Parshat VaYeshev

Gen. 37:14 - "Out of the vale of Hebron" - raises a question.  In Num. 13:22 it says "and they went up into the South and came unto Hebron" indicating that Hebron is on high.  Rashi explains:"the vale of Hebron alludes to the profound (deep (in Hebrew the word for vale and deep share the same root)) counsel of that righteous one (ie Abraham) who is interred in Hebron to fulfill that which was told to Abraham in the covenant of the split offerings (Gen. 15) 'for they seed will be a sojourner'".

Chassidus explains (based on the Zohar) that Hebron represents the connection of the four physical elements in this world that come together in order to form the body, the physical vessel in which the spirit can dwell.  The choice that Abraham had to make at the covenant of the split offerings is whether his descendants should have their fixing in Geheinom, outside the material plain, or in exile, in the material reality.  Abraham chose exile because he recognized that the elevation of the soul that is possible inside the physical body, even as it experiences the trials and tribulations of the exile, is much higher than any refining that can be accomplished outside the physical body in Geheinom.  Tanya explains in Chapter 4 that the physical commandments, the external expressions or garments of the soul's dominion over the body unite the soul with G-d on a level that cannot be achieved in any other dimension or world.