EXTRA · classical (not a TT unit)

Chayei Sarah 23:3 · EXTRA

Parashas Chayei Sarah · Passuk 23:3

The Complete Passuk

וַיָּ֙קָם֙ אַבְרָהָ֔ם מֵעַ֖ל פְּנֵ֣י מֵת֑וֹ וַיְדַבֵּ֥ר אֶל־בְּנֵי־חֵ֖ת לֵאמֹֽר׃

Then Avraham rose from beside his dead, and spoke to the children of Cheis, saying:

Chabad / Judaica Press

Source Citation

Bereshit Rabbah 58:6 (classical source on this passuk; not listed as a numbered Torah Temimah unit here).

Lemma / focus: ויקם אברהם מעל פני מתו.

Sefaria

Core Text of Chazal

Core Text
וַיָּקָם אַבְרָהָם מֵעַל פְּנֵי מֵתוֹ (בראשית כג, ג), מְלַמֵּד שֶׁהָיָה רוֹאֶה מַלְאַךְ הַמָּוֶת מַתְּרִיס כְּנֶגְדוֹ. אָמַר רַבִּי יוֹחָנָן מִן הָן תְּנֵינַן, מִי שֶׁמֵּתוֹ מוּטָל לְפָנָיו פָּטוּר מִקְּרִיאַת שְׁמַע וּמִן הַתְּפִלָּה וּמִן הַתְּפִלִּין וּמִכָּל מִצְווֹת שֶׁבַּתּוֹרָה, מִן הָכָא, וַיָּקָם וַיְדַבֵּר. (בראשית כג, ד): גֵּר וְתוֹשָׁב, גֵּר דַּיָּר. תּוֹשָׁב מָארֵי בֵיתָא, אִם רְצִיתֶם גֵּר, וְאִם לָאו מָארֵי בֵיתָא, שֶׁכָּךְ אָמַר לִי הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא (בראשית טו, יח): לְזַרְעֲךָ נָתַתִּי אֶת הָאָרֶץ הַזֹּאת. (בראשית כג, ד): תְּנוּ לִי אֲחֻזַּת קֶבֶר עִמָּכֶם וְאֶקְבְּרָה …

English: This teaches that he saw the Angel of Death arrayed against him. Rabbi Yochanan said: From here we learned that one whose dead lies before him is exempt from the reading of the Shema, from prayer, and from tefillin.

On the daf / in context: Avraham’s rising is linked both to the presence of the Angel of Death and to the halakhah that a mourner whose dead is still before him is free of the positive commandments of Shema, prayer, and tefillin.

Type of Learning

Derash on the verse (midrash + halakhic inference) — not a formal named middah of the 13: the act of rising is taken as the moment the legal status of the one whose dead lies before him is defined.

What Is Learned

One whose dead still lies before him is exempt from Shema, prayer, and tefillin; Avraham’s rising from before Sarah is the scriptural illustration of that status.