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<DIV><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" face=Arial color=#000000
size=2>>> What is going on in these 10 pesouqim?....<BR><BR><BR>.....Why
such a large concentration of SH.M.'A. in these pesouqim?<BR><BR>Do we find this
any where else?<BR><BR>If that wasn't enough we also have all these instances of
people talking<BR>into ears.<BR><BR><BR><BR>This may sound silly but was
everyone deaf???<BR><BR><BR><BR>Any ideas? <<<BR><BR><BR><BR>Joey
Mosseri</FONT></FONT></DIV>
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<DIV>>>>>>>></DIV>
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<DIV>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.
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<DIV>And then part of it is that Avraham "hears" -- REALLY hears -- what
Ephron is /really/ saying -- and says, "Just as you said, here, I'm giving you
400 shekels for your land." Just as you said? He said he was giving
it as a gift! But Avraham /heard/ his real intention when he said
publicly, "It's worth 400 shekels." </DIV>
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<DIV>Actually Ephron way overpriced it but Avraham paid the full price and
said, again in the ears of everybody -- a large public gathering, evidently --
"I've bought this land and it's mine and my children's forever now, bought and
paid for in front of ("in the hearing of" -- "in the ears of") everybody here,
everybody who might possibly ever try to make a claim." If there is any
spot in E'Y that absolutely totally and forever BELONGS TO US it is Me'aras
Hamachpela, the resting place of our Fathers and Mothers. May
G-d curse the nations who try to take it from us, the bloody thieves.</DIV>
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<DIV><FONT lang=0 face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF"
PTSIZE="10"><BR><B>--Toby Katz<BR>==========<BR><BR></FONT><FONT lang=0
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