Chayei Sarah | Rabbi Baruch Taub | November 13th 2025

Okay, let's uh I have two items on the sheet. I had a third item that I was toying with since last night. I didn't make a sheet for it. If we have time, I want I would like to talk about it, but let's see if we have time. [clears throat] First piece number one is from Ravian and David say um we've been bringing his material lately. Raan Daviditzk the son-in-law of Rahutner the only daughter the only child of Rahutner his daughter Rabbit and Burya so um Zatal so here Vayishma Abra so here you have there's a lot of things in this para right so one of the things in this para is Abrau negotiating for a burial plot for Sor emanu [clears throat] and he um comes to the ben Of [clears throat and cough] course he wants which he got and they send him you got to go to Ephron we of course so Ephron plays with him at Ephron Ephron. So he listened to what Ephraim said you know shekel what's 400 shekel you know so uh uh maybe you don't even have to pay. So but in in this puk Ephron's name is not spelled whole and rashi says Ephine's name is spelled without a vavish because he said a lot and he didn't even do a little. So of course the obvious question is what does that have to do with the letter v? Okay so let's see he's going to try to uh to bring this out. He named first of all he he quotes a mission in there's something very special uh about a person's a person should say a little and do a lot that is that is the mark of a right and goritia also says the opposite The opposite of that is you see just the opposite in the negotiation for buying the he said a lot [clears throat] and he didn't do anything he said she a piece of property worth 400 shekel umu But afterwards it was what does that mean? So he says like this he says to Abraham what's it what's what is a field of 400 shekel right it's nothing it's worth nothing and afterwards he says he settled on insisted he said I'll even give it to you for nothing right so says no I'm going to give you 400 shekel but I'm going to give you what's over means that the shekel has a varying degree of value depending on the country depending on the place the shekel a salad could be like five scalim for uh for um today the mitzvah of pion you have to use five shekel now it has to be real shekel it has to be real silver it has to be the so it has to be let's say how many grams it has to be a certain number of grams of silver right let's say 14 19 I I forget but uh silver dollars today are not made from silver. They were from 1968 on until 1968 US dollars were made. So I used to I had a set. So I happened to be a Korean because my father was a Korean. So I had a set for years of silver dollars under 1968. I don't know what happened to them when we moved. They disappeared. Remember they they moved. They disappeared. Anyway, the state of Israel, the Medidina had made uh a number of years ago, a long not a number of years ago, they made a a set of pigeon the proper amount of silver, right? In fact, I had a pigeon ben a few weeks ago in Natana and I somebody got a hold of from somebody who had those uh those coins. But over means the highest value of uh of a shekel and rashi says it's a centurion. Now what was a what is a centurion? What's it worth? It's it's worth a fortune. So I saw in the purish in the medish the medish mvoir which was published in 1984. So he goes all through the mathematical equations of the different scale. And what was the shekel mafor? This shekel in 1994 was 300 and um $38400,000 US. That was what it was worth. Thousands of gram was thousands of gram. this particular shekea. So if you fast forward, so I did I did the the calculations based on what I saw in front of me for 2026 and it's $444,36. So that's he agreed on right at the beginning. He says, "Yeah, take it for nothing. What is it?" But he insisted he insisted on the the centurion the the real shekel which is about a half a million dollars US then in those days. So, you know, as they say, what what kind of a a Russia Ephine was. So, here's a guy who really said a lot and did absolutely nothing. And Rashi says counted up the money to him. There's no in his name because he said a lot and did nothing. Again, the mystery is why the letter V. We'll get to that. Right? Where does that come from? How do you understand that? Where's the missing? What does that have to do with this? Right? Okay. In the second paragraph, let's explain. Let me backtrack. He says, and let's talk about something very central, a central motif in the religious persona. the essence of a person. The essence of who he is elap a human being in general and particularly a Jew with Torah. The purpose in life is to take our potential and put it into reality. Take it from kak to poel. That's what a braha is by the way. Right? when Yakov gave a braha to his children and Moshe gave a braha also to theatim right so what does it mean you know abracadabra you're going to be this no it means I'm telling you what you are each one of theatim had something unique so I'm just telling this is your potential run with it that's what a brah is and in fact the word what's the what's the origin of the word braha bar right we say a braha >> street >> a street Well, uh, a stream. Okay. A stream. A, um, actually um a >> pool. >> A, a well, right. Um, >> a pool. >> A pool. Yeah. Right. A pool. So, you know, you it you draw from it. You draw from it. Right. So, that's what a bra is. Um, and that's what a brah is. And that's by the way the word bar. We say we bar. And that's the barak. the knee as we bend our knee to the Hashem because you are the source. You're the found the fountain the bra the the stream the fountain of of of of all spiritual energy. So that's the purpose of man is to realize to recognize his potential and to bring it out into reality. Okay. From a small source. Small source. One little seed you plant in the in the ground and you can have an entire esser tree, right? Or apple tree or olive tree, right? That's why, listen to this. That's why man is called Adam. He's really, this is coming from the moral. That's why man is called Adam because man comes what's nothing. It's what what you do with the it's what you do with it quotes the moral it's the bring out of the the potential that's what the ground is a is a facilitator. So Adam third paragraph nil paratlufa now he's going to go to the eggla another area till he gets to the vav okay but it's going to come out what's the eggla the one of the most austere mitzvah that we have right that what um you find a dead body right human body human life is precious to us and when someone dies we have to take care of that body it has to be buried so let's say there's That's what a mate mitzvah is. A body that you don't there's no no relatives, no one to bury it. So you find a dead body somewhere. There's a Jewish body lying there. You don't know who it is. So first of all, somebody has to bury it. So you take out an egglar. They took an eggla. They took a small calf. It was never worked. So they take it to a valley. They after they they they first of all measure to the closest city and that bezdon of that city is responsible to bury the body. And then they have to give this a rufa. They have to they it's not she that they cut it from the ar from the back of uh of the neck, right? Not the neck. It's not a it's the opposite of a and then they bury it in a in a um in a in a we'll see what it's called in a minute. Okay. So let's see. And what does that have to do with what he's going to say? Let's see. So the elders of the city bring down hela they take the egg to they take it to a valley an emptyan valley right which a a a an unf an unfert an infertile piece of land an infertile piece of landra and you can't that you can't it's infertile and rashi brings You got to bring an eagle that's a year old. Shalap wrote that it never did anything. Never had children. It's too young and it kill it from the back of its neck because it doesn't do but never made to atone for the murder of this Jewal who was never had never had the opportunity to make payrot right to make to bring his potential into fruition. This is the mitzvah. He could that he didn't have the opportunity. Now you're taking away from him his futures of doing mitzvah. The name of the place you're not allowed to work that field ever. That's we're driving this this home, right? From here you learn what's the essence of a person. The essence of this person to take from a small source and to make great payro you know uh just as an aside perhaps but um [clears throat] the U lost its executive vice president uh recently Raosha who was an extraordinary human being u in many in so many ways I'm I'm sure you've read everything about him. But uh I had something to say which nobody said at this point. I'm just I'm saying it it wasn't said publicly but I really think that the real tragedy of Raoshaire is the following. He had just become in the last few years he had just come out really as a a guttle as a leader in Kal Israel in in so many areas in a rainbow of colors. Right? He was evolving now as a person who is will change the direction of Kalisrael. The tragedy of the loss of Ramosha at the age of 60 is what we will not see what he could do at this point from 60 on that's the tragedy of this great gentle special person of Mosha satso right it's not what he did it's not who he is it's what he could have accomplished with what he did and who he is and what he would have done without a doubt and uh I think that's the real tragedy So uh and uh I think this is the idea here of the aua the tragedy this person did not accomplish. You took away you took away his right. So therefore you take something that can't give birth that's too young to give birth. You take it to a a a ground that can't be cultivated and you kill it. And by the way you do ar just let you on a secret. He's not going to say but uh okay uh arif letters Ephron Ephron Ephron >> right without the VV by the way you got ar right this not there do nothing right definitely definitely there okay he doesn't say it but I'm saying it and by the way he says so he's going to play with the wordon that you take it to a what's it Right. It means it's hard. It's it's hard. It's it's strong. Right? Listen carefully. Alsan are grammatically letters of the future tense in a in a verb in Hebrew. Look, I will write. That's olive or with a it will be written right will write let us write so that's kilom in other words is it has the ability to give per in the future right and you took that away it's all about the future future. You destroyed it, right? Therefore, we kill it there. We took away took away that man's future. We can't plant it. He won't give birth. This is a we have to atone for that tragic loss that the world will never see. Hooray. Next paragraph, the essence of a person is again to bring his potential out to reality. Not to just, you know, I've got certain talents. You know what? But that's not, you know, I'm not I'm not I've got other things to do, right? Tragedy, right? from a little place like a plant. Now the letter V. Okay, it's really so simple, right? So he keeps us holding our breath. That's the why the VV is missing. What is the letter Vron? It's the conjunctive end. A and D. That's what Vav is. It's conjunctive. Z vase. This and that. It's continuum, right? He said so much did nothing. There was no connectedness to his to reality in his life. He was accomplished nothing. Right. So Ephron's name is written without a V. Kilomar. There was no continuum in his life. Afar. He was like Ephron without he was like afar, right? Or he was like, as we said, the roof, the egg, the rough, the back of the neck, right? Which he cut off the head, nothing. And he was like afar, like a piece of like yave, like dry earth, right? He was a particle. Um, a particle of a particle of grain, a particle of the earth, right? Uh, that's the tragedy when when it comes together. the earth. That's why I call Israel was blessed that we'll become like the, you know, the the apha, the afar, when we come together, right? You come together, you take the Torah, which is water, which is a metaphor for Torah, which we're going to come to in a minute, and you come, it comes together, you create, you create something special. But he was just a a u a neb a uh a strand of dirt. Okay, let's go over the page. And these are two pieces that we have from uh Rashol alter the uh G Rashiva again who we've been bringing a lot of lately. Uh for those of you who have been with us, you know that we've used traditional sources for so long, but we're starting I'm trying to look for some contemporary things and this Rafel alter is someone very special. So the first piece um uh let's do let's do three first and then we'll do two. Okay. How's that? Um um he went out he went out um oh you know what? Let's do let's do two first. Okay. I'm sorry. I'm going to do two first. Okay. It that really doesn't matter because they go together. Actually, these two pieces are a part of a a very long uh essay of his. But okay, let's do two first. Uh, it says, so here you got Eleazar, Eleazar coming to from from Araminu on a mission to find a fork au. And he goes, he tells him, I don't want him to marry from Cananan. He has to marry from our family. And if they say they'll do it, but he has to stay there. He can't stay there. Yitsk has to remain init. That's where Yitzk has to go. And that's where he has to stay. He's the only one of the that never left Israel, right? So, so he sees this Rifka comes and he sees something about her. We all know the story. I'm not going to go through the whole thing, but she goes, she's filling up pictures for the camels, this little girl, and and she's going back and forth and he notices something very, very intriguing. Miraculously, the water comes towards her. She doesn't The water is coming towards her to fill the pictures. That's when he said that's it. But then he said what? What? Is that it? >> Vot. Thank you. Okay. He ran towards to to greet her. Right. That's when he saw something's going on here. So we're going to talk this is going to be water. Something about water. Perish Rashi Mikazal Rashi explains what's going on. Rashi says it. He saw that the water was moving towards her. We have to understand what is this? What is the uniqueness? This feature that he saw the water moving towards her and that was enough. Right? What was so special about water moving towards her? Why not? Why? Maybe the camels also probably should have to go run after the camels, they would move towards her also, I would imagine. Right. But why is it that when the water started moving towards her? That was that was says like this moral explains [clears throat] the most materialistic physical thing that we have in this world is water. Right? Because there are two levels to material things. There's some there's there's it's just a plain like sand, right? And then you have it's material also, but you make something of it. You're right. You have a a a vessel, right? Atsura, right? This camera is a is at the sura. The beam is atsa. There's something it but it came from originally from, you know, wood, right? A piece of wood, right? Or which came, you know, from from afar originally from the ground right from so you have two levels of materialism you have and then you have right is the only thing in this material world that is only listen everything is created with and everything that's created in this world physically has both the or something is related to spirituality. It has more, right? In all the things that in the created world you can make, you can make a right. You can make vessels, you can make pottery, everything. Water has no surah at all. Right? You can't make water into surah itself. It has to be whatever vessel you pour the water into it takes on the surah the form of the itself. But water itself has no form. But when it comes to sura it takes on the sura the form of its holder. Right? Right. Now let's leave the personal waters that moved to the the national world waters that move yamsufams. How do we come out of mitim? Yamsu that the created something with water, right? We were coming out of a world of a world of a materialistic world coming into a world of spirituality. How bad was it? It was pure, right? But but the waters became they took a form of a sura of a wall on either side for claw Israel rights. So here you have this the lowest level of kr became the highest level of surah it became a wall which created the avenue literally the avenue for kal Israel's exodus and kalisrael's coming into being right was the the beginning of the nation of kalisrael that's what you'd see is it was uh um Right. That's what Clro Clyro was created. Right. What was the first movie that was made? The silent movie. Um, forget the name of it. Right. The creation, not the creation of the world. Something anyway, but it'll it'll come to me. But that's what happened here. This was now the creation of Kalisrael, right? mikerv A nation came out from a nation and water became the sura of that. We we say it every morning and right through the bre the breath of your nostrils they stood up right and the the the bottom of the sea rose up says what is the word you army the water was given The water was that surah of the water took on the surah of meaning Israel serving Israel serving the raon bringing out Israel. It rose for us. It rose for Israel. That's the of water. It doesn't go here and there is so that Ben Israel could could come out the coming out of of Birth of a Nation. Birth of a Nation was the first movie in the history of movies. Okay. Okay. It's the only one per I don't know if I saw it but uh it was a silent movie. Birth of a Nation was the first movie I think that was made. So here you have Birth of a Nation, right? It was enough. The water rose a little bit. Didn't have to go to the sky. It rose a little bit and they they walked through. The Jews stayed where they were and the water rose up rose towards them for them away from them right away from them. But it was really for them right which answers the question you know we say everybody knows this it's harder to make it's hard it's harder to make a shik than to split the sea so the question is an obvious question the sea is going in this way you want a sh to go this way so what do you mean it's the hardest thing to do is shik is even harder than splitting the sea right the point that's the point here because really splitting the sea didn't have to come together to come together. whose whole purpose was to come together for Israel the you know you have to bring it together right okay but that's kind of the idea that's being said here okay so he goes on let's finish it um okay we go down down down I left to pass okay we did that Okay. Water which is the most materialistic thing in the world of at the time of it came by itself and made it from the made it happen but it made that surah. Okay, we go go. Okay, we leave it. Now the last paragraph here there was a mistake in the way I did this. So, I want you to listen carefully. Ignore the last paragraph that's next to it and go to the last paragraph of the next the next column. Right. You see it's called lrata. Right. Right. Lata. Okay. So, okay. He said I I had I cut off I made a mistake. So, he's saying the hu now he's going back to you got it. You got it. >> You don't have it. Yeah. end. >> Yeah. Go to the last paragraph on the other side of number of number two, right? Of number A actually it's number two. My numbers are messing too. It's the first one of number two. The last paragraph of number two, right? We were doing number three, right? It's the last paragraph of number two. >> Sentence the sentence. You got it. >> Yeah. >> Okay. So, he's I left out some things here. It doesn't matter. Now we're back to Rifka in the water. And that's why that's why he saw it. That sold him. He knew he knew what she was. He knew she was the chosen person for the future of Clai Israel that the water water that the water came towards her. Now, this was a self-fulfilling prophecy, so to speak, of what will happen in the future that Eleazar I don't know if Eleazar knew about this, maybe heard about it from from Alavino, maybe Alam taught him about what's going to be, but this is this is what he saw that the water came to her that she became the vessel for water. And again, water is a metaphor for Torah, right? It says, of Ephron that after a bought the field from Ephron the Torah says Ephron that the the field what field it grew up what do you mean it grew up it didn't grow immediately was elevated it took on a totally different a different pirish rashi it it became a different it wasn't just a piece of land anymore right it was a foundation here right for right whole different ball game the moment the field came into the hands of even before he buried at this point he hadn't buried her yet so of course it became a holy place for sorenu and for the avant who were buried there but it already had kaduca now immediately It had a new new new new reality. That's what it had. Okay, that's about water. Okay, so she had a personal he saw a personal cre although he might not have recognized clearly that the source of that from create Yamsu. Maybe he did, maybe he didn't, but that's what was going on. So now the next piece here is talking about uh Mina because eventually he he he dubbs Mina um right? So this was um he saw her brought her and Eleazar starts to bring her and uh and Yitzk comes he sees just gets off his camel and he he got off his camel. He came from beer which is really what I wanted to talk about. Maybe we'll have a minute or two but and then he he and he he in instituted the right now. Okay. In our para again we have so much in our para. So he got off his his uh donkey or whatever he was driving and uh just before nighttime and he and he to be to and he spoke it was so the rabbi said established. So why why right at this point? Okay. Interesting. Person should be very careful not with not with of course you have to be careful with all three but a person should be very careful with Ela was answered only by all the things that Elia went through. He was only answered when he amazingly accomplished a lot. He met all kinds of to bring about the the thee. Why? Only by was the answer, right? What what what is that all about? Right. Can I answer? >> H >> Can I answer? >> You want to answer? >> Yeah. >> After we finish this thing, I'd love to hear your answer. Okay. It's good. It's good. >> I want an answer. >> I mean, he might he might have your answer, but we'll wait till afterwards. Thank you. Only because it's being recorded. Okay. What is the greatness of the reason of it's a regular time in the morning when one awake gets up from from his bed from a good night's sleep before he gets involved in in business. His mind is clear. First thing he's going to do, right, is not run to the office. He's not going to look at his telephone. He's going to do to the raon. His head is clear. In the evening, night time, [clears throat] he comes home. He finished the day. You don't bring your work home. First rule of thumb, right? So here he can now his head is clear. It's in the middle of the day. He's got to put aside all the pressures that he's feeling in the middle of the day and stop everything and concentrate on so if a person can do that tremendous reward that's not easy to speak to the right at that point in time it's not easy you know you get a phone call your mother calls you right she calls in the morning I can talk to her in the evening I can talk to her I can call her in the morning I can call her at night I get a phone call mother on the phone. Tell I'll get back to her. No, no, no. It's your mother, right? You can't get back to her. You have to take the call now. It's the Now is the time is now or never. So, you got to take the call, right? That's the challenge. The challenge of leaving the the the trials and tribulations of this world. There's something very special about that. You remember God while you are totally engaged in physicality. Okay. I want to take it a step further. Where do you find the source of this? You find it in the origin, the inventor of each of the Aram created instituted chakras when he do for stone. He had a do for stone. This was a serious fela. This was a a a terrible time of tribulation. Load. So, you know, it was life and death situation here, right? And he's going to destroy um you know um can I just say something totally off totally totally off that just hits me here. Alrainu is called al shalom, right? All of shalom. If you go through, you go through this forum and you know even the Gmorra and Shas when they refer to Ara even Mosher Rabenu Mosha Rabenu al Shalom Rabu Alah shalom shalom today right somebody called me the other day about a tombstone what to put on the tombstone for a mother should I put shalom or uh zatal or right. Right. So today you have all kinds of things people are putting after a name. Right. Right. It's enough. Okay. All right. That's just an aside. Okay. So, so that's how can I not tell what I'm doing? I got to tell what I'm doing. It's not right that I'm going to do this with destroy and he's not going to know. I gave him this land. There's five cities in the stone area, right? Five towns. The first five towns were a stone, right? I don't want to go there. Okay. He was called the father of the world, right? I'm going to destroy these people. [clears throat] I'm not going to tell him. I love him. [clears throat] He do. He had to do it to him. He had to speak to the So that was a time of great sorrow. He said he invented it was a very time of great trial. He was running from as so that's it. So both of these were that came out of a moment uh a desperation serious moment right of trial and tribulation. He was on top of the world. He gave him everything. He gave him everything. He was the spiritual legacy the the contin of of Aram and the physical he gave him all of his cattle was a wealthy personal saw bugo and Elzar was was going to get his his wife Riva unbeknownst to him even while while he while he was d Russia actually says he dubbed for a wife okay that was what Russia said he was dubbing for Rifka but you know we can we can add to this Russia right um that he was What else he was done? So then you know let the let the messenger be successful say it was for this okay but he had everything right that's when he established [clears throat] certainly there's a great it's a actually from of a poor person where we're all poor poverty when we come to do to hashem from a broken heart etc. But when things are really great, you don't realize that it's coming from Hashem, right? That's not a time you're not going to think about doveting. You know, you know the old story, this guy's on a raft on a ship that boy, it tears apart and he's got one board and he's and he's dying. He's going to drown. He swear to God, please, if you save me, I'll keep Shabas. I'll keep kosher. I'll go to yeshiva. just help me. All of a sudden, a helicop there's a helicopter on top. The helicopter sends a a thing down, an extension, and the guy speaking on a from the helicopter. Tie yourself up. We'll lift you up. Tie it this way. Tie it that way. He's going up. As he's going up, he looks up to heaven. He says, "It's okay. I'm for I'm okay. Don't worry about it. Any thanks anyway." Right? The deal's off. Right? So this is like just that's what he's saying. That's the the hardest time to right. That was that great moment. Uh right. So now let no that's that's the previous par. Now go here to the last paragraph in number three. Okay. That that paragraph sticking out. That's that's belongs here. When a person prays to God, when everything is on pleasant sweet waters, everything is, you know, everything is going great, right? Um, when things are on great, everything is great. So you do this, you do this now and a time and he's tying in these two these two ideas actually right he's tying in these two ideas I know everything comes from the good the bad and the ugly everything comes from that's the challenge of and that's what the tour says we quoted earlier And this was really right in the middle of the day. But you have two two ways to go with that. Either the the pressure or the goodness I don't have to pray. Okay. Now your answer >> that I that was >> that was it. All right. You're very good. >> You're very good. You're very good. You know they say in Yiddish vague mentioned, right? You meet good people. So, both had it. You both had it. Fantastic. Okay, everybody. Thank you. The other piece that I had that is not on the sheet. We're going to have to wait. Time is up.