CHAYA SOROH

This week’s sedra commences with the death of Soroh and then goes into detail concerning the purchase of the Meoras Hamachpela, the cave within a cave in the town of Chevron which Avrohom Avinu purchased with great political skill as well as at considerable cost. As usual I have a few questions on the subject.

Firstly, what was Soroh doing in Kiryas Arba, Chevron?

According to the medrash, Avrohom Avinu was in Be’er Sheva before the famous story of the Akeidah and, after the Akeidah, returned there. We know that the medrash mentioned by Rashi at the beginning of the sedra tells us, that because the Soton informed her about the happenings at the Akeidah, and that Yitzchok almost died, that her soul left her body. Why was Soroh not in Be’er Sheva?

The second question is, “This all took a considerable time after the Akeidah.” Avrohom had to return from Yerushalyim to Be’er Sheva which obviously took him approximately three days because it states clearly when he was going to the Akeidah that on the third day he saw the place he was supposed to be going to, namely Har Hamoriah. So if it took him a further two or three days to get back, and then he learned that she had died, he had to once again to go back to Chevron from Be’er Sheva, about a day’s journey and then he again had to negotiate with Efron and the Bnei Chais. This all took approximately five days. My question is why didn’t Avrohom hurry the burial instead of carrying on delicate negotiations, with first of all the Bnei Chais and then Efron and finally purchasing the field and its cave.

My third question is, that at the end of the first Parsha, it says ואחרי כן , after this Avrohom buried Soroh in the Meoras Hamachpelah. Rashi comments earlier in פרשת לך לך that that wherever the expression אחר is used it means immediately afterwards, whereas אחרי means sometime afterwards. This, of course, reinforces my question as to why Avrohom tarried so long in burying Soroh after he had finally achieved that which he set out to do, namely, purchase the Meoras Hamachpelah. I would have thought that he would have immediately hurried to bury his dear beloved wife?

We must also remember that at that time, there was no such thing as refrigerated mortuaries and leaving a dead body decaying for five days would be a major consideration.

If we look at the detailed negotiations, which took place, we can see the manoeuvring between Avrohom and the Bnei Chais and afterwards with Efron, who tried to make out, that he, like the rest of Bnei Chais, were very nice people and wanted to give Avrohom a free burial plot but, in fact, he was after a lot of money. We can also see that Avrohom was not happy to accept any gift and wanted to pay the full price, a very full price for the cave.

Altogether a very puzzling set of circumstances.

I believe that in order to understand matters more clearly, one has to go back in time. We find that when Avrohom performed the bris mila on himself, Hashem came to visit him and then all of a sudden three people, who turned out to be the angels Michoel, Gavriel and Rofoel, also turned up and he offered them food and drink. The Torah then tells us, ואל הבקר רץ אברהם , Avrohom ran to the herd of cattle and Rashi explains that he wished to slaughter three animals in order to give each of his guests a tongue, which was obviously a great delicacy.

The medrash tells us that the particular animal he was aiming for, ran away from him and he pursued it until it came to a cave and it disappeared inside. When he followed it, he saw a great light and eventually realised that buried there were Odom and Chava. He also realised that there was a good reason why he was being shown this. This was in fact the Meoras Hamachpela.

You will all remember that one explanation why this is called Meoras Hamachpela, a double cave, is because there were four pairs of husband and wife buried there eventually, Odom and Chava, Avrohom and Soroh, Yitzchok and Rivka, and Yaakov and Leah.

No doubt, Avrohom did not tell anybody about this, except, of course, for his wife Soroh, and possibly Yitzchok.

They, therefore, knew the importance and holiness of that particular place and Avrohom would surely have reasoned that he was shown this in order that he should, likewise, arrange for this to be his family burial site.

However, there were a number of major problems. Avrohom and Soroh lived in Be’er Sheva and not Chevron. If Avrohom would have turned up in Chevron and asked to buy this particular site, people would have asked questions and, no doubt, there would have been a major investigation and very likely the fact that Odom and Chava were buried there would have been discovered. Remember that the Bnei Chais were also descendants of Odom Harishon and there had only been twenty generations from Odom. Furthermore, Odom had only died about one thousand years before. Everybody would have wanted to be buried there and nobody would have contemplated selling this cave to Avrohom Avinu at any price.

We also find that Soroh was a nevia, a prophetess. When she discovered that Yishmoel as a boy was trying to influence Yitzchok in a bad manner, she suggested to Avrohom that he should send Yishmoel away. Avrohom was very upset but Hashem said to him כל אשר תאמר אליך שרה שמע בקולה , whatever Soroh tells you, you listen to her. Rashi explains, listen to the prophetic voice coming from inside her.

What I suggest happened is, that when Avrohom went off with Yitzchok to the Akeidah, Soroh felt impelled to journey to Chevron from Be’er Sheva. She had a sort of prophetic vision, that Chevron was where she was supposed to be, and therefore, when the Soton came and told her that Yitzchok had almost been killed, she died of fright in Chevron.

When Avrohom found out about this, it made his task that much easier as far as acquiring the Meoras Hamachpela. He came to Chevron to, as the possek tells us, לספוד לשרה ולבכותה to eulogise her and to cry over her and obviously it would make sense that he would then look around to bury her there and not transport her back to Be’er Sheva.

Nevertheless, he had to be careful not to appear too anxious to acquire a particular plot. Therefore, he spoke to the leaders of the Bnei Chais and just asked them in general terms, “Please give me a burial site which should be the family burial site, so that I should be able to bury my wife there”. They replied “Of course we will agree to this, nobody will deny you the right to bury your wife, whichever place you choose.” At that time, he asked them (he did not ask Efron yet) “Listen to me and please I implore you speak to Efron Ben Tzochar, and he should give me the Meoras Hamachpela. It is only at the end of his field, it is not at the middle of the field, so it will not affect him and I will pay for it, I don’t want any gifts”

As the medrash tells us, they elevated Efron, who was not one of their leaders, right into their main tribal council and he answered Avrohom and said “I don’t need any money, please take the field as well as the cave” etc. Avrohom made sure that the whole of the Bnei Chais who lived in Chevron stayed on board because he bowed down to all of them before speaking to Efron and then went into detailed negotiations. This resulted in Efron finally stating a price, four hundred talents of silver. We are told that Avrohom did not just give him four hundred normal ones, but four hundred top, top quality ones worth considerably more, apparently worth 100 times as much. The deal was done.

So, we have a done deal, signed and sealed by Efron in the presence of all his city and witnessed, so there should be (apparently) no doubt, regarding the matter and no turning back. The field and the cave were acquired by Avrohom.

We then have this strange verse which I mentioned above, at my third question. Possek Yud Tes, starts off ואחרי כן קבר אברהם את שרה אשתו Avrohom waited some time before burying his wife. You would have thought that he would have now rushed to do it, but I think that there was a very good reason why he did not. That was, because he reasoned that if he would have immediately taken Soroh and buried her, all the people that were there, the Bnei Chais as well as Efron would have, as a matter of honour to him, dutifully followed, to join in the levayo. The secret would have come out that Odom and Chava were buried there and he might very well have been faced with a major problem. You will also note that it says in that possek, Yud Tes, Avrohom buried Soroh his wife, why does it need to say אשתו , even more peculiar is the use of that word, in so far as she was no longer his wife, she had passed away?

Normally, a person’s death is caused by the Malach Hamoves inserting a sort of poison, moroh. However, in the case of very great Tzaddikim, they are taken from this world without the malach doing that. In such a case, there is no decay and the features remain the same.

You may recall the extraordinary story of the Noam Elimelech of Lizhensk when, during the course of the Second World War, the Nazis Yimach Shemom, wanted to destroy his kever, but each time somebody approached with a implement, that person died or became ill on the spot. They finally took some local Jewish people and ordered them to dig up the kever or be killed themselves. The Yidden asked mechila of Reb Elimelech and started digging and his body was revealed which was not decayed and his countenance was still shining. However, when the German who was in charge tried to draw near, he suddenly dropped dead and the whole project was abandoned. That was approximately 200 years after the petirah of the Reb Elimelech.

I believe that likewise Soroh’s body did not decay and, therefore, there was no בזיון המת , by her being allowed to go without burial for so many days. That is implicit in the words שרה אשתו because she still looked like his wife now, as when she was alive. Therefore, Avrohom waited until everybody had dispersed, the excitement had calmed down and only after that did he himself go and bury Soroh in the Meoras Hamachpela.

All three questions I raised have therefore been dealt with. I think we now appreciate better the first parsha of Chaya Soroh.



As I mentioned above, later on, Avrohom himself was buried in Meoras Hamachpela and subsequently, Yitzchok and Rivka.

We also know that Leah was buried there and when Yaakov Avinu was giving his final instructions to his children to take him back from Mitzraim, from Egypt to bury him in Eretz Canaan, he specified very clearly that he should be buried in Meoras Hamachpela which Avrohom had acquired as a family burial site.

The Medrash tells us that when the whole entourage arrived at the Meoras Hamachpela Eisav and his family where waiting and he protested that he wanted to be buried there and when the children of Yaakov said that Yaakov had bought the bechora from Eisav long before, there arose a considerable dispute. Naftali, who could run very fast, was sent back to Egypt to try and find the document which was apparently there. Meanwhile Chushim the son of Don who was deaf and could not quite understand what was going on got involved and when he finally realised that Eisav was causing trouble, went over to him and cut off his head. The tradition is that this head rolled into the Meoras Hamachpela and was buried there but the rest of the body of Eisav was taken back to Har Seir by his children.

I am not aware as to whether any of you have visited the Meoras Hamachpela, but in addition to the chambers which have the kevorim of Avrohom, Soroh, Yitzchok, Rivka, Yaakov and Leah there is a spot which is marked as being where Eisav’s head was buried.

As you all know by now, I am an accountant and indulge in gemmatria on occasion. You may be interested to know that the total numerical value of the words קרית ארבע הוא חברון בארץ amounts to 1554. The numerical value of אדם חוה אברהם שרה יצחק רבקה יעקב לאה is 1550 and they were four pairs, totalling 1554. They were all buried in the ground בארץ at קרית ארבע הוא חברון .


We find that the original names of our illustrious first of the Ovos and Imo’os were אברם Avrom and שרי Soroi. They were however changed by Hashem to Avrohom and Soroh as mentioned at the end of Parshas Lech Lecha. You may recall that at the bris bein habisorim Hashem told Avrohom to go outside and count the stars, if it would be possible, and so numerous would be the multitudes of his future generations. Rashi comments there that Avrom, as he was then called, should forsake his astrology and ignore the fact that as Avrom, and his wife Soroi were unable to have children, Hashem said to him, Do not worry about that, Avrohom and Soroh will be able to have children and will, in fact, have children.

What is so significant about the addition of a Hay to Avrom and the change from a Yud at the end of Soroi to a Hay at the end of Soroh that enabled them to have children.

I would venture a suggestion.

Of all the letters in the Alef Bais, there is only one which is not down to the base, i.e. has not got its feet on the ground, and that is the Yud, it stands on its own suspended in mid air, so to speak. A Hay has two feet on the ground but one of the legs has a gap between itself and the roof, on the left hand side, as we know.

The Gemora says in Menochos, that Hashem created this world and the next world with a Yud and a Hay. The Gemora says that the Hay represents this world and the Yud represents the next world. The Yud represents a Tzaddik, as the Gemora says there as well. Yud represents the most spiritual letter on a high level, not attached to this world, not on the ground. It is, of course, the first letter of Shem Haviya. What occurs to me is that as long as Soroi, which means my Princess, ended with a Yud, she was too much up in the clouds to have physical children, so the Yud was replaced with a Hay which, as we know represents the feminine in Loshen Hakodesh, for example איש is a man, אשה with a Hay at the end is a woman. By doing so, she was enabled to have her own child.

Likewise, אברם translated simply means father on high, that is רם . The Malbim explains that the word רם means something which is not attached to the ground but high above. More up in heaven. Once again implying that Avrom was too elevated to be able to have physical children with Soroi.

Oh yes, they together could have children, but only spiritual ones, ואת הנפש אשר עשו בחרן the souls that they drew near to Hashem in Choron, namely, they were spiritual parents to those people.

You might ask that Avrom had had a child with Hogor, namely Yishmoel. However, if you look at what Hashem via a Malach promised Hogor, I think we will find an answer to that conundrum. Yishmoel was going to become a פרא אדם a wild man, and I believe that this stemmed from being the son of Hogor who, herself as the medrash says was a daughter of Paroi and the Targum Yoinason Ben Aziel says that Paroi was a son of Nimrod, Avrom’s old foe. Avrom’s involvement was relatively minor. In order to have a relationship with Soroi, his wife, rather than a handmaiden, Hogor, Avrom needed to have his name changed by the addition of a Hay.

We all know the problems that have arisen in the world from the Bnei Yishmoel of late. I once heard a story of the famous Rov of Yerushalyim Reb Shua Leib Diskin who 100 years ago, or so, was walking home from his Beis Hamedrash on Friday night after davenning with a number of other mispalalim. All of a sudden, an Arab started throwing stones and they all scattered in panic, except Reb Shua Leib himself. He continued calmly to his home.

Later on, the various members of his minyan, who were embarrassed at having left their beloved Rov to fend for himself, came round to his humble dwelling to ask his mechila.

One of them said to him, “Why was it that we all became so shocked and frightened that we all ran off, whereas you were calm?”

His answer was, “It is a Possek in the Torah.”

The Talmidei Chochomim of Yerushalyim, whom they were, tried to find the particular possek One of them suggested ומראם וחתכם יהיו which is the brocho that Hashem gave to Noach that people and animals etc. will fear him. Another one tried the posek וראו כל עמי הארץ כי שם ה' נקרא עליך ויראו ממך and all the people’s of the land will see that the name of Hashem is on you and will fear you, etc. Reb Shua Leib was not having any of this. “No,” he said, “it is something different” Eventually they gave up and asked him to explain.

He said, “We find in the case of Yishmoel that he was a פרא אדם a wild man. In loshen hakodesh unlike English, the noun comes before the adjective, for example nice person would be אדם נעים, the word אדם coming before the adjective נעים. Therefore a wild man should be אדם פרא,. But the Torah says Pere Odom. Reb Shua Leib Diskin said “That itself is the answer, the essence of Yishmoel and his family is that they are wild. They just look like a man, they have the outer resemblance.”

I believe that this story is unfortunately, very apt and relevant to us nowadays. We have to pray to Hashem that he should save us from the excesses of Yishmoel’s descendants.

Returning to my suggestion regarding the use of the Hay and adding it to Avrom’s name, by doing so Hashem enabled him also to be attached to this world. But where exactly should the Hay be placed?

The Hay could not have been placed at the end of the word because then that would have been a feminine form. If it would have been between the Alef and the Bais one would then translate it as אהב רם, Ohaiv Rom, loves the exalted, again not attached to the earth. If it would have been placed between the Bais and the Reish, it would be read as אב הרם , Av Horom, once again this would mean, father of that which is exalted. The only place where it would fit in the middle of the word and still represent a definite affinity to this world would be where it was finally put, אברהם, Avrohom.

After they had been given the name changes, Yitzchok came into this world.



I would like to add something here on a personal note,. This Succos I was in Eretz Yisroel and for the first time for many years, I decided to visit the Meoras Hamachpela. So on Chol Hamoed Succos, erev Hashonah Rabba, I went together with my wife as well as many other Yidden, to the Meoras Hamachpela. We davanned Mincha with a minyan with the kevorim of Avrohom and Soroh on my right hand side, Yitzchok and Rivka in front of me and Yaakov and Leah on my left. I can assure you that standing at the beginning of Shemona Esra and saying Elokai Avrohom, Elokai Yitzchok, Elokai Yaakov has a completely different feel, depth and even meaning when one is praying at the Meoras Hamachpela.

We have to be grateful to Soroh for having the presence of mind to travel specifically to Chevron, as well, of course, to Avrohom who skilfully purchased the Meoras Hamachpela so that future generations should be able to have the opportunity to visit this site and pray to Hashem that in the zechus of our ancestors, from whom Klal Yisroel became a nation, we should be saved from problems with Bnei Yishmoel. Furthermore, we should always say with kavannah וזוכר חסדי אבות . Hashem should remember the kindness of our forefathers ומביא גואל לבוי בניהם and He should bring the redeemer, Moshiach, his grandchildren and we pray that this should happen in our time.

24TH MARCHESHVAN 5767