When Abraham, admitting to the Hittites he was not indigenous,
said “I’m a stranger who would like to be accepted as a resident,”
he hoped to be far more acceptable to them than any pigeon is
on Thanksgiving, and told their leader Ephron, “You’re a President
with whom I’d like to make a deal. I need some land where I can bury
my dear wife, Sarah.” The negotiations for the deal, though somewhat murky,
were most successful, ending with a handshake that was very
friendly, like the one that Rabin made with Arafat when they had finished talking turkey.
Yet although Abraham as non-indigenous himself to Ephron had defined,
not celebrating this with turkey in a post-funereal Thanksgiving,
and though the land was to him in a covenant with God without a country clubby handshake assigned,
his descendants now inhabit land in which they truly are indigenously living.
Gen 23:4 states:
ד גֵּר-וְתוֹשָׁב אָנֹכִי, עִמָּכֶם; תְּנוּ לִי אֲחֻזַּת-קֶבֶר עִמָּכֶם, וְאֶקְבְּרָה מֵתִי מִלְּפָנָי. 4 ‘I am a stranger and a sojourner with you: give me a possession of a burying-place with you, that I may bury my dead out of my sight.’
Rashi explains:
גר ותושב אנכי עמכם. גֵּר מֵאֶרֶץ אַחֶרֶת וְנִתְיַשַּׁבְתִּי עִמָּכֶם. וּמִדְרַשׁ אַגָּדָה אִם תִּרְצוּ הֲרֵינִי גֵּר, וְאִם לָאו אֶהְיֶה
תּוֹשָׁב וְאֶטְּלֶנָּה מִן הַדִּין, שֶׁאָמַר לִי הַקָּבָּ”ה לְזַרְעֲךָ אֶתֵּן אֶת הָאָרֶץ הַזֹּאת:
תּוֹשָׁב וְאֶטְּלֶנָּה מִן הַדִּין, שֶׁאָמַר לִי הַקָּבָּ”ה לְזַרְעֲךָ אֶתֵּן אֶת הָאָרֶץ הַזֹּאת:
גר ותושב אנכי עמכם I AM A STRANGER AND A SETTLER WITH YOU — A stranger having
come from another land, but I have settled down amongst you. A Midrashic explanation is: if you agree to sell me the land then I will regard myself as a stranger and will pay for it, but if not, I shall claim it as a settler and will take it as my legal right, because the Holy One, blessed be He, said to me, (12:7) “Unto thy seed I give this land” (Genesis Rabbah 58:6).
come from another land, but I have settled down amongst you. A Midrashic explanation is: if you agree to sell me the land then I will regard myself as a stranger and will pay for it, but if not, I shall claim it as a settler and will take it as my legal right, because the Holy One, blessed be He, said to me, (12:7) “Unto thy seed I give this land” (Genesis Rabbah 58:6).
Gershon Hepner is a poet who has written over 25,000 poems on subjects ranging from music to literature, politics to Torah. He grew up in England and moved to Los Angeles in 1976. Using his varied interests and experiences, he has authored dozens of papers in medical and academic journals, and authored “Legal Friction: Law, Narrative, and Identity Politics in Biblical Israel.” He can be reached at gershonhepner@gmail.com.
