We all know the story; Avraham avinu conquers his prime test of the akeidah, and then Sarah imeinu dies. Avraham consequently goes to Efron to buy a burial spot known as ma’aras hamachpeilah. The continuation sees, in one of the most famous shidduch sagas known to man, Eliezer find a lovely wife (Rivkah) for Yitzchak, and they live happily ever after. There is one issue that we shall deal with here…
Avraham was given a total of 10 tests (avos 5;3). Rashi and the Rambam (avos there) understand that the last of the 10 was the akeidah. This is relatively easy to understand; the akeidah is prefaced in the Torah by the words ‘and HaShem tested Avraham’ (22;1). Moreover, the akeidah openly demonstrated that Avraham was willing to give up everything for HaShem- and, in fact, it goes much deeper than that. Avraham knew that HaShem had promised him a son who would take over his mantle and responsibility to the world, and HaShem had clearly instructed that the son be called Yitzchak. Moreover, Avraham was the epitome of chesed and he knew that any act contrary to that (let’s take slaughtering his son as a decent example) would not only go against his nature, but would be seen as a tremendous potential chillul HaShem to those who would find out. Yet, he sacrificed (no pun intended) all of this – his character of chesed, his lesheim shamayim reputation – to follow the commandment of HaShem to offer up his only son; and all despite Avraham knowing that it was impossible that HaShem could actually want this commandment. However, Rabeinu Yonah (avos 5;3) says something remarkable which requires much explanation, and this is what we shall pG be focussing on. He says that the culmination of the ten tests was not the akeidah, but rather the burial of Sarah. In order to try and offer and explanation, let’s point out 3 difficulties in this explanation…
The fact that the tests number ten is no co-incidence. Ten, as the Maharal points out, is both the number that represents kedusha and completion. As examples of kedusha, one can cite the fact that there are 10 commandments, 10 plagues (to remove the contamination of the Egyptians), yom kippur is on the 10th, etc. The facet of completion/wholeness is symbolised in the fact that 10 is the first number which sees all the unit digits (0,1,2,3,4 etc) used up – 10 begins the combination of those digits to form new numbers. Similarly, 10 comprise a minyan, the world was created with 10 sayings (avos 5;1) and the previous examples are appropriate here too. Given all of this, the tenth in a series of ten will always be extra special, for it will be the one to complete and epitomise the entire series. Now I could understand if (like Rashi/Rambam) the akeidah is indeed the last test; it comprises the full extent of testing of Avraham’s trust in HaShem and his willingness to sacrifice everything (pun intended this time!) for HaShem. But why should a test of burying Sarah be the one to epitomise and round off the set of 10; how does it go further than that which was tested in the akeidah? Secondly, if the last test was not the akeidah, but rather the burial of Sarah, why do we find references to the akeidah throughout our tefillos (most notably slichos, the yamim noraim, and even daily), yet I do not recall one instant in our tefillos where we beg HaShem to ‘remember the burial of Sarah’ (let me know if you find one please)? And lastly, and most basic, is the question of what exactly is the test in burying Sarah; everyone passes from this world sooner or later, and if, as expected, it was to be Sarah who passed away before Avraham (she was younger than he), Avraham would be expected to bury her. Why is this a test; it’s an expected obligation?
Let us put forward the following suggestion in explanation of Rabbeinu Yonah’s opinion…
The answer may be explained via a modern-day mashal; There were 2 chairmen of 2 different football clubs. Both clubs were floundering towards the bottom of the league. But whilst the first club had always been a bottom-of-the-table side, the second club had, over the years, gradually risen to the dizzy heights of the top few clubs in the league and their chairman had spent substantial amounts to consolidate their high position. Yet despite this effort, this unfortunate chairman still saw his team bringing up the bottom of the table. Who is the unhappier chairman? Definitely the second; for to be dumped down from near the top to the bottom is the hardest to cope with. (make your own present-day comparisons)
The nimshal is, lehavdil, that Avraham avinu had just gone through the akeidah and had reached his highest spiritual greatness thus far. And despite this, when he returns to Sarah he does not find reward for this achievement, but the exact opposite. He finds that Sarah had died as a direct result of the shock of the akeidah (Rashi 23;2), and he had nowhere to bury her. And to make matters worse, the person he had to deal with to acquire a burial spot was none other than Efron, his antithesis. For example, Efron is the archetypal ‘say much yet do little’ character (rashi 23;16), in making Avraham pay more than Efron initially stipulated, whilst Avraham epitomised the ’say little and do lots’ philosophy, in offering guests more than he initially told them. So too was Avraham’s name and mission to be the spiritual father of the world (av hamon goyim) yet called himself afar v’efer (dust and ashes – 18;27), whilst Efron presented himself as a picture of greatness, yet his name and character was one of earthly lowliness (Efron from the root efer; dust). In short, Avraham was forcibly brought from the spiritual highs of the akeidah and dumped him down to the lowly physical job of burying his lifelong ezer kenegdo and partner in his mission (eg see rashi 12;5), and dealing with Efron. The test was firstly that he should not regret the akeidah, but, even more than that, it was to deal with this fall despite his achievements in the akeidah, and still not doubt HaShem (as well as behaving respectfully to Efron). And he passed.
Thus, it is correct that that which we daven to be remembered is the akeidah, for this propelled Avraham to the highest spiritual level of all the tests, but passing the final test of dealing with Sarah’s death and her burial was the test to see whether he could maintain this level in dealing with being figuratively ‘dumped down to the ground’ after the akeidah.
Chazal tell us that everyone must say ‘when will my deeds resemble those of my forefathers’ – life is full of ups and downs, and sometimes the ‘cruellest cut of them all’ is when the fall comes straight after a great high. The thing to remember is that the same Creator who ensured that you would have good times also felt it necessary to give ’low times’.
“Don’t tell HaShem how big your troubles are; tell your troubles how big HaShem is.”
Have a great Shabbes.
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