All of us are familiar with the Ten Tests of Avraham. While there are different versions of exactly what constituted these tests (Rashi and Rambam argue about what they were, for example), all agree that the Akeida (Binding of Isaac) in last week's Parsha was the final, ultimate nisayon - test.
But guess what: There is actually an eleventh test for Avraham, and it just may be his most challenging.
In our Parsha, Avraham seeks a proper burial place for his beloved Sara. He ends up buying the Cave of Machpela in our holy city of Chevron and paying through the nose for it. While the verse records that he paid 400 silver shekels for the land, the Gemara says that these were special shekels worth 2,500 times the regular currency, thus amounting to a purchase price of 1 million shekels.
Avraham must certainly have been bewildered. Hadn't he been told, not long before, that the land - "all the land of Canaan" - would be his and his children's forever? Why must he buy - at exorbitant rates - that which the Creator of the Universe decreed was already his?
Yet this is the point and this is the test. Eretz Yisrael is ours - no question, no doubt. But we have to pay a steep price to keep it. Unlike the person who pays off his mortgage and is done with it, we keep on paying - and paying, because this little piece of real estate is unique in all the world. It is priced above all others and can never be completely "paid off." Yes, it belonged to Avraham; but still, he had to make regular, significant payments to keep his premiums current.
I believe this explains Avraham's cryptic statement (23:4): ?Ger V'Toshav anochi imachem?? - ?I am an alien and a resident among you.? How can one be both an alien and a citizen all at once?
Avraham is saying that there are times when he feels like the rightful, legitimate, confident owner of the land, when no one disputes his claim of ownership and no one threatens his homestead. Yet, at other times, he feels insecure, threatened by evil neighbors and pretenders to the title. There are times when he must fight for the land, risking his life and that of his children for the land, as if he were some stranger or usurper. It is at these times that he needs Hashem most. Our real security in Israel is directly linked to the strength of our bond with He who gave us Israel, He who guards Israel.
This test of Avraham, unlike all the others, is infinite and ongoing. It is a test we must take - and G-d willing pass - in each and every generation.
--------------------------------------------
Rabbi Weiss is Director of the Jewish Outreach Center in Ra?anana.
But guess what: There is actually an eleventh test for Avraham, and it just may be his most challenging.
In our Parsha, Avraham seeks a proper burial place for his beloved Sara. He ends up buying the Cave of Machpela in our holy city of Chevron and paying through the nose for it. While the verse records that he paid 400 silver shekels for the land, the Gemara says that these were special shekels worth 2,500 times the regular currency, thus amounting to a purchase price of 1 million shekels.
Avraham must certainly have been bewildered. Hadn't he been told, not long before, that the land - "all the land of Canaan" - would be his and his children's forever? Why must he buy - at exorbitant rates - that which the Creator of the Universe decreed was already his?
Yet this is the point and this is the test. Eretz Yisrael is ours - no question, no doubt. But we have to pay a steep price to keep it. Unlike the person who pays off his mortgage and is done with it, we keep on paying - and paying, because this little piece of real estate is unique in all the world. It is priced above all others and can never be completely "paid off." Yes, it belonged to Avraham; but still, he had to make regular, significant payments to keep his premiums current.
I believe this explains Avraham's cryptic statement (23:4): ?Ger V'Toshav anochi imachem?? - ?I am an alien and a resident among you.? How can one be both an alien and a citizen all at once?
Avraham is saying that there are times when he feels like the rightful, legitimate, confident owner of the land, when no one disputes his claim of ownership and no one threatens his homestead. Yet, at other times, he feels insecure, threatened by evil neighbors and pretenders to the title. There are times when he must fight for the land, risking his life and that of his children for the land, as if he were some stranger or usurper. It is at these times that he needs Hashem most. Our real security in Israel is directly linked to the strength of our bond with He who gave us Israel, He who guards Israel.
This test of Avraham, unlike all the others, is infinite and ongoing. It is a test we must take - and G-d willing pass - in each and every generation.
--------------------------------------------
Rabbi Weiss is Director of the Jewish Outreach Center in Ra?anana.