Chayei Sarah

Chayei Sarah - Richard Freund

Richard A. Freund is Director and Professor of Jewish History at the Maurice Greenberg Center for Judaic Studies at the University of Hartford, Connecticut. He directs six university archaeological projects in Israel, including Bethsaida, Qumran, the Cave of Letters, Nazareth, Yavne and Har Karkom as well as a site in Spain and the death camp of Sobibor, Poland.

Having worked at some of the most famous burial grounds and caves of Israel at Qumran on the Dead Sea and the Cave of Letters (also on the Dead Sea) I have always been fascinated by the importance given to certain burial caves in Israel. Many ancient tombs became pilgrimage sites during the Middle Ages (for Jews, Christians and Muslims) although little is scientifically known about most of these pilgrimage sites.

Historically the tomb of Machpelah is one of many caves in the area of Hebron. Burial caves were the standard method of ancient Israelite burial for the elite and probably grew up and was paralleled by in-ground burial for those of the lower socio-economic classes. Family caves used to be "gathered with one's ancestors" and it probably meant in antiquity the depositing of all of the bones from an extended family into a single cave in niches or loculi. This would allow hundreds of related individuals to be placed in permanent areas of hewn caves similar to catacombs.

The Machpelah cave mentioned in Parashat Chayei Sarah (Genesis Chapter 23-25) is thought to be either a large, double cave (hence the Hebrew word meaning "double") or indicates that it was for multiple burials. The cost of the cave mentioned in Genesis, "400 shekels", is an interesting number as it is a well known amount in Mesopotamian texts. However, it might just be a general large number, much the same way that 40 and multiples of 40 are very important throughout the Biblical text (remember the Flood, in the Exodus, the revelation at Mount Sinai and even in Elijah's journey). 

Today the Machpelah includes a medieval mosque which was a converted Christian (Byzantine-4th century) church which is constructed on top of the actual cave sites. So who is buried there? The burials there are traditionally thought by Jews to be only for Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebecca, Jacob and Leah, and Adam and Eve: Four Couples. The other name of Hebron was alternatively given in Genesis as Kiryat Arba, the site of the four. The Bible states specifically that Rachel, Jacob's beloved wife was buried in another location, "on the way to Bethlehem" where she died (and there is a pilgrimage site there as well) and Zilpah and Bilhah, the other mothers of Jacob's children are traditionally held to have been buried at a pilgrimage site in Tiberias.

There are Jewish traditions that hold that the other sons of Jacob and even Joseph, (whose bones according to the Bible were brought back from Egypt by the Israelites during the Exodus) were all buried at the Machpelah as well. The 12th century traveller, Benjamin of Tudela, states that there were many Jews whose remains were brought from far away places and placed near the Machpelah. Burial near the site of significant individuals became a way of insuring an early resurrection in the time of the Messiah. Similar traditions are associated with the large numbers of medieval and pre-modern Mount Zion burials opposite the Golden Gate of Jerusalem.