The final deal between Avraham and Efron was that for Meoras Hamachpailah Avraham had to pay him the price of 400 silver shekels in the standard currency. At first Efron offered to give Avraham the burial plot for free and then he charged him 400 shekels. Where did Efron get this particular number from? I saw an explanation that it was derived from the passuk איה המ ךניבו יניב ףסכ לקש תואמ עברא what is a piece of land valued at 400 shekels between friends like you and me. Forget the money and just bury your dead. Efron didn't intend to give it for free he just merely wanted to appear good in the eyes of the populace. His price tag was calculated and hinted in the passuk in the words ביני ובינך between me and you. What he meant with these words was that the price of land is hinted in "the between letters" of our names. In the name of ןורפע the middle letter is a raish and the in between letter of םהרבא is also a raish, together 400.
This sounds like a nice vort but we believe that Efron meant much more profundity than the random gematriah of two middle letters in the two names of the buyer and the seller. Even though Efron was not aware that Adam and Chava were already buried in his property, the significance of this first burial plot mentioned in the Torah relates back to the creation of the first couple in the world. Chazal tell us that when Hashem was ready to create Man the angels in heaven began to argue whether this creation should take place. After all Man will be belligerent and will not be peaceful. Secondly, he will be full of lies. The passuk says ךלשתו אמת ארצה that Hashem threw emes unto the earth and said wait and see that emes will grow from the earth א תממ ץראתצמח of which the acronym is also אמת. Within the first few hours of creation Man failed miserably to give testimony to, and support Hashem's positive proposal in bringing bechirah and emes into our world. The Nachash seduced Chava into partaking from the forbidden fruit which caused the spiritual dimensions of man to shrink.
To understand what happened in Gan Eden on Adam's day of creation on a deeper level, we must realize that there exists two types of עפר. Man's body was created from רפע and for this reason he was called אדם from the lashon אדמה. His name reflects not only his physical components but also his mission and purpose on earth as well. The word םדא can also be read "adameh" I will make myself similar to the one who created me. In other words the goal is to become holy and elevate one's רפע and transform it into divine. To help Adam fulfill his mission on earth Hashem created his body from the עפר of the future location of the Beis Hamikdash and the mizbaiach so that this body will naturally gravitate to kedusha and emes. In this fashion he will parallel himself to the creative power of the earth which sprouts forwards growth and vegetation. Man too whose body which is composed of earth, will blossom with growth of spirituality in his service to Hashem and fulfill Hashem's proposal of אמת מארץ תצמח.
However there is another type of עפר, one that causes growth and expansion of physicality, material desires, licentiousness, food indulgence etc. This can be seen in most words that contain עפר. The letters of פרע share the letters of רפע and the words mean to uncover one's hair. Hair is the surplus of the body, an extra. One must lead a life of modesty and not flaunt his ability to experience the extravagant "good" life. The pursuit of bodily pleasures is the עפר of tumah. It will lead to no good as the passuk says .וישמן ישורון ויבעט Such a life of ostentatiousness is inviting פרע ןו punishment from above and an anyin harah from below.
פרעה also shares the root of עפר whose source is rooted in tumah. Pharaoh is likened to a snake and that is why Moshe performed the first miracle before him of a staff transforming into a nachash. The Nachash that seduced Adam to eat from the Aitz Hadaas was cursed with עפר תאכל that all food that it ingests will taste like עפר. By persuading Chavah and Adam to eat from the forbidden fruit that was rooted in עפר which changed Adam's body into a force which navigates towards animalism, it too was punished to have this taste of עפר in all its own consumption.
The gematriah of עפר is שן which are the two outer letters of נחש . The middle letter of תיח symbolizes חי life. Altogether, the word נחש represents a "life of שן". In Baba Kama the damage of שן is when the animal damages through receiving pleasure such as eating. This is the רפע of tumah that the נחש seduces Man to buy in to, the pursuit of a lifestyle of constant worldly pleasures that destroy an individual's attachment to holiness and Hashem.
ערפה was the daughter of Melech Eglon of Moav and the sister of Rus. The night that she left her mother in law Naomi to return to her old ways, she slept with 100 Pelishtim (Medrash Rabbah Rus).
The avodah zarah of בעלפעור which also contains the word עפר was the worship of defecating in front of the idol. Excrement waste and surplus that was emitted from one's body was cherished and valued. This conveys that their avodah zara was an indulgence in the physical cravings especially food which comes from the earth. Even the animals that they eat are fed from the earth with which they satiate their physical decadence.
The same applies to name ןורפע who was enslaved by the tumah element of earth. His life was an ever increasing addiction to growing more attached to the physical. In this instance of selling his plot of land, he played hard ball gouging an "off the chart" price after he originally offered it generously away for free to such a "good friend" an honorable nobleman like Avraham Avinu. Efron just couldn't help himself not to do so because that is what addicts do.
All the examples above with the root word רפע manifest a life of שקר of falsehood and thereby being in a state of not fulfilling the mission of אמת מארץ תצמח . Even in English, the word for רפע is soil which the dictionary defines also as to defile morally and corrupt. This description is the legacy of the Nachash and the Aitz Hadaas.
Just as there are two types of עפר so too there are two kinds of חמצ that grow from its עפר. For example, the growths of the עץ החיים and the עץ הדעת . One root in the earth sustains and nurtures the neshama and yetzer tov, and the other fortifies the yetzer hara and Kelipas Nogah. One tree brings to haughtiness and arrogance and the other to humility and subservience to Hashem.
One type of growth is prominent during the days of the week and the other rules on the Shabbos. The צמח of kedusha relates to Shabbos as the gematriah of צמח with its "inner" letters equals צדיק ממ חית gematriah שבת which the Zohar calls אמוידנשמתא. We find the term צמח associated with the geulah מצמיח ישועה, את צמח דוד עבדך. If there was any time more ripe and accessible for spiritual growth it is tshe Shabbos.
The צמח of the tumah side are the same letters as ץמח which represents the yetzer harah and its arrogance (chametz bread rises in contrast to matzah) leaving no room for Hashem to reside within you. The letters of ץמח also spell מצח forehead which relates to immoral behavior as Chazal say that the ,ציץ the forehead plate worn by the Kohen Gadol, atones for zenus, immoral conduct as the passuk says (Yirmiya 3,3), ומצח אשה זונה היה לו. These are two examples of growth and expansion in a negative and destructive direction.
How does one attach himself to the עפר דקדושה and צמח growth in the arena of spirituality? The answer is that Hashem created Man with שכל וחכמה. Hashem speaks to one through his intellect and conscience. If you listen to that inner voice's calling, your life will be aligned to the wishes of the One who created you. Otherwise you will be chasing after physical objects your entire life never being satisfied and you will die empty handed buried underground רפע אתה ואל עפר תשוב . Those who live lives of צ ומח with kedusha have a life of ש מח happiness and fulfillment even in this world. Rav Hirsch writes that the letters צ and ש are interchangeable.
This formula for a life of beracha is hinted in the pessukim of the Tochacha. Devarim 28,1 היהו עמשת עומש םאבקול תווצמ לכ תא תושעל רומש ךיקלא 'ה if you will listen בקול to the voice of Hashem to observe His mitzvos. Next the passuk says ובאו עליך כל הברכות האלה כי תשמע בקול ה . Then in passuk 15 Hashem addresses the negative that if you will not listen to לוקב Hashem and fulfill His mitzvos then (passuk 45) all the curses will befall you לוקב תעמש אל יכ .
Why is there such a repetitive stress on listening or not listening to the קול of Hashem? The bottom line is you failed to keep the mitzvos or you observed them?
The Torah is telling us that there is a siyatah dishmaya everyday which aids one to choose the Aitz Hachayim and not the Aitz Hadaas and that is the קול, intellect which inner directs an individual to choose the emes and righteous path of Hashem over the wrong one. As the Rambam writes in Hilchos Teshuvah (6,3) on the passuk על כן יורה חטאים בדרך that Hashem helps one to do teshuva by either sending Neveeim to stir up their hearts to return to Hashem or through his intellect and learning. Hashem speaks to Man via his intellect just as He does through a Navi. One must only lend his ear to hear Hashem talking to him.
תן בהם כחðש ןהל הואתמ קדצהו המכחה יכרדב ךשמðללמוד ולהבין שמדה זו בכל אדם שכל זמן שהוא רבדה לע רזעðורודף אותם והוא מה שאמרו רז"ל בא לטהר מסייעין אותו כלומר ימצא עצמו The gematriah of בקול is צמח. Spiritual growth begins with listening to your inner voice and conscience which Hashem sends one constantly.
Both Avraham Avinu and Efron had a head with intellect and a conscience. This is hinted in the middle letter of each name the letter ר which spells the sound of ראש. The difference between them was Avraham's intellect led him to discover the creator while in contrast, Efron's head was driving him to think of more ways to have pleasure from the "earth element" to satisfy his earthly body. When Avraham buys the field the passuk says הדשה םקיו to which Rashi explains that with this purchase, the earth was elevated to a higher spiritual level because of its new owner. The Yid elevates the earthly and mundane. In contrast everyone else wallows in it and gets soiled. Avraham Avinu personified אמת מארץ תצמח .
The price of Avraham's purchase was derived from the middle letters that summed up the entire deal. Efron told Avraham ךניבו יניב the difference between me and you are our mind sets. "I", said Efron, "think of the present alone to see what pleasurable experience I can have at this very moment. You think of the future, a world of Techiyas Hameisim and Olam Habah and basking in Hashem's radiance. ביני ובינך between me and you we share a similarity. My name is ןרפע which is the word עפר and the letter ן which expresses a constancy. All I think about is more physical pleasure. You too Avraham also associate with עפר as you called yourself רפע as the passuk says רפאו רפע יכנא that you are constantly negated to Hashem in holy עפר. Your body of עפר possesses the name of אברהם gematriah 248 parallel to the 248 mitzvos.
Yes we share the same association like friends but we are worlds apart. If you want this earth property for a burial plot you have to pay for either my mindset or yours. My mindset is gematria my name עפרן which is 400 which is a pursuit of the עפר of tumah. Your mindset which is the עפר of kedusha and Olam Haba, is represented by the letter ת which also equals 400 (Sefer Yetzirah). Between our mindsets we share the same end goal price the number of 400 each person to his desired world.
There is a story told of two partners who got into an argument about a real estate deal and they were on the verge to dissolve the partnership. They decided the last resort to speak to the Rav and he will decide. The Rav asked them both to take him to the real estate that they were arguing about who is the owner. Upon arriving the Rav bent down on the land and put his ear to it as if he was having a conversation and listening to something. Finally he got up and he smiled at them both and said I asked the plot of earth to which partner does it really belong to. The earth answered to none of them. Both partners belong to me after 120.
פי הארץ it seems that it has a mouth to speak. Maybe we all have to put our ears to the earth and see what it really is saying. After all the word earth begins with the word ear and with the letter h at the end also spells hear. And what one hears must be taken to his heart which also spells earth. The message you will hear is clear לה' הארץ ומלואה.
Gut Shabbos,
Rav Brazil
