Jewish Dignity in a Contested World (Chayei Sarah)
Chayei Sarah offers us a moment of profound clarity in the midst of transition. Sarah, our matriarch, has died, and Abraham, already promised the land by God, must secure a burial site for his wife. But why does he go through the formality of purchasing land that God has assured is his? Why negotiate at all, especially in such a public and painstaking way?
The Torah zooms in on this transaction: Abraham insists on paying full price for the Cave of Machpelah, even as Ephron, a prominent landowner, postures and protests, “Take it, it’s yours!” But Abraham refuses the pretense. He doesn’t merely claim the land; he establishes its legitimacy through an uncontestable public act, witnessed by the entire community.
This act is not just about securing a burial plot; it’s about creating the first foothold of permanence in a promised land. And it foreshadows the Jewish relationship with the land of Israel throughout history: one of covenant and claim, yes, but also of struggle and negotiation.
The Cave of Machpelah, located in present-day Hebron, remains a symbol of this duality. It is a sacred site, housing not only Sarah but Abraham, Isaac, Rebekah, Jacob, and Leah. It is a place of deep connection, yet one that sits at the heart of conflict. Thousands of years later, the tension over land, identity, and legitimacy persists.
Rabbi Ismar Schorsch, in his Torah commentary Canon Without Closure, reminds us that this narrative speaks to a larger truth: the Jewish people have always inhabited contested space. From the days of Abraham to the establishment of the modern State of Israel, our claim to the land has been questioned and challenged. (This leaves aside the reality that even outside of the Jewish homeland, the rights of a Jew to exist anywhere has often also been contested.) Yet, as Chayei Sarah illustrates, our relationship with the land is not about supremacy or exclusion — it is about home.
Abraham’s purchase reminds us that legitimacy must be both declared and demonstrated. It wasn’t enough for Abraham to say, “This is mine because God said so.” He paid for it, making his claim undeniable in the eyes of the world. This lesson reverberates in our modern context, where the legitimacy of Israel is continually scrutinized.
But we must be careful. As we defend the Jewish right to a homeland, we cannot fall into the trap of dehumanizing others. Jewish dignity is not about supremacy. It’s about the right to having a place on earth. It also has always been about coexistence, however complicated. It is about building a home where we can thrive and make the world better — not at the expense of others but in existence with them.
Friends, this portion calls us to embody the values of our ancestor Abraham: clarity, courage, and compassion. It challenges us to remain steadfast in our commitments, even when the world contests them. Even when we are in grief and even when we are vulnerable. As we witness new challenges — political, social, and moral — we must rise to them with the same courage and creativity Abraham showed.
The struggle for Israel’s legitimacy is not new. It is part of our inheritance, as is the responsibility to ensure that our actions honor the vision of our ancestors. May we continue to fight for our home, not out of fear, but out of love. May we remember that our strength is not just in our history but in our humanity.
This is our mission: to stand firm, to build wisely, and to dream boldly, just as Abraham did. May we merit the strength to carry this mission forward, together.