| The Portion of Chayei Sarah The Ancestral Merit on the Land of Israel The portion of Chayei Sarah begins with the description of Sarah's death and concludes with the death of Abraham. Following Abraham's purchase of a burial plot for Sarah he sends his trusted servant Eliezer on a mission to find a wife for his son Isaac and thereby guarantee the continuation of the Abrahamic lineage. In his later years Abraham marries Keturah and following the births of their children, he states clearly that his inheritance will go to Isaac. "And Abraham bequeathed all that he had to Isaac" (Genesis 25;5). "And to the children of the concubines Abraham gave gifts and he sent them away from his son Isaac while he (Abraham) was still alive...(Genesis 25;6). Even though Abraham was quite explicit as to whom was to inherit him, in the days of Alexander Mokdon, the descendants of Ishmael and Keturah demanded their shares in the land of Israel. Gevia ben Pesisa quoted the above verse to disprove their claim. An allusion to the children of Ishmael's claim against our rights to the Land of Israel we find in the letter "nun" in the word "beodenu " (while he was still..) which is curved backwards, to remind us that time and time again we must be certain to remember our roots in the Land of Israel. (Divrei Kohelet) | 
