CHAYE SARAH 1985
 
In the Torah portion Chaye Sarah we learn how Abraham was forced to buy a burial plot from Ephraim, the Hittite, at an exorbitant price, 400 silver shekels.  This, according to some authorities, was ten times the annual wages of a worker, and some say it was 100 times.  The rabbis say that this was one of the tests of faith that Abraham had to endure.  Here Abraham had been promised the land of Israel, he had left his land of Mesopotamia, he had endured many trials and tribulations, and here, when his wife died, he had to pay an exorbitant price for a burial plot!  Was this the way G-d was making His promise come true? Here Abraham had tried to live his life according to the principles of morality and justice which G-d had laid down, and here he was not even accorded the opportunity to bury his wife for a reasonable price in a land that was promised to him!
In life, many times, a person is not rewarded for doing a good thing.
Many times, by sticking up for the principles of our faith, we do
not immediately see a good result.  We have seen, many times, where
to stick up for right and truth and the Jewish way causes hardship
and pain and even death.  Look at all the martyrs in Jewish history.
Look today to the Jews in Russia.  Here Jews whose only crime is
studying or teaching Hebrew are rounded up and sent to hard labor
camps or many of them are beaten up or suffer from debilitating illness.
Sometimes to stand up for what is right does not get you, at least
in the objective world, an easy and wealthy life.  Judaism is not
a superstitution.  We do not believe that if you observe this commandment
then immediately this reward or that reward will plop down from heaven
for you.  I had a friend who once owned a thriving clothing business.
It was open on Saturday.  After a while, he realized that he really
 
should close on Saturday.  He did and his business actually diminished. After two or three years, business had slowed down so much that he sold the store, went back to school, and became a college professor. Later on, he told me that he wanted to be a college professor all along, and this was probably a very good thing to have happened, but his business did get worse when he closed.
Judaism is not a superstition.  We cannot force G-d to do anything. We cannot say, "G-d, if I do this Mitzvah and that Mitzvah then You must see that I get this promotion or that job, etc." We do the right thing because it is the right thing.  The inner satisfaction is the only reward that we have tried to live the best possible way we can.
In this Torah portion we also learn how Abraham sends Eliezer to
get a wife for Isaac.  All the rabbis are aghast when they read in
the text how Eliezer sets up a test to choose the right girl for
Isaac, similar to a girl who came to me a few months ago saying that
she had a vision and the fifth boy she met with a red hat she would
give herself to.  Unfortunately, he turned out to be a louse, and
she wound up pregnant.  Here Eliezer was setting up a test.  He was
saying, "When I come to the city well the first girl who I meet and
I ask for a drink of water also tells me, 'Here, drink and I will
also get water for your camels' will be the girl for Yitzchok."
At first glance this seems to be just a superstitious test similar
to the test the girl set up for a boyfriend.  However, if we analyze
it carefully we will see that Eliezer's test was really not a superstitious
test but a test of character.  Would this girl be willing to extend
herself to help strangers? Would she be interested in being a kind
and compassionate person? After all, Eliezer was going to a land
 
of pagans.  Abraham's family was a family of idol worshippers.  Eliezer
had to bring back a girl who had those qualities which would allow
her to persist to do the right thing even though there would not
be immediate returns.  She gave water to a stranger not expecting
anything.
This is the same way we serve G-d.  We serve G-d because that is
the thing we have to do, and we should do.  We know that eventually
all the promises G-d made will come true.  Abraham was convinced
that his children would get the land; however, now he had to pay
an exorbitant price.  We must always plug along doing the right thing.
We know that slowly but surely G-d's promises will be fulfilled,
but we cannot force them and by doing the right thing we do not always
receive wealth, position, honor, or good things.  The Russian Jews
today testify to that.  Our religion is not a superstition.  it is
a partnership with G-d to make this world a better place.
I am reminded of the story they tell about a man who saw his friend, Sam, drive up in a Cadillac.  This man, Jake, turned to him and said, "Sam, I thought you just went broke.  How come you're driving a Cadillac?' Sam answered, "Well, I did, but I have a new system now.  I go to shul every morning, and when I leave shul I see numbers, and I take these numbers, and I bet them at the races.  I've made a fortune." A few months later Sam was going through the neighborhood and finds Jake sitting on the stoop with all his furniture.  He asked, "What happened?" Jake said, "I lost everything, and it is all your fault because after you left I started to go to shul every morning and started to see numbers and bet everything on them at the races." Sam asked, "What kind of shul did you go to?"  Jake said, "I went
 
 
to a Sephardic shul."  Sam said, "A Sephardic shul?  A Sephardic shul is for basketball games — an Ashkenazic shul is for the races.1' Judaism is not for superstition.  Nobody promises that if you are a good Jew you will live on easy street.  You will, however, have the inner satisfaction in knowing that you have done the right thing.