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Parshat Vayikra
By: Rabbi Moshe Goodman, Kollel Ohr Shlomo, Hebron

בס"ד

לשכנו תדרשו

Discovering the Holy Presence in Our Holy Land

 אדם כי יקריב מכם קרבן לה'

"Blessed are You, Hashem, King of the Universe, Who prepares the steps of man." (Birkos HaShachar)

Every step in Hebron has a story, for this is the most ancient city of the Jewish People. Just as last year we concentrated on the Temple Mount's connection to Hebron throughout the book of Vayikra, so too this year we will focus on the Ma'arat HaMachpela Building, exploring its various chambers, throughout the book of Vayikra. As we mentioned in our piece on Chayei Sarah this year, the theme of this year's divrei Torah is to study the names of sites of Hebron itself. This is done on basis of our Sages' teaching that there is a special Providential nature to names, and that these names may be interpreted, whether simply or homiletically. Therefore, we should clarify that when we study the meaning of  'Avraham's Chamber', for example, in the Ma'arat HaMachpela Building this does not necessarily mean that Avraham is buried directly under this chamber [although he is buried under the Ma'ara Building in a general sense]. Rather, the purpose in studying the Chamber of Avraham is to understand the deeper meaning of this chamber's name, in the Providential nature of things and places.

Our title quote from this week's parsha uses the term 'Adam' when referring to the man who wishes to bring an offering in the Temple. The name 'Adam' clearly evokes the first man, called 'Adam'. Indeed, our Sages teach that Adam offered the first sacrifice which was a bull with one horn at its forehead (Shabat 28b). According to our Sages Adam is buried at Ma'arat HaMachpela alongside Chava his wife. Our Sages also remark that Avraham sited Adam's burial site here, smelled the spiritual 'fragrance' here and thereby decided to also be buried here. Another teaching of our Sages is that not only is Avraham connected to Adam in place of burial, but actually Avraham was a gilgul (reincarnated soul) of Adam (Zohar Behar). Based on these sources, we can say that when we enter the Chamber of Avraham at Ma'arat HaMachpela we also evoke the memory of Adam (and Chava who reincarnated as Sarah) as well.

We may say that the Chamber of Avraham is the first chamber named after the Patriarchs one encounters when facing the Ma'ara Building in the direction of Jerusalem, which is significant because this is the direction one faces in prayer (by the way, this is also the direction through which one enters the Ma'ara building today on an everyday basis). We may say that the significance of this can be explained by the fact that essentially the main merit of Ma'arat HaMachpela lies with Avraham and Sarah who initiated and actuated its purchase. Indeed, when we recall the kindness of the Patriarchs of Hebron we conclude with the merit of Avraham - '...And He remembers the kindness of Fathers and brings a redeemer for the children of their children for the sake of His Name with love...'

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Real Stories from the Holy Land #213

'One morning I accidentally took my wife's cellphone with me to work. My wife planned to go that morning to Jerusalem for an exam, but because I took her phone she was detained from travelling, for she had to call me on the land-line in our home. After talking, she told me that she doesn't know which hour the exam begins that day, so I made some calls to find out when the exam would begin. 'It turns out' that the exam was postponed to a week later, and if my wife would have had her cellphone with her, she would have most probably travelled hours out of her way to find that no exam was taking place...' A.Y

Sources: Shaar Hagilgulim

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