Kahane on the Parsha
Rabbi Binyamin Kahane- Parshat Chayeh Sarah
LOGIC MAKE NO IMPRESSION ON THEM
"Rabbi Yudan bar Simon said, '[Concerning] three places the nations of the world will not be able to castigate Israel by claiming, 'You are thieves': Me'arat HaMachpela, Har HaBayit, and Kever Yosef.
"Me'arat HaMachpela, as it is written: 'And Abraham weighed to Ephron the silver...'; Har HaBayit, as it is written, 'So David gave Arnan 600 shekels of gold by weight for the site'; and Kever Yosef, as it is written, 'And [Jacob] bought the parcel of ground...at the hand of the children of Chamor, the father of Shechem'" (Bereishit Rabba 79:7)
Two questions arise from this Midrash:
1) Is it only about these three places that the nations can't say we are thieves? Isn't this claim baseless regarding the ENTIRE land (as Rashi states in his commentary to the very first verse of the Torah)?
2) What does the Midrash mean by "the nations of the world will not be able"? We see that they are quite able to challenge our claim to these three places! Indeed, it is precisely these three places on which they concentrate their struggle!
The key to answering these questions is a rule that we should etch in our souls: It is not important what GENTILES SAY; what's important is what JEWS THINK. The Torah knew that when the gentiles would eventually accuse the Jews of being "thieves" and "occupiers" and "conquerors," the Jews would feel uncomfortable, even a little guilty. Perhaps the gentiles are right that we stole their land. perhaps they have an ethical argument.
And so the Rabbis tell us: There are three places about which the gentiles cannot open their mouths even according to simple logic since these places were legally purchased with money. And yet, logic makes no impression on them. On the contrary, it is precisely these three places that they place at the heart of their fight against us! What does this teach us? That it isn't justice or ethics which motivates them, nor is our struggle a dispute over property that can be resolved. Rather, it is a national-religious fight.
Therefore, the Rabbis teach us: Just like you know that their claim to these three places is not justified, by the same token don't get excited about their claims to other parts of the land since "the entire world belongs to Hashem; He created it and gave it to whomever He saw fit" (Rashi to Genesis 1:1).
Darka Shel Torah, 1995
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