This week’s Torah portion, Chayei Sarah, opens with the passing of Sarah at the age of 127. Abraham searches for a suitable place to bury her. He chooses the Ma’arat Hamachpela (“The Doubled Cave”) located in Hebron, in which Adam and Eve are also buried. The owner of the cave, Ephron HaChitti, offers the property to Abraham for free, but Abraham (understanding that the scheming Ephron must have had an ulterior motive for the offer) refuses the gift, and instead buys it from him for a huge amount of money.

Abraham’s son Isaac is now forty years old. Abraham sends his trusted servant Eliezer to his hometown, Charan, to find Isaac a suitable wife. Arriving in Charan, Eliezer devises a plan to find the right girl: He will stand at the local well and ask the young shepherd girls for water. A girl of superior kindness and character will surely offer him water for his camels, too. Just then Rebecca arrives at the well and he asks her for water. She gives it to him and then offers some for his camels. He introduces himself to her and together they go off to her father’s house. Eliezer asks permission for her to marry Isaac. The proposal is accepted and Rebecca accompanies Eliezer back to Israel.

The Torah portion concludes with Abraham’s marriage to Keturah (some say that she was Hagar), and the genealogy of the children that he has with her. Abraham passes away at the ripe old age of 175 years.

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