The Midrash Tanchuma says (Behar 1): “’Be not alarmed by a man of evil eye.’ (Mishlei 28:22) This [verse] refers to Ephron the Hittite. When Sarah died, Avraham went to Ephron to purchase the cave from him. Avraham said to Ephron, ‘Give me its value.’ Ephron replied, ‘The land is worth four hundred Shekels of silver, between me and you, what is it?’ Avraham began to weigh out the silver to Ephron, as it is said, ‘And Avraham listened to Ephron, and Avraham weighed out [the silver] to Ephron.’
Ben Maara said, although Rabbi Chanina said that all Shekels mentioned in the Torah are Sela'im (regular Shekels), [that is true] except for these which are Kentorin (i.e. heavier Shekels). Avraham passed four hundred Kentorin before Ephron. When Ephron saw the [heavier and more valuable] silver, he became enamored and flustered, and said, 'In the choice of the land we will bury your dead.'
The Holy One Blessed be He said, ‘You were overly enamored about money? By your life, you wIll have a deficiency in this matter (your misbehavior will be noted).’ And what was [the noted] deficiency? Rabbi Yehuda HaLevi bar Shalom said, ‘Every [mention of] the name of 'Ephron' is spelled correctly, until he took the silver from Avraham... [where the verse] is [written] deficiently, 'And Avraham weighed out to Ephrn’ is written without the [Hebrew] letter “Vav.’”
According to the Midrash above, Ephron became overly enamored with the heavier, more valuable Shekels and therefore suggested to Avraham that he could choose the best burial place for Sarah. Due to his reaction, Ephron was punished, and his name was written in the Torah deficiently, without a “Vav”.
One may ask, what did Ephron do wrong? On the contrary, he seemed to have had an appropriate reaction to the heavier Shekels, he told Avraham that he would be given the best burial place for Sarah!
Rav Henoch Leibowitz ZT”L explains that it is clear from this Midrash that the very fact that Ephron was overly enamored by the heavier, more valuable Shekalim was in and of itself the transgression, even if it did not lead to an inappropriate reaction. This is because Hashem wants people to pursue spirituality and not have minds that are overly distracted with materialism.
Ephron’s role in the world was to work on himself spiritually, and not to become unduly distracted by materialism. Therefore, his enthrallment with the heavier, more valuable Shekels was considered a transgression.
The lesson of Ephron teaches us that even a moment of being overly distracted by material concerns, even if nothing inappropriate follows that moment, is still a matter of concern. In our modern world, we must be especially vigilant against this tendency, as we are surrounded by unprecedented material abundance and constant invitations to consume. Each time we allow ourselves to be enamored with or overly concerned with material wealth, we, like Ephron, risk having our spiritual names written "deficiently."
