Burial and Honor

Chayye Sara



Genesis 23:1-25:18

Précis: The parasha begins with the counting of the life of Sarah (chayye Sarah) - and with her death. It continues with a detailed description of the purchase of the cave of Machpela by Abraham for a family burial site. Abraham orders his servant to go to Abraham’s ancestral home to obtain a wife for Isaac, and after a series of fulfilled signs, the servant finds Rebecca. Rebecca returns with the servant; she and Isaac meet, fall in love at first sight, and become man and wife. The parasha ends with the death of Abraham, and his burial by Isaac and Ishmael in the family burial cave.

Genesis 23:2-18 “Abraham arose from beside his dead, and spoke to the Hittites, saying, ‘I am a resident among you; sell me a burial site…’ And the Hittites replied, ‘Hear us, my lord…bury your dead in the choicest burial spot; none will withhold his burial place from you’…And Abraham bowed low…and said to them… ‘Let Ephron sell me the cave of Machpela…for the full price, as a burial site.’ Ephron...answered Abraham… ‘No, my lord, hear me: I give you the field and the cave…’ Then Abraham spoke…saying ‘Let me pay the price of the land; accept it from me’…And Ephron replied… ‘A piece of land worth 400 shekels - what is that between you and me? Go and bury your dead.’ Abraham accepted Ephron’s terms, and Abraham paid out the money…”

Burying the dead appears to be one of the most ancient of human rituals. Archaeological evidence points out that this practice is ancient indeed, that Neanderthal and even earlier humans engaged in burial practices which suggested a belief in life after death.

Why do we bury the dead? The act suggests a belief in survival after death, or even of physical resurrection (a belief which is part of Jewish thought, although not universally accepted). We bury the dead and mark their graves as another way in which Jewish tradition reminds us to remember. As we know, Judaism is much about remembering.

Abraham’s negotiation for a burial plot for Sarah ties burial to land ownership. While we know very little about Jewish burial rituals before the era of Rabbinic Judaism, we do know from this story and others in the Bible (Rachel, Jacob, Joseph, et al.) that it was important for individuals to be buried in ancestral lands with their family ancestors. As a result of the Babylonian and subsequent exiles, this was often impossible. Abraham’s story became a template for subsequent Jewish purchases of burial plots, and his descendants would face the same issues he faced as a "resident alien."

What do we learn from this story? First, the grave site needs to be purchased and not merely accepted as a gift. This is a sign of real ownership that cannot be revoked by the donor. Second, the grave site should be “permanent” (held “in fee”). Third, the fact that Abraham’s request was not seen as odd by the local citizens implies that they, too, engaged in burial and plot purchase, so we learn that Abraham was adopting (or at least sharing) the customs of those among whom he lived. Similarly, Jews throughout history shared some of the customs of the surrounding cultures (the use of ossuaries in Second Temple times; wooden coffins; grave stones and markers, etc.).

Throughout our history in the Diaspora, we have purchased land for burial whenever we were able to do so. Among the first items on the Jewish agenda when establishing a new community was the creation of a burial society (for both chevre kadisha and the purchase of burial land). When Jews were expelled from a state or principality, records indicate that the cemeteries were among the property sold off with other Jewish possessions. The subsequent desecration of Jewish cemeteries became a symbol of a faith’s victory over another, whether Christians or Muslims were the ones doing the desecration, and whether it took place in the 10th, 15th, or 20th centuries.

While, like Abraham, we have tried to find secure and tranquil places to bury our dead, we have learned that buying grave sites gives neither the living nor the dead any real security. If the purpose of burial rituals, as suggested at the outset, is to remember, then we today face an additional challenge: the dispersion of families across the country and around the world. The new mobility means that unlike Abraham and his earliest family, the responsibility for the preservation of burial sites and cemeteries is no longer a familial responsibility, but has become communal responsibility. Thus, those of us in communal positions have a special role to play. It is a duty both solemn and laden with mitzvah.

Survival

Lech Lecha


Genesis 12:1 -17:27


Précis: This parasha, “get you up” or “go yourself” (lech lecha) begins with “the call” of Abram to leave his home and journey to a new land. At God’s command, Abram and Sarai journey to Canaan. When famine strikes, they travel to Egypt, where Sarai is taken into Pharaoh’s harem after Abram calls her his “sister,” but she escapes without harm. They then leave Egypt, with Abram now a rich man. To avoid family squabbles, Abram separates himself from his nephew Lot (who moves to Sodom), but Abram is forced to rescue Lot in the first military action described in the Bible. Abram reaches a negotiated settlement with the locals, and God promises him an heir. Because Sarai is barren, she offers Abram her servant (Hagar), and Hagar gives birth to a son, Ishmael. Abram is then promised a son through Sarai, to be his true heir. Abram’s name is changed to Abraham, and Sarai’s to Sarah, in recognition of the new Covenant with God, which is then symbolized by circumcision.

Genesis 15:4-7 “Then the word of God came to [Abram]: ... ‘a son who is your own flesh and blood will be your heir.’ He took him outside and said, ‘Look up at the sky and count the stars, if indeed you can count them.’ Then He said to him, ‘So shall your offspring be...'”


This parasha focuses on the creation of the Jewish nation. How is it that we have survived for the 3.5 millennia since Abraham’s time, while most (if not all) other peoples were dispersed, conquered, or simply disappeared? This story of our origin provides important clues to our ongoing survival.


Jews have survived not because we were isolated at the edge of the civilized world, but rather because we maintained our identity while living within the dominant cultures in which we found ourselves, be it Babylonia, Greece, Rome, Spain, Poland, Russia, America, or any other of the “homes” in our history. The Jews survived not once, but multiple times.


In the cited verses, God promises Abram prosperity, progeny and land ownership. Yet, this promise is never fulfilled within the stories of Genesis. Even the ensuing story of the Exodus is not properly a story of restoration to the land, because the Jewish People had never really possessed it.


It is something other than prosperity and the land (mostly lacking throughout Jewish history) which have ensured the survival of the Jewish People. I would maintain that there are two rationales to explain this most unique story of survival. The first is a traditional, theologically based one: the Covenant between God and Abraham (and his descendants). This Covenant is real and abiding. Whether one believes that God intervenes directly in human affairs or not, one is hard-pressed to deny that something (or Someone) has had a role in the survival of the Jewish People through the 35 centuries since Abraham. It defies the laws of mere chance that the Jewish People has survived.


A second rationale for our mutual survival is the development of Jewish institutions, particularly of Torah study and a complex ritual life, which together formed a cultural collective sense of identity. Viewed in this light, Torah is a Jewish survival handbook.


As the inheritors of this tradition, and as descendants of Abraham, it is an obligation, accepted by each succeeding generation, to maintain the Covenant as we best understand it. We do this through observance, study, and support of Jewish communal institutions, and by our support of Israel as well. This is the meaning of the promise made to Abraham, and the rationale for the phrase “Am Yisrael Chai!”.