I find it fascinating that Avraham wanted so much to acquire the Me’arat Hamachpelah in Chevron, and yet today you don’t see a massive cemetery in the area, outside of the Me’arah? If Chevron was such a desirable place of burial for Avraham, why is it not a popular place for us too, such as the Mount of Olives, or other contemporary cemeteries?
ותמת שרה בקרית ארבע היא חברון בארץ כנען The Torah teaches that it was a great privilege to be buried in the same burial ground reserved for such outstanding individuals as Adam and Chavah, a place which would later be called “The gateway to heaven.”
R’ Bachya expounds; the area of Me’arat Hamachpeila is in a section called "קרית ארבע" - the city of four, in the greater area of Chevron. This is due to the four couples that were buried there, or the four giants that lived there Achiman, Shashai, Talmi, and their father. Another explanation for the term “four” is that Chevron was in the tribal portion of Yehuda, the fourth child of Yaakov.
The mystical dimension of the name Chevron is that the soul of everyone buried in that cave connects to (mitchaber) the celestial city of Hashem, the four encampments of the שכינה. Our patriarchs knew that transferring to the עולם האמת from that site would be a crucial experience for them. It is the place from which the souls return to their origin, the throne of Hashem’s glory.
However, in our world, we connect to Heaven through Yerushalayim, the location of the Bais Hamikdash. All over the world, when we wish to connect to Hashem in tefillah, we face Yerushalayim. Why is this, if Chevron and Me’arat Hamachpelah are the location of connecting to heaven?
We cannot conclude that Chevron was the place of connection to heaven only during the time of the avot, and it’s Yerushalayim in our time. Our Avos understood the place in which to connect to heaven, and established it for future generations as well.
Chazal teach us the essence of Chevron. Chevron is the portal or the connector for unique individuals that have the ability to live simultaneously in Heaven and earth. The giants don’t fit in on earth but they are able to live and fit in in Chevron, the chibur of Heaven and earth. Even more so our Avos, though they are buried there, they are very much alive and interact with our tefillos and requests made at the location of Chevron. Chevron is appropriate only for the individuals that lived a life both in Heaven and earth, so it’s befitting they rest eternally at that location.
We mere mortals need to connect directly to Hashem at the location He bestowed to us, our precious Yerushalayim.
