B"H

PARSHAS CHAYEI SARAH
By Yitzhak Kolakowski
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  Our Sages teach us that the Maaras HaMachpelah, the cave
in Hebron that Avraham Avinu bought to bury Sarah, is the
gate to Gan Eden.  
  Ephron the Hittite did not understand the value of the
cave he owned.  The Zohar says that he saw it as nothing more
than a hole in the ground that he was glad to get rid of.
Avraham Avinu understood the holiness of the place, which
is why he saw that any price to pay would be well worth it
(which is why he spent the equivalent of over a million dollars
for the cave and the surrounding field).
  This reminds us of the verse in the Navi Hoshea, 
"The ways of HaShem are right, and the righteous do walk in them; 
but sinners do stumble therein." (Hosea 14:10)  This means that
for people who are far away from Torah and HaShem, truly
precious and right things are looked upon as worthless, even
bad.  On the other hand, servants of HaShem recognize the true
worth of things, and use them to their best advantage.

  Today, there three holy places which we bought with money, and
still have the receipt, are in dispute.  Other nations claim
ownership to the Har HaBayith (the Temple Mount), Shechem, and
Hebron.  These claims are evidence for the emptiness of all
the claims of that wicked nation.  Although the entire Eretz
Yisroel was given to the Jews by HaShem, these three places
were specifically bought with money as eternal possesions for
the Jewish people.  The receipts for these places are copied
millions of times over in the world's #1 best selling Book.
Yet, there is dispute about the ownership of these places.

  Our problem is not the Arabs who want these places, the
problem is that the Israeli government does not realize the
value of these places, even the entire Eretz Yisroel.  If
the Israeli government understood the holiness and worth of
these places, there would be no dispute about who owns them.
The reason is that "he righteous do walk in them; 
but sinners do stumble therein", they are like Ephron who
think that they have something they must be rid of.
They must rather emulate the example of Avraham Avinu,
who would pay any price for things which are worth far
more than all the money in the world.

  On Monday, HaRav Amnon Yitzhak, shlita, told us the worth
of a single word of Torah, let alone many years of learning.
Far more than all of the money in the world.

  Let us not be like Ephron the Hittite, who wanted to get
rid of holiness, as a thing to despise, chas veshalom.
  Let us rather emulate our father Avraham, realizing
that all the physical world is not worth the holiness of our
G-d and His Torah.

Gut Shabbos.