page_title: Chayei Sarah
section_title: Second reading — Genesis 23:17–24:9
hierarchical_section_title: Chayei Sarah / Readings / Second reading — Genesis 23:17–24:9
context_page_description: Chayei Sarah, Chaye Sarah, Hayye Sarah, or Hayyei Sara, is the fifth weekly Torah portion in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading. It constitutes Genesis 23:1–25:18. The parashah tells the stories of Abraham's negotiations to purchase a burial place for his wife Sarah and his servant's mission to find a wife for Abraham's son Isaac.
  The parashah is made up of 5,314 Hebrew letters, 1,402 Hebrew words, 105 verses, and 171 lines in a Torah Scroll. Jews read it on the fifth Sabbath after Simchat Torah, generally in November, or on rare occasion in late October.
context_section_description: In the second reading (עליה, aliyah), Abraham thus established his title to the land through purchase, and he buried Sarah in the cave. Abraham was old, and instructed his senior servant to put his hand under Abraham's thigh and swear by God that he would not take a wife for Isaac from the Canaanites, but would go to the land of Abraham's birth to get Isaac a wife. The servant asked if the woman did not consent to follow him to Canaan, should he take Isaac back to the land from which Abraham came? Abraham told him on no account to take Isaac back there, for God — who took Abraham from there and promised Abraham the land of Canaan for his offspring — would send an angel before the servant and allow him successfully to get a wife for Isaac from there, and if the woman did not consent to follow him, he would then be clear of his oath. So the servant put his hand under Abraham's thigh and swore to him as Abraham had asked. The second reading (עליה, aliyah) ends here.
caption: Eliezer and Rebekah (engraving by Gustave Doré from the 1865 La Sainte Bible)
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