The possibility of Living in Peace Based on the Past?

Although we have read the Triennial section dealing with the death of Sarah and the purchasing of the cave of machpela, we're going to take a look at a section of this week's parasha that I had never really focused on in my past studies.  Let's take a look at chapter 25 of Chayei Sarah, verses 1-11.

 This section takes place after the death of Sarah.  Rashi suggests that Keturah was actually Hagar, the concubine who was banished by Abraham at the suggestion of Sarah.  He notes that the Torah often gives different names to the same individual, as in the case of Moses' father-in-law, Yitro/ Reul.  He argues that Hagar was actually loved by Avraham and that after she gave birth to Yishmael, she never had another life partner until she reconnected with Avraham after Sarah’s death.  Then she became his wife and they had 6 more sons together.

 If you look at two other pieces of evidence in this paragraph, you will note that Yishmael is present with his sons when Abraham dies.  They along with Yitzchak, bury Avraham in the cave of Machpela.  How does it happen that the banished son of Avraham is present to bury him?  The sages who accepted Rashi’s interpretation, felt that this piece of evidence ties into the concept that there was a reconciliation of the two families after Sarah died and Abraham married Keturah/Hagar.  So what is the second piece of evidence felt to impact this story?  It is the name of the location, Be’er Lachai Roi, where Yitzchak settles after the death of his father.  This location was mentioned previously in the Torah in chapter 16 of Bereishit, when Hagar ran away from Sarah who had been oppressing her because she had become pregnant with Ishmael.   It is at that very same location that an angel informed Hagar that she would bear a son to Avram. Some see Yitzchak’ s appearance in this same place as a sign that there was a reconciliation between the brothers, which might also be alluded to when they both are present to bury their father together.

 To this day, the Cave of Machpela is considered a holy site to Jews and Muslims alike because of Avraham’s relationship to both of his sons.  When you visit today, one entrance takes you to a synagogue and another leads you to a mosque.  The Various conquering groups have taken control over the burial site over the centuries.  The Arab Muslims took control over it in the year 637 and built their mosque there after the control of the Byzantine Empire was relinquished.  When the Crusaders captured the area in 1100 they took away the Moslems’ access to enter the area.  In 1188, Saladin conquered the area and reconverted the church that had been established there into a mosque.  It was only in 1967, after the six day war that the Chief Rabbi of Israel was able to enter the structure after a 700 year ban against Jews entering our holy site.

Perhaps, if we read the Torah carefully, however, we can note that the text alludes to the reconciliation of the two sides of Avraham’s family, the side descending from Yitzchak and the side descending from Yishmael.  As Rabbi Jonathan Sacks wrote, The hidden story of Chayei Sarah has immense consequence for our time. Jews and Muslims both trace their descent from Abraham – Jews through Isaac, Muslims through Ishmael. The fact that both sons stood together at their father’s funeral tells us that they too were reunited.” 

What will it take for such a reconciliation to take place in our own time?