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How a Close Reading of the Torah Helps Us Understand Human Nature
Reading from a Torah scroll in accordance with Sephardi tradition. Photo: Sagie Maoz via Wikimedia Commons.
Narratives are subjective. We say things that often don’t tell the whole story, and even disguise our true intentions. Sometimes, the discrepancy is intentional. Sometimes it is accidental.
There are two examples this week of such cases in our Torah reading.
The narrative of the Torah can be understood on different levels. On the surface, it is just telling a story like any other. Except that this a very special one, overlaid with ethical “dos” and “don’ts.” It is replete with important insights into human nature.
After Sarah dies, Abraham goes looking for a burial site. In Hittite and other Middle East Bronze age cultures, the bodies of poor people who died were buried, burnt, or left for vultures to strip them and would just decompose. The wealthy or royals would be buried in caves, catacombs, or magnificent pyramids and monuments.
Abraham wants to buy a cave to bury Sarah. He approaches the local Hittite council and asks them if he can get a burial plot. The Hittites respond by describing Abraham as prince, meaning he has the status to acquire a burial cave. Abraham expresses his gratitude and then asks them to entreat Efron to sell his cave. Efron seems eager to sell, and declares that he will give the cave and the whole field with it to Abraham with pleasure, for free. Abraham replies that he insists on paying. Efron replies, “Please, sir, I give it to you, for free.” And again, Abraham expresses his gratitude and says he wants to pay.
But then Efron comes back and says there is no need to pay, after all. “What is a piece of land worth four hundred silver shekels between friends?” Why did Efron have to mention the exact price if he genuinely wanted to give it as present? The text says the Abraham listened to the words of Efron (he realized Efron did not mean it), and so he weighed out the full price at the highest rate of exchange.
Efron was not being honest when he said he would give it for free, otherwise he would not have mentioned the exact valuation of the property. Or perhaps he was playing the effusive social game and showing off. But Abraham understood from his words that money was precisely what he wanted.
The next episode is when Eliezer, Abraham’s estate manager, is sent to find a wife for Yitzhak. Abraham tells him specifically to go back to his homeland and birthplace to look for a wife, but he says nothing about going back to the family. And when Eliezer reached the well and asked God’s help in finding a wife, he said nothing about her having to come from Abraham’s family either. Only after he met Rebecca did he ask what family she was from.
Later, as they are negotiating the match with Betuel and Lavan, Eliezer says to her family, “My master made me swear that I should not take a wife from the local tribes amongst whom I live but to go back to my father’s house and to my family to take a wife for my son.” Did Eliezer accurately report what Abraham had said, or was he adding his own words?
Perhaps this illustrates how significant the art of choosing words carefully is. We often have to read between the lines, and listen to the words carefully to understand what is actually being said.
The Torah provides guidance. It is not just a book of laws and customs, but also one that helps us understand human nature better.
These episodes are examples of the delights of a close reading of the Biblical text. It is much more complex than at first sight. There are so many nuances and details that are often overlooked, which make it so worthwhile and such a delight.
The author is a writer and rabbi, currently based in New York.
The post How a Close Reading of the Torah Helps Us Understand Human Nature first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.