This week’s parsha (Torah portion) has a lot in it. A very quick summary goes like this: Sarah dies and Abraham buys the cave called Macpelah to bury Sarah in. Then he sends his servant Eli-ezer to find a wife for his son Yitzchak (Isaac). After Eli-ezer returns with Rivka (Rebecca), Abraham dies and Yishmayil and Yitzchak bury Abraham next to Sarah in the cave called Macpelah.
What is interesting about the name of the cave is that it comes from the word Hebrew word cafol which means to double (for those who don’t know, the same Hebrew letter can be pronounced as an ‘f’ or as a ‘p’). The obvious question is why is the cave called, “Double?” The answer is that the cave is really two caves – one cave on top of another cave, or one cave inside another; nobody is really sure which. This leads to the obvious question of, “So what?” I hope you can indulge me by letting me answer that via the scenic route – with the help of Eli-ezer (whose name means ‘My god helps’) and his search for a wife for Yitzchak.
You see, Eli-ezer travels back to the old country (the land where Abraham comes from), at the request of Abraham, to find Yitzhcak’s wife. When he gets there, he asks god to help him identify the woman. It is interesting to note that he does not ask god that it be a particular person, rather, he merely asks that she should be kind enough to not only give him water, but also to water his camels (this itself is a lesson on what to ask for – you can know the attributes you want in a person; you never know which person will have those qualities). After he meets the woman who does this (Rivka), he goes to her family and relates to them the story. However, when he relates the story to them, he tells them he talked to his heart.
This my friends is the meaning of Macpelah/cafol, and also the meaning of prayer: to really pray for something, you not only have to send the request UP to god, but you also have to put it into your heart INSIDE yourself. To connect to the divine requires getting high AND going in. You often hear of going inward in meditation, and going higher in terms of your spirituality. Both are required.
And there is actually a third component. How does Eli-ezer meet Rivka? Does he sit on his butt and wait for her to introduce herself? No, he actively does something in the physical world: he goes up to her and asks her for some water. This is important, because we live in the physical world, and the only way that we can have our wishes fulfilled is by acting in the physical world (after we let god know what we want (going up) and telling ourselves (going in)).
As always, I welcome any and all feedback, and I wish that all of you can connect to the divine above and within yourselves and take the actions needed to fulfill your hopes and dreams. Have a good week.
About the Author
Shmuel Shalom Cohen spent 10 years studying Torah in Jerusalem. Six years ago, he started Conscious Torah to help Jews connect to their tradition in ways they didn’t think possible. Shmuel also started, and is the executive directory of Jewish Events Willamette-valley, a non-profit whose mission is to build Jewish community, pride, and learning. In his free time, Shmuel likes walks in nature, playing music, writing poetry, and time with good friends.