28/10/2021
Every year thousands of Jews from around the world come to Hevron to celebrate Shabbat Chayei Sarah, the Shabbat in which the Torah describes the purchasing of Me’arat HaMachpelah by Avraham Avinu.
A cave in a field. A piece of property that could have been anywhere. Unsignificant.
The moment Avraham Avinu purchased Me’arat HaMachpelah and made it the burial estate of the Avot and the Imahot (fathers and mothers), it became one of the most important places in the world.
It could have been easily forgotten and disregarded. The children of Avraham, Yitshak and Yaakov were in exile in Egypt for many years. Hevron is one of the worst areas in the land of Israel. High desert climate, rough terrain, land that is not suitable for agriculture. Or anything for that matter.
A place that is worth, so it seems, no attention.
Hundreds of years after Avraham Avinu had purchased Mearat HaMachpelah, after the long exile in Egypt, the Jewish people arrived in the Land of Israel as a nation. Quite amazingly, Hevron was very much engraved in their collective memory. Hevron was a significant part of their identity.
All those years, the Jewish people never stopped telling their children about Hevron and what it meant to them. Father to son, mother to daughter, they kept on telling their children who Avraham, Yitshak and Yaakov were and the values they represented.
Despite the long and cruel exile, Avraham, Yitshak and Yaakov were living in the hearts and minds of the people of Israel. Many years after they had passed away, Sarah, Rivkah, Rachel and Leah were role models for women who had never met with them.
The Avot and the Imahot (Fathers and Mothers) are the roots. Hevron is the place where we connect to our roots.
