[Avodah] Bereshit 23: 6-16

[rabbirichwolpoe at gmail.com]

Rn Toby T613K at aol.com
> A big part of it is Ephron making a big deal out of his supposed
> generosity by talking "in the ears" of his clansmen and townspeople -- it
> highlights his hypocrisy.  He really has no intention of giving Me'aras
> Hamachpela to Avraham as a gift -- on the contrary, he is greedy and
> wants top dollar -- but he wants to appear like a paragon of generosity
> in front of his audience.

This is the traditional read based upon Hazal.

Years ago I saw a more "modern" read
As follows
The question is what is the game being played here?
+ Why did Avraham deal in Public and not just with Ephron Pivately
+ Why did he gladly overpay?
+ Why the "dance" between free and over-the-top price?

Here is a revisionist understanding, perhaps based upon archaeology. [I
have since forgotten the Parshah list that gave this p'shat[

Given: Hittites NEVER sold land to aliens [sound familiar? :-)]

So When Avraham first seem to request burial rights, the Hittites
responded "go ahead! For YOU avraham we make an exception! Go bury your
wife Sarah for free! The qever is on us!"

Then Avraham counter offered. "No I want an 'achuzas qever' with a fully
landed deed."
[IOW he want to start "JNF" and purchase land mamash not just get acess
to a qever in Hittite terriotory]

Then the Hittites said:
"If you want to BUY land mamash, you are violating our laws so you must
pay FULL value plus!"

Why was Avraham GLAD to overpay? Because this was the only way to effect
this exceptional bevavior without future "Ir'urim!"

Furthermore, it explains why a town meeting was needed. Avraham needed a
variance, a private purchase from Ephron would NOT have been recognized -
and so in order to have a deed w/o dispute
Avraham needed:
A. A Town Meeting
B. A variance
C. To pay more than full-value

And had Avraham NOT overpaid, the Hittites might have been inundated
with other such requests! And so by pricing the land so high, the
Hittites assured that there would be no market for Hittite land -
[except possibly for exceptional cases and extenuating circumstances.]

Thus, the dance was necessary.

The beauty here is that this over-the-top price ensured that this is
our land for eternity and IMHO we Jews shoudn't cede an inch of that
specific territory.

KT
RRW
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