Chayei Sarah - Retrieving Holiness

you're listening to the weekly paraa podcast recorded with hashem's NeverEnding assistance in Israel 5775 2014 this week's par is par SAR and although the name k SAR seems to indicate the life of SAR of Sarah or matriarch it's actually referring to the death of SAR that's what we have at the beginning of the paraa she passes away Torah tells us that the years of her life were 127 now the Torah goes in at length to to speak about to describe the scene as AB Abraham is looking for a place to bury his wife to bury Sarah and so he comes toon heon and he knows that there's a place a very special place there called which would eventually come to be called The Cave of the Patriarchs and in the that was where and his wife Adam and Eve were buried there and Abraham also wanted to be buried there and so it would be he and his wife were buried there Y and Rifka were buried there and Yakov and Leia were buried there now Abu did not yet own this piece of land he didn't yet own the maras the field within which was this cave and so he had to buy it he bought it from Ephron he bought it from this he this and he was one of the inhabitants of this place of Kon and the Torah describes this whole conversation between them he's going back and forth he says ephon says I'm going to give it to you as a gift says no I'm going to pay e says okay you can pay and so that's what happened and the Torah says in chapter 23:13 speaks to Eon and everyone hears if you listen to me I'm giving you the money I want you to take it I don't want a gift I want to bury my dead in that place and now one of the things that we need to understand is what is this significance of the fact that aru that Abraham is stressing that he's going to pay for this piece of land he's not going to take it as a gift of course he understood that ephon didn't really want to give the gift as our as our sages say but it seems clear that he was willing to pay no matter what there was something important about him paying for this piece of land also important to understand is what is this place ofas what is special about the Cave of the Patriarchs we mentioned that adish that Adam and Eve were buried in this place but the question still becomes why indeed were they buried specifically in this place what is the significance of this Cave of this place of Kon soas says like this and I'd like to read it inside Abraham was careful he pushed himself to purchase the Cave of the Patriarchs in full cash specifically with money full cash Kam as a verse says it's the verse we just read said if you listen to me take the money and we find a similar thing says elsewhere we find it also in regards to King David when King David bought the space where the temple would be built which is the Temple mount in Jerusalem from the jebusite a non-jewish person who owned that space Etc he was careful to purchase it he bought it with money King David said I'm not going to bring to my God animals that were bought for free and in the same way King David was saying I'm not going to use a space which I haven't purchased which I haven't bought like is brought down in the Z so the question is why is it that it needed specifically to be purchased in full money in its full value why did it have to be bought and not received as a gift these places had intense Holiness awesome Holiness these two places the first of which is the Cave of the Patriarchs sh ganen the Cave of the Patriarchs is a very special place it's the gates of the Garden of Eden every time a person passes away his soul has to go through that gate has to pass through the Cave of the Patriarchs in order to get to the Tree of Life to that upper space to the Transcendent realm and in a similar way the Temple mount the bdash is also the temple itself and the space upon which it would rest is a gateway into heaven as we find that that Jacob rested there and he said I didn't know that this was the Gateway of the heaven who and what is the concept of their Holiness what is the idea of Holiness what does it mean that they're there's a special Holiness in these two places amongst others that place the B the Temple mount the Cave of the Patriarchs these are places where we see a much deeper level of Divine Providence that Divine Providence is revealed there and that's the main Holiness of the land of Israel is the fact that Hashem reveals himself the Divine PR Providence is more obvious in in the land of Israel as the verse says in reference to the land of Israel that hashem's eyes are always there they're always able to be seen there and certainly in Israel itself right if we if we have this premise that the land of of Israel is a place that hasem his Divine Providence is acting in a more open way if we find that that's true in general about the land of Israel and that's an expression of the Holiness of that land the Revelation of's Providence is revealed more and more because God's Divine Providence is the main aspect of Holiness which is mainly found in the land of Israel is sh we find in the land of Israel our svor tell us there are 10 different levels of Holiness and the highest of which is the the holy of holies that's where the main revelation of God's Divine Providence occurs within that space that's where we find that the the Coen G would go the high priest would go onum KI on the holiest day of the year and that's where he would say his special prayer on behalf of the Jewish people for their parasa and so that represents the very the very concept of the fact that hm is intimately involved in the lives of of every individual in an open way and in a similar way the Cave of the patriarch there's also a very strong aspect of Holiness in that cave because it was a place where the Patriarchs and the matriarchs were buried and thus it served and would serve as the space to enter into the world world to come now we have an idea we understand a little bit what is the significance of the the Cave of the Patriarchs paralleling the significance of the bdes of the Temple of the Temple Mount so we understand why why Abraham wanted specifically to purchase this place but the question Still Remains why was it necessary that it specifically be purchased why couldn't it be just be received as a gift but these places it's very significant that who owned them they were bound on the side of evil they were owned by these two individuals who were not from the Jewish people one was Ephron who was the the other one is the jebusite this is the idea this is the concept wherever there's intense Holiness in the world in this physical world so that Holiness always sits it was always captured by the other side by the side of evil and in a moment perhaps we'll see we'll think about what this means today in our times but rnas speaks about a little bit what it was like in his times in regards to this idea one of the main ways that the other side the side of evil manifests itself and brings across its power is through those people who who say that all there is is nature all he have is the natural world there's a natural order but there's no God behind it there's just mother nature and this is something you know if we're going to speak about something which is holy of course there there's this concept the worda which means the nature or the natural order is the same gach the same numerical value as the word Elohim which means God so we find that Hashem himself the the greatest revelation of godliness is hidden within something which completely covers hashem's existence or or covers the fact that Hashem is there so the T no to say that all there is is nature all there is is is natural selection Evolution Etc that these aren't manifestations of hashem's Divine Providence and his divine intervention in the world his creative Force so that is something which covers up which covers up the Holiness and the the truth the revelation of God so now in a parallel way we have this intense holy place called The harab the Temple Mount we have this intensely holy place called Kon which is where the is the the Cave of the Patriarchs and so these places were owned by people who were not Jewish people and this signified the fact that these places were were captured so to speak by this The Other Side by sit by the side of evil and so now in order for it to be brought back to the side of Holiness to be brought back to be retrieved so the only way to do that completely it's not enough for them to give a gift if efon is going to give that gift if if arv yusi the jevisite is going to give a gift so as our kazal tell us when Efron was making this whole conversation he was trying to he was saying he's going to give a gift but he was just doing that in order to impress the people of his town it wasn't authentic it wasn't real and so we need to get back we need to get back the Holiness in such a way where it's completely given up from the side of evil the side of evil is masim they the side of evil completely acquiesces and gives itself up gives up that side of Holiness that aspect of Holiness which has been entrapped there and let it be released so it joins back the side of Holiness so it's imperative that it be paid for because by paying for something so that creates the the true desire on the side of the forces of evil to give it up completely now as I was reading this I was thinking that this really explains something which is challenging when we when we speak about the Exodus when we speak about the Jewish people leaving from it's from Egypt so the Torah tells us that Hashem spoke to Moshe it's a famous thing hasem spoke to Moses and he says go to pharaoh and tell him to let my people go right why why does he have to ask permission let the people go just take them out in the end you're going to force him out anyway right but there has to be just like over here there's an acquiescence that's brought about by paying for this piece of land so also when it came to MIT when it came to Egypt where the Jewish people need to be released the Holiness needs to come out of the place of the S of the side of evil it also has to be released in such a way that there's an acquiescence Pharaoh has to be asked let my people go when we get to the 10th plague Pharaoh says go and and and pray for me as well bring poor Abus bring sacrifices for me as well so there's a complete giving up there's a complete the the side of evil completely gives up the Holiness so it's true over here as well it's very powerful now what's interesting is rasan points out that it has to be specifically through money he says money is the general aspect of influx meaning the the money is something which represents the giving of prosperity Hashem gives a person his needs is someone who opens his hands and provides for all of his Creations so money in a certain sense when it's used correctly with the right approach the correct spiritual approach is that money is something which represents hashem's his influx his his desire to give prosperity to the human being now it's it's possible to make a great mistake when it comes to money to to fall for the idolatry of money says the whole mistake why is it that a person gets caught up in the in this this um this sacrilege and believing that all there is is nature which is an aspect of idolatry says the main reason that it comes about is because a person desires money meaning he sees money as the end all he doesn't view money as something which is a symbol of prosperity that comes from Hashem rather use it as something it's his it's his idolatry something that he depends upon that the money is something which all 70 of the different types of idolatry are contained within it and this is something that's described elsewhere talks about it and talks about it when we we see when he wanted to curs the Jewish people so the way that he tried to do that was by getting money from bolock from the king of Moab who wanted the Jewish people to be cursed so he could fight against them and so the idea is that money is something which represents the influx of God and so if you want to direct that with in the case of B he wanted to direct it heav him forbid to curse the Jewish people so he needed money he needed that will of God so to speak which is represented in in the in a true spiritual way by money when it's approached properly but AR and David Abraham and David they KN knew how to use the money in the correct way which in this case was to take the influx the wealth that had been given to them by Hashem the prosperity that they had to use it to direct it to to cause the sign of evil sit as represented by these two individuals Ephron and AR that they should have the desire to give up the Holiness to give up that space that place which represented and and one could see the Divine Providence in the world to give that up was something that they wouldn't ordinarily do but using the tool of money in the correct way both Abraham both Abraham and David were able indeed to bring back the the holy places of Kon and harabas Jerusalem to the Jewish people so to sum up there are two points that is bringing out one of them is that the two places the Cave of the Patriarchs the harab the Temple Mount these two places represent an exalted level of Holiness where's Divine PR Providence is openly apparent as a result of that intense Holiness so the Holiness is covered up by the other side which is why Ephron and arvana were the ones who owned this space and had to be purchased brought back to the side of the Jewish people and the second point is that it's specifically through money which represents Pro Prosperity which represents the influx that God wants to bring into the world when it's approached in the correct way specifically through that money through that influx was how Aram and David were able to bring back these holy places to the side of kadha to the Jewish people now in thinking about where we are today in the land of Israel who owns who has the control over the Temple Mount today even though yes it's Jewish sovereignty but unfortunately it's under Arab control a Jew cannot step up onto the Temple Mount and pray as he wish wishes he will be arrested or the place of K heon the Cave of the Patriarchs is a place which is under control of the Arabs yes we do have the ability to pray there but it's an Arab area places like sh kose the the tomb of Joseph these places are places that are covered they're covered in the side of the sitra and the other side the side of evil and that's something that we have to deal with you know it's we have to look at and say we don't have access in to to the full extent to these places of Holiness we have gotten access to Y to Jerusalem we do have access to the Western Wall to the kisari but that's not the place it's not the real center it's the Temple Mount itself and so these places are still entrapped they're still on the other side they're still stuck and I don't think that ultimately we're going to be able to purchase them back so to speak from the Arabs but rather it's going to be something more similar perhaps to what happened in the times of the Exodus there will have have to be a miraculous circumstance some kind of event that makes it clear that it's God's will that these places belong to the Jewish people and these are places like rnas says that the sit the other side has to give up willingly and so just like Pharaoh let the Jewish people go on their own and just like Ephron and arvana gave up these places of Their Own valtion either because the you know when it came to Pharaoh so he experienced all these tribulations and trials when it came to Ephron and Aran was because they received money but in any event they gave it up of their own valtion and so it will be in the future when when Messiah comes and the Messiah comes in the Advent of that miraculous era it's going to be the same that the Jewish people will receive back these holy places it will be something that's given to us because it's clear that it's ours and that we are the representatives of Hashem in the world and therefore we have to be able to go back to those places where we can properly serve Hashem and we can openly reveal hashem's hand in the world now for me the take-home of this message of this idea that rnas is teaching us here is that twofold it's twofold one is that the the places in my life where there where there's challenge where there's Darkness the the sitra the side of evil evil covers me over wants to prevent me from being able to access the kadus the Holiness that's there those are the places that I need to look at and say how can I retrieve the Holiness from the side of evil from the from the negative forces Within Myself how can I get it back from the parts of me that don't want to give it up and and so it's there the first point is that it's there and it's covered and it's hidden just like we find over here in this in this idea and second of all there's a necessity to to convince so to speak our negative our lower Natures to give it up on their own to to somehow be able to figure out a way as our sages say sages say that when a person does things sometimes beginning in the beginning stages for the wrong reasons ultimately will bring him if he's focused that way to do it for the right reasons so sometimes I need to do things in order to motivate myself that on the surface might seem or or from the inside the way I'm thinking and the way I'm looking at myself if I would judge myself negatively it wouldn't look too good let's say I really want to learn Torah I want to learn the Dai or I want to do some other good deed I want to give Saka but my says my evil inclination the S the forces of evil within me say no don't do that good thing so sometimes I need to take a a lishma approach approach which is a little bit negative maybe I'm going to learn because my children will be able to see that their father they'll have more respect for their father because he's studying Torah or maybe I'm going to learn for whatever reason other people will respect me I'll give Saka I'll give charity because other people will respect me of course that's not the ideal ideally we should do it for its own sake but sometimes we can't we can't convince ourselves and it's too difficult and it's and our say it's important indeed sometimes or many times say a person should always learn Torah and do mitz fulfill the Commandments for the wrong reasons as long as one's focused on getting to the right reasons as long as one's focused on ultimately doing it for its own sake so then that is a correct approach so I want to bless you and me and all of usem should help us to be able to recognize the Holiness that's within us to recognize the Holiness that's in the world and be able to retrieve that Holiness and to do what's necessary in order to bring it back to the side of kadha to be able to have that spiritual life thank you so much for listening have a wonderful shabas this podcast was made possible through the gracious donations of listeners like you for more podcasts like this please visit www.wag.com or search on iTunes Ari goldwag