Parshas Chayei Sarah
Dr. Meir Tamari
At the very first revelation Avraham was told to leave not only his country
and his birthplace but also the home of his father. It was necessary for
him to sever all his family and social ties. Yet here we find him sending
Eliezer to bring a wife for Yitschak specifically from his family and
ancestral home. Furthermore, they were idolaters just as were the Cananites
in whose midst he dwelt, so why could not the wife just as well be from the
surrounding nations? However, Avraham's family was the descendants of Shem
and Ever, and their sparks of holiness had devolved on them. It was
necessary for these sparks to be gathered and withdrawn from the impurity
of the family into the formation of the chosen Abrahamic nation, so Rivkah
had to be brought out of there. Later, Ya'akov was to go and bring about
the same ingathering of the residual sparks of Divinity through bringing
out Rachel and Leah. Even though there was indeed idol worship in Charan,
the family there differed from their Cananite peers in that they possessed
the Abrahamic merits of Chesed, as we see not only from Rivkah but also
even from Lavan who provided hospitality for Eliezer and later brought the
penniless Yaakov into his home. Idolatry is an intellectual error and can
be corrected through education so the idolatry of Charan could be
eliminated relatively easily in Rivkah. Chesed, however, is a merit
inherited from generations of parents till it becomes part of one's nature.
This inherited trait was present in Rivkah, but it could never have been
taught to a daughter of Canaan, so she was the wife destined for Yitschak.
Perhaps we can see an additional perspective on the need for this chesed,
in the light of the Shem Mi Shmuel's comment on the destruction of Sodom at
the time of Avraham. Logically, this destruction should have occurred at
the time of Yitzchak whose merit is that of Din, However, it was necessary
to teach that even Chesed sometimes needs to be limited by Din, and
therefore Sodom was to be destroyed rather in the days of Avraham whose
merit is Chesed. In the same way, the Din and Judgement of Yitschak needed
to be tempered and limited by the Chesed of Rivkah, even as Hashem had
merged Din and Chesed when He created the World.
This merit of Rivka is related to the many questions that surround
the shidduch of Yitzchak that covers more pesukim than the whole story of
creation, Gan Eden, the sin of Adam and Chava etc.
Avraham was a prince of G-d ( Bereishit, 23:6 ) and a king [Ramban), so
surely everybody would be keen to enter into marriage with him. Even the
distance should not be seen as causing a difficulty, since kings and nobles
often make marriages across great distances. So it is quite unclear as to
why there should have been such a prolonged story, replete with much prayer
and requests surrounding the mission of Eliezer? Throughout the story,
Eliezer prays for Hashem's mercy towards Avraham rather than a reward for
his great deeds, even though our prayers are all based on the merits and
deeds of the Avot.. Furthermore, why was Eliezer sent when Yitzchak was 37
years old and should have gone himself for his mitzvah even as Yaakov did?
The Midrash (Bereishit Rabbah, 60) tells us that all require chesed even
Avraham by whose merit chesed dwells in the world, so that if he himself
would have prayed, it would have been understood. After all even though the
tzaddikim are able to claim reward by virtue of their deeds, nevertheless,
they see everything they receive as a matnat chinam that flows from chasdai
Hashem. Still, one should depend on ones deeds and not presume to rely on
chesed so Yitschak should have gone him self as did Yaakov. The Admor of
Kotsk taught that the greater the precious stone the greater is the rock
and sand that surrounds it, so the labour and work involved in extracting
it is also greater. Yaakov had to labour for 14 years to bring out the
great souls residing in the house of Lavan. Yitschak the pure soul redeemed
by the Akedah, however, was not allowed to go out of Eretz Yisrael, even as
Avraham instructed Eliezer. It would be left for Yaakov the grandson to go.
Then the souls of Rachel and Leah would be redeemed solely through his
labour on the basis of din, as we see in the use of Elokim in the prayer of
Yaakov ( Bereishit 28:21).
In our case the great labour was not possible and Eliezer had to rely only
on Chesed to withdraw the rose from amongst the thorns. This was because
Lavan and Betuel were both 'Arami', the falsehood that hides in the place
of sanctity and makes the extraction of holiness much more difficult so
that labor of its own was not sufficient and chesed was required.
We see this from the Avodah of the Cohen Hagadol. While he only entered
into the Kodesh Hakedoshim in garments of white- purity and atonement, yet
in regard to negaim, white is the sign of impurity. This refers to that
tumah that hides itself within something that is externally presented as
pure. The Mishkan was built so that Hashem could reside not only within it
but betocham, within each individual; however, their sin transformed the
white of the garments into the white of the negaim. When the pure soul
leaves the body, powers of impurity enter and this creates tumat meit where
outwardly the body still seems the same. Eisav was like the chazir that
sleeps with its foot, that contains the cloven hoof of kashrut outstretched
and its mouth that doesn't chew the cud closed, so he hid his tumah asking
his father how one tithes salt. This is the kernel of hypocrisy, flattery
and falsehood. "Rivkah, the daughter of Betuel and the sister of Lavan
Ha'Arami"(Bereishit, 25: 20); Her father was an Arami, a liar her brother
was an Arami and so were the people of Charan. Yet she loved Yaakov, who
was an Ish Emet- Titen Emet LeYakov- and not Eisav. So now this rose was
to be brought out from this thorn bush and brought as a wife to Yitschak.
[Shem Mi Shmuel, 5674]
Copyright © 2003 by Rabbi Meir Tamari and Torah.org.
Dr. Tamari is a renowned economist, Jewish scholar, and founder of the Center For Business Ethics (www.besr.org) in Jerusalem.