Whereas Efron was attached to the negative attributes of the spiritual
essence of earth, Abraham drew forth the earth's positive spiritual
energies, as Abraham said about himself.- "I [Abrahaml am but dirt and
ash." (Genesis 18:27) Abraharn's statement, made while in prayer,
demonstrates his great humility; and the fact that he chose to connect
his humility specifically to earth shows that he was connected to
earth's positive spiritual essence. Many of the verses contained in the
Torah reveal the inner spiritual mechanisms and attributes of physical
items. Physicality is like a glove that allows us to utilize,
manipulate, and handle spirituality. The physical properties of the
element, earth, is a glove which holds the spiritual property of faith,
fortifying a person's faith in G-d, as the verse states, "Dwell in the
land, and feed [yourself] with faith. " (Psalms 37:3) That the earth
causes everything to grow is but a manifestation of the spiritual
property of earth - faith causing spiritual growth. For nothing can grow
without connection to G-d and connection to G-d can only be achieved
through faith.
We see Abraham's connection to dirt as a manifestation of his strong
faith in G-d in several places. When the three angels visited Abraham,
he offered them water to wash their feet, thinking they were idol
worshippers who worshipped the dirt of their feet. (Rashi) This informs
us that dirt is associated with faith. In this particular case, it was
the negative aspect of faith, idol worship. This incident indicates that
Abraham worked to cleanse the world of idol worship. Another instance of
Abraham's connection with the element earth, as related by the Talmud,
occurs during his pursuit of the four kings who had captured his nephew,
Lot. As a weapon, Abraham threw ordinary dirt at the enemy armies.
Abraham's intense faith in G-d activated the spiritual energies of faith
contained within the dirt, giving him access to the dirt's spiritual
roots. This enabled him to manipulate the dirt's physical form,
transforming it into thousands of arrows and spears, which annihilated
his foes. Miracles such as this are possible because all physical items
have a common denominator, the light of G-d. Thus, Abraham, who, because
of his great faith, knew how to manipulate this light, and was able to
perform this great miracle. Now we can understand why the Torah went
into great detail in describing the purchase of the cave of Machpelah.
As we mentioned above, the cave of Machpelah is the spiritual gateway to
paradise. This emphasis on Abraham's purchase of the cave teaches that
the only way one is able to enter through the gate and into paradise is
through faith and belief in G-d, which is the essence of Abraham.
On the allegorical level this incident could be understood as follows:
Abraham (faith in G-d) acquired the cave (Paradise) through his
encounter with Efron (lack of faith, the forces of evil). This means
that one must first subdue the forces of evil and overcome the tendency
to towards lack of faith by strengthening his faith in G-d such that he
meticulously adheres to G-d's wishes, in order to gain access to
paradise. (Lekutai Halachoth: Orach Chaim: Hilchoth Tefilin 5:40)
Rabbi Nachman taught that G-d deals with a person in the same manner
that a person deals with G-d. if the person humbles himself, trying to
merge his soul with G-d, by making himself small, G-d acts in kind and
shrinks Himself, so to speak, so that the Divine Presence can rest upon
a mere mortal causing that person to easily perceive G-d. However, if a
person works to magnify his own personal honor, G-d reacts in kind and
expands Himself to the point where He becomes too big and distant to
perceive. When G-d expands Himself, the person is unable to tolerate and
contain His awesome greatness, possibly causing the person to become
swept away by G-d's vastness, which could cause destruction. This is
what caused the destruction of the Temple. The small Temple structure
could only contain G-d in a state of constrictedness, in proportion to
the people's humility. When the people became prideful, the small Temple
could not contain an infinite G-d Who expanded Himself, in accordance
with the people's pride. When G-d expanded Himself, the Temple
spiritually exploded, which later manifested itself in the Temple's
physical destruction, for it no longer was able to contain G-d's
vastness. (I Kitzur Lekutai MoHaran 119)
We thus see that the soul must connect to humility in order to merge
with G-d. However, humility is a trait derived from the physical world,
and the physical world can affect the soul only indirectly, via the
soul's attachment to the body. The body is the soul's bridge to the
physical world. So the soul can only access the power of humility
through the element of earth contained in the body. Hence, G-d created a
world with many contrasting and opposite components to give people ample
opportunities to develop humility. In order for there to be peace and
unity, things and people must humble themselves to each other, e.g..
husband' and wife, friends, students and teachers, employers and
laborers, etc. Even upon death, humility must be accessed. Therefore,
the body must first be covered with earth to be surrounded by the
spiritual energies of humility, to compensate for any lack of humility
one might have had during his lifetime, enabling the soul to become
merged with G-d. Consequently, Jewish law requires that, after his
death, a Jew must be buried in the earth as soon as possible in order to
be covered with the energy of humility so his soul can quickly merge
with G-d. The more quickly the soul becomes merged with G-d, the less
discomfort it has to endure. Cremation and other forms of disposal of
the body is thus very harmful and painful for the soul and is therefore,
forbidden by Jewish Law. (L4ekutai Halachoth: Choshen Mishpat: Hilchoth
Gevioth Chove May'Ha'Yesomim 4:6)
[Note: Rabbi Nachman taught that true humility does not involve walking
around with a bowed head or acting like a loser. This type of behavior
is only all outward act to receive attention and respect for being
humble - there is no greater arrogance than this. In Hebrew, this is
known as anavah pe'sulah - invalid or false humility. (I Lekutai
MoHaran 197 and 2 Lekutai MoHaran 72)]
There are four basic elements which G-d used in creating the physical
world, water, fire, air, and earth. Much of the Torah focuses on and is
centered around the element of earth. The very first verse deals with
G-d's creation of the earth: "In the beginning G-d created the heaven
and earth." (Genesis 1:1) The Torah describes: how man was created from
the earth, "G-d formed man out of the dust of the ground." (Genesis
2:7); that G-d promised the three patriarchs that He would give them the
land of Israel as an inheritance for all time; how the Jews left Egypt
and traveled through the desert to reach the Promised Land - an episode
which spans four out of the five books of the Torah. In addition, the
Torah contains many laws that specifically pertain to the earth. The
earth is so precious that millions of soldiers have died in battle
throughout the centuries to conquer or defend land. We buy, sell, and
work the land. When a person is far from his own land, he yearns for his
native soil. Even our final resting place is in the ground. Yet, despite
earch's preciousness, the opposite also holds true. The earth is
comprised of tiny grains of sand, which have no real value. We trample
the earth without giving it a second thought. We consider dirt to be
repulsive and something to be avoided, eliminated, and cleared away. So
we see that the earth reflects two extremes, being of great value on the
one hand and of little value on the other.
Abraham bought the burial site known as the cave of Machpelah. This is
considered to be one of the holiest spots on earth, comparable to the
Temple in Jerusalem. Before a soul can enter paradise it must pass
through this cave, which is a physical manifestation of the gateway to
Eden. Rashi tells us that this cave is called Machpelah, (from the
Hebrew: k'ful, meaning doubles), because of the four holy couples
buried there (Adam and Eve, Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebecca, Jacob
and Leah) and because it is comprised of two chambers. Abraham purchased
the cave of Machpelah from the Hittite known as Efron. The root of the
word Efron is from the Hebrew word ahfar, which means soil. The
Talmud tells us that the name of an item tells us everything about the
nature of that item. Therefore, Efron's name, which refers to the dirt,
tells us much about his potential. Efron could have chosen to connect
himself to the holy aspects of the spiritual energies of earth, but,
instead, he chose wickedness, as evidenced by the Torah's account of his
business discussion with Abraham regarding the cave. He made a show, in
front of all the people, of how generous he was - implying that he was
giving Abraham the cave as a gift, when, in actuality, he was demanding
top dollar. Efron thus drew his spiritual nourishment from the spiritual
energies of the primeval snake, as the verse says: "And the snake - dirt
shall be his food.' (Isaiah 65:25) This verse tells us that the negative
spiritual energies contained in the element of earth are associated with
the ways of impurity, connected to the spiritual properties that nourish
the snake, the source of all evil.
There is a spiritual principle that one must first remove the "outer
peel" to get to the "fruit" meaning that to accomplish any spiritual
goal, one must first encounter and neutralize the forces of evil that
surround it and obstruct access to its holiness. One reason for this is
to maintain the balance of free choice. One can choose to settle for and
enjoy the "peel", usually manifested as animalistic materialism, or gain
the reward of the "fruit" - spiritual connection to G-d. A second reason
for this is that neutralizing the evil forces contained within the
"peel" builds spiritual filters which enable a person to tolerate the
brighter light of the next level. Therefore, G-d arranged it so that
Abraham would have to encounter the very spiritually polluted Efron (the
"peel") in order to acquire the extremely holy cave of Machpelah (the
"fruit").
G-d specifically caused Abraham to acquire the cave, instead of some
other righteous man, because Abraham possessed precisely those positive
spiritual energies of earth which would neutralize Efron's negative
spiritual earth energies. Rav Noson teaches that a person's possessions,
especially his real estate, contain part of his soul. Efron's impure
soul served to dilute and suppress the spiritual energies emitted by the
cave. When Abraham acquired the cave, his soul's positive spiritual
energies associated with the element of earth became merged with the
spiritual energies of the cave. The Talmud designates Abraham as "chief
among those who have faith in G-d", so Abraham's spiritual earth energy
caused the spiritual energy of faith to sprout, just as physical earth
causes things to grow. Thus, the spirit" energies emanating from the
cave were dissociated from Efron's lack of faith and connected to the
faith of Abraham which eventually would, in turn, influence all other
souls in the world to have increased faith in G-d (because every
person's soul passes through the cave after his death). Now we can
understand why the Torah commands that the land of Israel remain in the
exclusive possession of the Jewish people. The soul of each Jew is
rooted in holiness, and therefore, when the Jews possess any part of the
land of Israel, it causes the positive spiritual properties that are
contained in the Holy Land to bloom. On the physical level, this has
been evidenced over the past two millennia by the fact that the lack of
a large Jewish presence in the holy Land resulted in decay and ruin.
Only after large numbers of Jews had returned there did the land respond
and miraculously begin to flourish and blossom. Possession of the Holy
Land by any other nation pollutes the positive spiritual energies of
the holy soil, for other nations are not rooted in holiness. Even in
our times it is essential for the Jews to maintain control over the Holy
Land, wherever possible - especially the holy sites, such as the cave of
Machpelah and Jerusalem - in order that the positive spiritual energies
that are found there are released to produce positive effects in the
world. [Note: This applies even in times when we do not have a Temple
or other spiritual tools. Abraham also accomplished this task without
the Temple, etc.]
As we described above Abraham perfected the spiritual properties
contained in the element earth, reaching the highest level of faith
possible. There is yet another, and even higher aspect associated with
earth - the trait of humility. This aspect was perfected by Moses, as
the verse says, "Moses was very humble, more so than any [other] man on
the face of the earth." (Numbers 12:3) Earth contains the property of
humility, as it says, "He [G-dl lays [the lofty fortress] low, to the
ground; He throws it down to the dirt." (Isaiah 26:5) The highest
spiritual level of all is the attribute of humility. Rabbi Nachman
taught that humility has the power to draw closer those things that are
far away. A humble man is able to draw G-d, people, sustenance, and
blessings closer to himself. (I Lekutai MoHaran 70) It is impossible to
be merged with G-d unless one is truly humble: The more a person humbles
himself in this world to adhere to the will of G-d, the more he becomes
merged with G-d and eliminates the pollution of coarse materialism
contained by the body. The more materially oriented the person, the more
his body becomes attached to this world and the greater the barrier
erected between G-d and man. Moses purified his body to such an extent,
that he completely eliminated the material coarseness of his body.
Therefore, immediately upon his death, Moses became merged with the
highest level from which one can experience G-d. Those people who are
not as successful as Moses was in eliminating the spiritual impurities
of the body must go through a very painful cleansing process. This
process occurs to the body in the grave and is experienced by the soul,
causing the soul great suffering which, in turn eliminates the pollution
of and humbles the body. The soul can then be merged with G-d on the
level that it earned during its physical lifetime.
Upon death, every person must go through the burial process, as the
verse says, "Everything came from the dirt, and everything returns to
the dirt." (Eccl. 3:20) Earth is the most material element of all the
four basic elements, because it incorporates the other three. Thus, "And
the L-rd, G-d, formed the man from the dirt of the ground..." (Genesis
2:7) enabling man to sanctify all four basic elements, which are all
incorporated in the element, earth, as the verse says: "And the L-rd,
G-d, took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden, to work it [the
soil referring to his physical body from which it was created], and keep
it." (Genesis 2:15) Earth consists of two extremes, as mentioned above.
On the one hand, earth causes a person to humble himself such that he
adheres to the will of G-d. On the other hand, earth carries the essence
of materialism, and thus pridefulness. Therefore, G-d created man from
earth in order that man would work to sanctify himself by fostering the
negative aspects of earth within himself and converting them to the
positive aspects, i. e. humility. Since the element of earth
incorporates the other three elements as well, one who. is able to
sanctify his body sanctifies the entire physical creation, because all
of creation is comprised of the four elements. The one who is able to
sanctify himself by humbling himself to adhere to the will of G-d will,
upon his demise, - have his body easily merged with the dirt in which his
body is laid to rest, allowing his soul to easily draw from the positive
powers of earth, relating to humility, which were activated by Moses.
Furthermore, this enables the sanctified person's soul to quickly and
easily merge with G-d without having to greatly suffer. Those people who
do not so humble themselves, fail to sanctify their bodies, and thus
have more difficulty in having their bodies merged with the soil after
their burial. Therefore, they must suffer pain in the grave in order to
cleanse the body of the spiritual pollution caused by negative pride, a
pride which resulted in non-adherence to G-d's will.