December 11, 2024|י' כסלו ה' אלפים תשפ"ה Chayei Sarah 5785 - Chevron: The Source of Our Eternal Connection By Rabbi Beni Krohn

Each year, on Parshas Chayei Sarah, thousands of Jews descend on Chevron for Shabbos.  And that is because this week we read that Avraham purchases the very first plot of land he and his children would ever own in Eretz Yisrael, Maaras HaMachpela, which is found in the city of Chevron. This becomes the burial ground for Avraham & Sarah, Yitzchak & Rivka, and Yaakov & Leah, and a place to which Am Yisrael remains connected to this very day.

And, in fact, there is much to be found in Chazal about the powerful nature of the city of Chevron and the Cave of Machpela:

1)   The Yalkut Reuveni writes that Maaras HaMachpela is the entrance to Gan Eden, and that all souls pass through there on their way to Shamayim.

2)   The Sefer Megale Amukos writes that all tefillos/prayers pass through Maaras HaMachpela on their way to Shamayim as well.

3)   The Zohar writes that the word “MACHPELA” which really means ‘double’ or ‘folded’ refers to the idea that Yerushalayim is actually connected to, or even folded under Chevron.  They are connected one to the other.

But if this is all true, that Chevron is such a special place for tefillah, then I want to ask two questions:

1)   We know that the halacha is that when a Jew davens we face Yerushalayim, NOT Chevron!?  Why?

2)   What is the purpose of having these TWO special cities?      

Rav Moshe Wolfson, was the founder and longtime rav of Beis Midrash Emunas Yisrael, and mashgiach of Yeshiva Torah Vodaath for over 60 years.  He passed away this past June. He wrote a sefer called Emunas Itecha, in that sefer he address these questions, and he answers with a beautiful idea. He writes that Yerushalayim & Chevron are MACHPELA, they are twins of each other, but actually they are OPPOSITES and COMPLIMENT EACH OTHER perfectly.

Yerushalayim, of course, is the place that Hashem chose to the site of His greatest revelation in the world.  The Mishna tells us that there were 10 different miracles that took place in the Beis HaMikdash every day.  And yes, the kedusha of the Makom HaMikdash, the MOUNTAIN OF MORIAH, comes from the fact that the Avos each davened and performed mitzvos for Hashem in that place.  Avraham & Yitzchak performed the Akeida at that spot, and Yaakov Avinu davens there as he is running away from Esav.  And, therefore, it becomes the place to which every Jew would go three times a year, and really ANYTIME, to experience the REVEALED presence of HKBH, and to come back revitalized and inspired.

Maaras HaMachpela is the EXACT OPPOSITE.  It is not a high, exalted mountain, where the Presence of Hashem is felt EXTERNALLY and in a REVEALED WAY.  Rather, it is the place where Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov, and their wives, are buried, deep under the ground.  There is no grandeur of a Beis HaMikdash at that spot.  It is a simple cave, and it represents our legacy, the Avos NOT in their moments of heroism out in the open during their lives, connected to the physicality of the world.  But rather, as spiritual role models for us forever, even when they are no longer physically present, and at times when we have nothing physical to connect to.     

And this is because that which is REVEALED, although it has incredible power to inspire and connect, it can also be DESTROYED.  The Beis HaMikdash was an incredibly POWERFUL place, but it is precisely for that reason that our enemies were drawn to it and destroyed it, TWICE. The Maaras HaMachpela, which represents the hidden, uncovered aspect of our Yiddishkeit, can NEVER be destroyed.  And because of that, it represents the elements of our Yiddishkeit that aren’t really connected to ANY PLACE.

And this, says Rav Wolfson, is why it is called CHEVRON, from the language of CHIBUR, connection.  Because it is SPECIFICALLY CHEVRON, the place that reminds us that no matter where we are we can be connected to HKBH.Bec ause even as Nevuchadnezar and Titus would destroy the Beis HaMikdash in Yerushalayim, CHEVRON, the Maaras HaMachpela, deep under the ground, COULD NEVER BE DESTROYED.  It is the place that reminds us that even if the PLACE where the Avos connected most to HKBH is destroyed, our connection to the AVOS remains forever, and our connection to Hashem is forever.

In fact, explains Rav Wolfson, this is why Chazal tells us that when the Meraglim, the spies entered Eretz Yisrael, and from the beginning they planned to speak Lashon Hara about the land, when Yehoshua wanted to strengthen himself, not to join them, he went to daven.  And where did he go?  Not to Yerushalayim, he went to Chevron!  Why Chevron? 

Because the actions of the meraglim would lead the people to cry and reject Eretz Yisrael, the crying of Tisha B’Av, the PRECURSOR to the CHURBAN BEIS HAMIKDASH.  So, even in those moments as they spied out the land, the idea of the Beis HaMikdash was BEING DESTROYED, so Yehoshua went to the place that a Jew goes to remind him or herself that even WITHOUT a Beis HaMikdash, even WITHOUT that REVEALED connection to Hashem, a Jew is ALWAYS CONNECTED.  He went to the place of CONNECTION, to CHEVRON.    

And this is also what Chazal mean when they say that Yerushalayim & Chevron are MACHPELA, doubled-up and CONNECTED.  Because even if Yerushalayim is B’CHURBANA, the connection with HKBH is NEVER B’CHURBAN, there is ALWAYS the CHIBUR, the CONNECTION of CHEVRON.

And with this we can answer our original question:

-         Why do Jews face Yerushalayim and NOT Chevron?

Because, of course, the place of our most potent Tefillah is, of course, THAT PLACE where the Avos themselves davened to Hashem. But Chevron reminds us that if we can’t find that PLACE, if that place is unavailable to us, wherever we are we REMAIN CONNECTED to HKBH.

We all find ourselves at different times in our lives more connected to the Yerushalayim of our Yiddishkeit, the REVEALED, outward expressions of Yiddishkeit.  And sometimes we are less connected to that part of ourselves.  But Chevron reminds us that even if we feel far from the Beis HaMikdash as a NATION or as an individual, deep underground, in the recesses of our Neshama, we are ALWAYS CONNECTED.