: the Muslims read the Bible, and the Christians read the Bible, and the whole world knows the Bible, and the Bible is a book recognized everywhere, and there is no dispute that King David bought the place, but even so—yes. Look at how much they argue with us over this place. How many do not acknowledge that the people of Israel are here. So let us do what the Holy One, Blessed be He, commanded. If we do what He commanded, then we will do His will, and He will do our will according to His will. Amen, may it be His will.