Four Hundred Shekels: Beginning the Service Anew
To be like dust before everyone is the root of serving Hashem. Yet dust is also the element that pulls a person into laziness. How can the same lowliness raise a tzaddik and endanger him? And what does Efron’s price of four hundred shekels have to do with it?
Bereishis 23:14–16
וַיַּעַן עֶפְרוֹן אֶת־אַבְרָהָם לֵאמֹר לוֹ אֲדֹנִי שְׁמָעֵנִי אֶרֶץ אַרְבַּע מֵאֹת שֶׁקֶל־כֶּסֶף בֵּינִי וּבֵינְךָ מַה־הִוא וְאֶת־מֵתְךָ קְבֹר וַיִּשְׁמַע אַבְרָהָם אֶל־עֶפְרוֹן וַיִּשְׁקֹל אַבְרָהָם לְעֶפְרֹן אֶת־הַכֶּסֶף אֲשֶׁר דִּבֶּר בְּאָזְנֵי בְנֵי־חֵת אַרְבַּע מֵאוֹת שֶׁקֶל כֶּסֶף עֹבֵר לַסֹּחֵר
Efron answered Avraham, saying to him, “My lord, hear me: land worth four hundred shekels of silver, between me and you, what is that? Bury your dead.” Avraham listened to Efron, and Avraham weighed out for Efron the silver he had named in the hearing of the children of Ches, four hundred shekels of silver, current with the merchant.
12Efron answers, “My lord, hear me: land worth four hundred …,” and “Avraham weighed out for Efron …” It seems we can explain this as follows. The root of the matter, in truth, is that a person should be like dust to everyone. Yet the element of dust, one of the four elements a person is made of, is also what pulls a person toward laziness and sinking low, even if he is a tzaddik. The yetzer hara tells him that he no longer needs to serve, since he has already repaired himself by reaching the level of dust, and so it brings him to laziness in the service of the Creator, blessed be He. When a person hears the words of the yetzer hara that would make him lazy, he must strengthen himself against it then and there, and begin the service of the Creator anew, as though he had done nothing yet. That is what we pray: “Let my soul be like dust to all,” and “let my soul pursue Your mitzvos.”1 That is: let the yetzer not bring me to laziness, to neglect Your mitzvos, Heaven forbid; on the contrary, let my soul pursue Your mitzvos.
וַיַּעַן עֶפְרוֹן כּוּ׳ אֲדוֹנִי שְׁמָעֵנִי אֶרֶץ אַרְבַּע מֵאוֹת כּוּ׳ וַיִּשְׁקוֹל אַבְרָהָם לְעֶפְרוֹן כּוּ׳. נִרְאֶה לְפָרֵשׁ דְּהִנֵּה הָאֱמֶת הוּא הַשּׁוֹרֶשׁ שֶׁיִּהְיֶה הָאָדָם כְּעָפָר לַכֹּל, אַךְ הַיְּסוֹד הֶעָפָר הוּא הַמּוֹשֵׁךְ אֶת הָאָדָם לְעַצְלוּת וְשִׁפְלוּת גַּם אִם הוּא צַדִּיק, בְּאוֹמְרוֹ היצה"ר אֵלָיו שֶׁאֵינוֹ צָרִיךְ לַעֲבוֹד עוֹד כִּי כְּבָר תִּיקֵּן אֶת עַצְמוֹ בַּמֶּה שֶׁהוּא בְּמַדְרֵיגַת עָפָר וְעַל יְדֵי זֶה מְבִיאוֹ לְעַצְלוּת בַּעֲבוֹדַת הַבּוֹרֵא יִתְ׳, וְצָרִיךְ הָאָדָם לְהִתְחַזֵּק נֶגְדּוֹ אָז בְּשָׁמְעוֹ אֶת דִּבְרֵי היצה"ר הַמְּבִיאוֹ לְעַצְלוּת, לְהַתְחִיל בַּעֲבוֹדַת הַבּוֹרֵא מֵחָדָשׁ כְּאִילּוּ לֹא עָשָׂה עֲדַיִין כְּלוּם, וְזֶהוּ שֶׁאָנוּ מִתְפַּלְּלִין "וְנַפְשִׁי כֶּעָפָר לַכֹּל תִּהְיֶה וּבְמִצְוֹתֶיךָ תִּרְדּוֹף נַפְשִׁי", ר"ל שֶׁלֹּא יְבִיאֵנִי הַיֵּצֶר לְעַצְלוּת לְבַטֵּל מִצְווֹתֶיךָ חָלִילָה, אֶלָּא אַדְּרַבָּה בְּמִצְוֹתֶיךָ תִּרְדּוֹף נַפְשִׁי.
- Berachos 17a, the prayer of Mar son of Ravina, said at the close of the Amidah; between the two phrases it has “Open my heart to Your Torah.” ↩
In shortBeing like dust is the root of avodah, yet the yetzer hara uses it to whisper that the work is done; a person must answer by beginning anew.
13Perhaps our verse hints at this too. “Avraham” hints at the tzaddik, and “Efron” (עפרון), whose name comes from afar (עפר), dust, hints at the yetzer hara that comes with the level of dust we have described. “Efron answered … ‘My lord, hear me’”: the yetzer hara tells the tzaddik that he is already a lord, a master in the service of Hashem, blessed be He, who has repaired everything. “Four hundred shekels of kesef, silver” hints at the four hundred worlds of kisufin, longing, which the tzaddik must repair.2 The yetzer hara tells him, “You have already repaired them all, so ‘between me and you, what is that?’” The tzaddik must strengthen himself against it. That is “Avraham weighed,” vayishkol, from the root of shekel: he must weigh the way of Hashem in his service anew, to repair the four hundred shekels of silver, the four hundred worlds. And that is “current with the merchant,” over lasocher: socher (סוחר), merchant, is from the same root as s'chor (סחור), “around,” as in “Go around, go around … the vineyard.”3 He must go around his path again, anew. This is easy to understand.
לָזֶה אֶפְשָׁר רָמַז הַכָּתוּב ג"כ כָּאן, כִּי "אַבְרָהָם" רֶמֶז לַצַּדִּיק וְ"עֶפְרוֹן" רֶמֶז ליצה"ר שֶׁל מַדְרֵיגוֹת עָפָר כנ"ל, וְזֶה "וַיַּעַן עֶפְרוֹן כּוּ׳ אֲדוֹנִי שְׁמָעֵנִי אֶרֶץ אַרְבַּע מֵאוֹת כּוּ׳", פֵּירוּשׁ שֶׁלְּהַצַּדִּיק אוֹמֵר לוֹ היצה"ר שֶׁהוּא אָדוֹן בִּדְבַר עֲבוֹדָתוֹ ית"ש שֶׁכְּבָר תִּיקֵּן הַכֹּל, וְזֶה רֶמֶז "ד׳ מֵאוֹת שֶׁקֶל כֶּסֶף" הֵם ת׳ עָלְמִין דִּכְסִיפִין שֶׁהַצַּדִּיק צָרִיךְ לְתַקֵּן, אוֹמֵר לוֹ היצה"ר כְּבָר תִּקַּנְתָּ הַכֹּל וּמַה זֶה "בֵּינִי וּבֵינְךָ", וְצָרִיךְ הַצַּדִּיק לְהִתְחַזֵּק נֶגְדּוֹ, וְזֶהוּ "וַיִּשְׁקוֹל אַבְרָהָם" ר"ל שֶׁצָּרִיךְ לִשְׁקוֹל הַדֶּרֶךְ ה׳ בַּעֲבוֹדָתוֹ מֵחָדָשׁ לְתַקֵּן אַרְבַּע מֵאוֹת שֶׁקֶל כֶּסֶף הֵם ת׳ עָלְמִין כּוּ׳ כנ"ל, וְזֶהוּ "עוֹבֵר לַסּוֹחֵר" מִלְּשׁוֹן "סְחוֹר סְחוֹר לְכַרְמָא", צָרִיךְ לְסַבֵּב אֶת דַּרְכּוֹ מֵחָדָשׁ. וק"ל.
- The Zohar reads Avraham's silver, kesef, as the great longing, and the four hundred shekels as “four hundred worlds, delights and longings” (Zohar I 123b, Chayei Sarah). There they are the tzaddik's reward; R' Elimelech speaks of them as worlds the tzaddik must repair. ↩
- Shabbos 13a: “‘Go, go,’ we say to the nazirite; ‘go around, go around; do not come near the vineyard.’” ↩
In shortWhen the yetzer hara, the “Efron” of dust, calls the tzaddik a master who has finished, he must weigh his path anew and go around it again.
R’ Elimelech begins from the root of avodah: a person should be like dust to everyone. But the element of dust also pulls toward laziness, and the yetzer hara uses the tzaddik’s very lowliness to tell him his work is finished. Against that voice he must begin anew, as though he had done nothing yet, as we pray, “Let my soul be like dust to all,” and “let my soul pursue Your mitzvos.” The parsha’s sale holds the same struggle. Efron, whose name comes from afar, dust, is that yetzer hara: he calls the tzaddik “my lord” and says the four hundred worlds of longing are already repaired, “between me and you, what is that?” Avraham answers by weighing his path anew, and going around it again, over lasocher, as the nazirite is told to go around the vineyard.
Takeaway
Feeling like dust before everyone is precious, but it can turn into an excuse to rest. When a voice inside says the work is already done, that is the moment to begin again, as though we had done nothing yet, and let our soul pursue the mitzvos.
Learn this in the merit of Rebbe Elimelech of Lizhensk. His yahrzeit and life ›
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