The following is a brief summary of some of thoughts said over by R' Frand on the parsha this evening. I have attempted to reproduce these vorts to the best of my ability. Any perceived inconsistency is the result of my efforts to transcribe the shiur and should not be attributed to R' Frand.
R' Frand noted that when Ya'akov instructs that he be buried in Maaras HaMachpela he seems to give far too much repetitive detail. In Bereishis 49:29 he asks to be buried in the cave which is in the field of Ephron. In the next pasuk he repeats that he wants to be buried in the cave in the field of Machpela which Avraham bought from Ephron.
But even after identifying the field twice, he again gives information about the cave (as if his sons would not know which cave he was speaking of) as the Torah states in Bereishis 49:31 that Ya'akov told his sons שָׁ֣מָּה קָֽבְר֞וּ אֶת־אַבְרָהָ֗ם וְאֵת֙ שָׂרָ֣ה אִשְׁתּ֔וֹ שָׁ֚מָּה קָֽבְר֣וּ אֶת־יִצְחָ֔ק וְאֵ֖ת רִבְקָ֣ה אִשְׁתּ֑וֹ וְשָׁ֥מָּה קָבַ֖רְתִּי אֶת־לֵאָֽה.
Why does Ya'akov need to identify the field twice and then enumerate who was buried there?
As an introduction to the answer, R' Frand quoted the gemara in Kiddushin which teaches the concept that a wife can be nikneh with money which is learned from the story of buying Maaras HaMachpela in which the gemara uses the language Kicha Kicha M'Sdeh Ephron.
R' Frand asked - why do we need to learn the laws of Kiddushin from the purchase of Maaras HaMachpela? He gave two answers - the first of which was lighter than the second.
The first answer R' Frand gave was that the purchase of Maaras HaMachpela is much like a marriage - each one thinks they are getting the better deal. When Ephron sold the cave, he said to himself - I got 400 shekel for a field which cannot even be planted, its got a cave in the middle of it!
Meanwhile, Avraham said to himself - I got the cave where Adam & Chava were buried and I and my progeny will use it for many important burials, and I only paid 400 shekel! I got the better end of the deal.
But then R' Frand said a second answer which was much deeper. He quoted the sheva brochos in which we say Sameach Tisamach Reim HaAhuvim. He noted that the word Reim comes from Teruah which is the broken sound of the shofar. He cited the ma'amar chazal that 40 days before an embryo is formed a bas kol announces who will marry whom. At that point, the two neshamos are together in Gan Eden and then they become separated. It is for this reason that the gemara says that it is the way of a man to return for his wife - because he is looking for what was lost from his soul at the time he was born. This is Reim HaAhuvim - what was once together had been broken and was now reunited.
When one of the spouses predeceases the other, there is a separation again and only in death are they reunited. This was Ya'akov's message in Bereishis 49:31 by spelling out each husband and wife who were buried in Maaras HaMachpela - being buried together is the reunification after having been separated by death.
This is why we learn the concept of the kinyan kesef of marriage from Ephron - just like the marriage is a reunification of what had been separated souls, so too when they are buried together, the souls are reunited.
As a post script to the vort, R' Frand mentioned that the Lithuanian Government is planning a sports complex to be constructed on an old and famous Jewish cemetery and he encouraged his viewers to write to the Lithuanian Government and ask them not to desecrate the cemetery. He mentioned a website which is campaigning against this planned sports project where people can learn more about the cemetery and how they can pressure the Lithuanian not to destroy it - www.savevilna.org.
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