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Why was purchasing Ma'aras HaMachpelah considered Avrohom's tenth and greatest nisayon, even greater than the Akedah? The shiur develops the concept that Avrohom reached "bakol" — a taste of Olam HaBa characterized by merged identity and unity. His willingness to pay reflected not grief over money but over lacking natural connection to Eretz Yisrael, which should have flowed from his relationship with Hashem (ה׳).
Rabbi Zweig explores the puzzling statements in Chazal that Avrohom's tenth and greatest nisayon was purchasing Ma'aras HaMachpelah for a large sum of money. Rashi (רש"י), Ramban (רמב"ן), and Rabbeinu Yonah all identify this as the tenth test, and remarkably, Rashi presents this as making Avrohom greater than Moshe Rabbeinu. The obvious difficulty is how spending money could possibly be a greater test than the Akedah, where Avrohom was willing to sacrifice his son. The shiur develops a fundamental understanding of what "Hashem (ה׳) berach es Avrohom bakol" means. The Gemara (גמרא) in Bava Basra explains that "bakol" means Avrohom tasted Olam HaBa in this world. The essential difference between this world and the next is that this world is characterized by separation, individuality, and bechirah (free choice), while Olam HaBa is defined by unity and closeness to Hashem. In the World to Come, all apparent contradictions and differences dissolve as everything merges toward its common source in the Ein Sof.
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