WHAT WAS REALLY SO SPECIAL ABOUT RIVKA’s ACTS OF CHESED?
By: Mindeleah Pollak
In the Torah, from Sefer Shmot through Devarim, many important laws to Judaism are derived based on analysis of the syntax of the verses. However, in the book of Breishit, the Torah goes to great length to relate biographical stories of the Matriarchs and Patriarchs, none of which teach us any new laws whatsoever. In Parshat Chayei Sarah, Eliezer, Avraham’s servant, devises a plan to choose a wife for Yitzchak. He will ask the maidens for water to drink, and the young woman who will also offer to fetch water for his camels, as well, will be the one that Hashem had chosen as Yitzchak’s mate. After describing Eliezer’s plan in detail, the entire story is repeated when Eliezer meets Rivka’s family. What can we all learn from this?
The Torah makes it abundantly clear that the lives of our Matriarchs and Patriarchs are just as important as the technical details of our Mitzvot; as their lives are lessons in Middot and teach us how to develop our characters, since the latter is a prerequisite for Torah observance. As we know from Pirkei Avot, Ethics of our Fathers - Torah knowledge and character refinement are mutually interdependent, as it is written: “Yafeh Talmud Torah im Derech Eretz”. Since the Torah devotes so much space to this story (that it is repeated), the episode of Eliezer must be most significant. How??
We all learn, as children, that Rivka was a very young girl who did not know Eliezer; yet she ran back & forth numerous times to give his camels to drink, until they were filled. Since camels store a lot of water, she must have spent an entire afternoon hurrying from the well to the trough and then to the camels to give them water, while the older and stronger stranger, Eliezer, watched in disbelief. But, there must be more to this message than meets the eye.
The girl who is to share in assuming the responsibilities of Sarah & Avraham and who is to be the next Matriarch of the Jewish nation must be a person of unique chesed. She must have an exquisite sensitivity to the needs of others - thus when Eliezer asks only for a drink for himself, she offers to give water to his camels until they are filled up, thinking, as well, of his animals’ needs. She must also be a person who will not only respond to a request for help, but will anticipate a person’s unspoken needs and respond to them; Thus, when Eliezer asked if there was room to lodge for one night at her home, she responded immediately, for as many nights as wanted, as well as having plenty of straw and grain as fodder for the animals. Rivka was one step ahead of Eliezzer and thought of everything that might be needed for him and his animals. Thus, this was Rivka Imeinu whose ultimate Chesed merited her to marry Yitzchak and join Avraham Avinu’s family. Her “thinking ahead” and understanding the true acts of Chesed - became legendary to the Jewish People to learn from and follow in her ways.