Chayei Sarah: If You Would Just Listen....

Listen up, people! If you've been following my blog for a while, you might have heard me discuss my pet-peeve of imprecise translations. I know it's challenging

to translate anything with perfect accuracy - I hear that - but sometimes there are subtle intentions in the Biblical text, secret messages conveyed in the use of specific terms or linguistic choices, that are easily lost in translation. It's hard enough to listen for these patterns in the Hebrew; they become essentially inaudible when transferred into a different language. I imagine some of you, reading this, have already picked up on a little repetition of my own, just in this first paragraph. Have you caught it? Can you hear it? It's meant to hearken back to my subject from our parashah, and how that topic can easily be muted or ignored, if the translation isn't drawing your attention to it. Lend me your ear, and I'll tell you what I mean.

Our reading includes a peculiar little vignette, where Abraham negotiates the sale of a burial plot for his wife, Sarah, after her death. It's a brief opportunity for us

today to glimpse what ancient haggling and business dealings might have looked like, and it includes one particularly odd little feature: The verb "to hear" or "to listen" is used repeatedly (in various forms) within a span of 11 verses. Unfortunately, many translations render at least two of them as "agree" and "accept," which don't sound like synonyms of "hearing" at all! So you'd be forgiven for missing this figure of speech in the English, yet it's worth spending another minute on in the Hebrew.  Abraham approaches a local tribe, the Hittites, and asks to purchase a burial plot. Thus begins a little verbal "dance," of sorts, almost like a rap battle, between Abraham and the Hittites. And it all centers on the word "to hear," which repeats six times from 23:6 to 23:16.

The Hittites declare, "Hear us (Sh'ma-einu), my lord..." Abraham responds, "... if you agree (Sh'ma-uni), please intercede with Ephron [a Hittite] to purchase a burial plot..." Ephron, who is sitting right there, joins the rap battle and declares, "No, my lord, hear me (Sh'ma-eini), I [want to] give you this field..." Abraham sings back, "If only you would hear me out (Sh'ma-eini)..." to which Ephron responds, "My lord, do hear me (Sh'ma-eini)..." and finally names his price. The ballad concludes with Abraham "accepting" (va-Yishma) Ephron's terms. I know it's kind of subtle, but once you pick up on the rhythm, the meter of it, it's quite unmistakable. So what is the point of it all??

The reality is, we are not all that great at listening. I venture to say that everyone THINKS s/he is a good listener, but we can't all be! And, in fact, many of us

are quite poor at it, at least occasionally. Yet it is SUCH an important skill; to help someone else feel seen, known, accepted, and valued. More than just hearing the words and the concerns someone might be articulating, attentive listening can help you pick up on undertones, hidden feelings, and struggles that are hard to articulate. We're often so busy crafting our own narrative(s) or planning a clever response, that we don't truly HEAR the other person, or give them our full and undivided attention. So take a moment to notice the fascinating, ancient cultural exchange between Abraham and his Hittite neighbors, and hearken to the message it is trying to convey to us all. Don't just assume you're a good listener; notice yourself in relation to someone else, and especially work on giving them your complete focus. Ya hear me? Good.


CC images in this blog post, courtesy of:
1. Max Pixel
2. Eli Duke on Flickr
3. Adam Buhler on Flickr (Thomas Hart Benton's "The Ballad of the Jealous Lover of Lone Green Valley")
4. geralt on needpix.com