Q:
Why does the Torah find it important to tell us the story about Avrohom purchasing the property from Efron where he buried Sarah?
A:
Now there are a number of lessons we learn there but one of the lessons is that the cave of Machpeilah is a monument. It’s a historical testimony to the truthfulness of the Torah. When you are in Chevron and you visit that place that you know is venerated by the Arabs as well as by the Jews, lehavdil. And it always has been. The Jewish nation always knew that place and it’s a monument because if Sara and Avrohom are buried in that kever, if Avraham buried Sara in that kever, it means there was an Avraham and there was a Sara. It means Avraham came when he was a stranger to the land and he bought this and that’s where they were buried. And therefore that is a testimonial to the Torah.
The same is the grave of Rachel. It’s very important to us. The grave of Rachel was mentioned in Bereishis where Yaakov Avinu erected a monument on Rachel’s grave. And in the sefer Shmuel, it relates how Shmuel told Shaul HaMelech, he’s going to meet two men by the grave of Rachel – it’s mentioned there ‘the grave of Rachel’.
The grave of Rachel was known to Yirmiya HaNavi too; he says, רחל מבכה על בניה – Rochel is weeping for her children as they go into exile and they pass her monument. And the grave of Rachel was known to the Sages in the Talmud. The grave of Rachel was known in the Middle Ages too; the Ramban visited the grave. Binyamin of Tudela, a traveler from Spain, also visited the grave.
And therefore, when Sir Moshe Montefiore came there, he built a beautiful mausoleum over the grave and that’s an evidence of our history. If there’s a grave of Rachel, then there was a Yaakov Avinu too. And that means our history is corroborated. It’s very important for us!
The names of the cities where these things happened are mentioned in the Torah and they’re still around. Chevron is mentioned. Chevron is right there on the map. That’s the Chevron! And it’s remarkable. When people come to Chevron, they say, “This is the Chevron where Avrohom Avinu was?!” Absolutely! It’s the same Chevron. “You mean to say this city was standing all those centuries, all those millennia?!” Absolutely! Nobody doubts that.
Not only Chevron, there’s a town called Nachor in Syria. Nachor! There’s a town called Tiraku, Terach. There’s a town called Pilagu after Peleg. The archaeologists have discovered these old names. And these names corroborate our history.
TAPE # 481 (November 1983)
