Dvar Torah - By Michael Zaroovabeli
(This weeks Dvar Torah is dedicated to Rivkah Bat Chana who has had health problems recently, please pray for her to have a full refuah shelaima and feel better. If you would like to dedicate a Dvar Torah, please Email me!!)
This weeks Torah reading starts off with eulogizing the life of Sarah, she passed away at the age of 127 years old (Bereishit 23:1). Avraham had the task of burying Sarah, he knew the ideal place where she was to be buried, the Cave of Machpeale. Already Adam and Chava were buried there and Avraham wanted to purchase this burial plot of land so that Sarah and later on he, could be buried there, in fact also Yitzchak and Rivka along with Yaakov and Leah would also be buried there (Eruvin 53a).
Despite Avraham had already been told the whole of the land of Israel would be his (Bereishit 15:7), he still purchased the plot of land, he bought it off a man named, Ephron the Hittie. In fact, prior to purchasing the land, Ephron had been promising and boasting that he will give the plot for free as a generous gift, however his greedy character prevailed and almost sarcastically said to Avraham in front of many people, you can have the entire plot of land for ‘400 silver shekels! (Bereishit 23:15)’ which many of the sages say was an enormous sum of money, however Avraham knew he had to buy the plot for whatever sum of money was required. Just as we learned last week, how the righteous 'say little and do a lot,' we see from this the opposite is true, that 'the wicked say so much and do a little,' just like Ephron boasted how much he will give to Avaraham and how he would give it as a gift, it turned out he charged what was a huge some of money for the plot at the time (Bava Metzia 87a).
Much of the rest of the Parshah is dedicated to relating the task of Eliezer (Avraham’s faithful servant) in finding Yitzchak a wife. The first ever accounted so called ‘Shidduch’ was being set up in Biblical history. After Avraham made Eliezer swear to find the girl from Avraham’s family (Bereishit 24:3). Eliezer traveled to Aram Naharaim and prayed for a sign to find the right girl at a water spring, who would be the potential wife for Yitzchak. Providentially, Rivka appeared (Bereishit 24:15). Eliezer asked her for water. Not only did she give him water, but she drew water for all ten of his thirsty camels, around 140 gallons (Bereishit 24:19/ Rav Hirsch)! This extreme act of kindness marked her as the suitable wife for Yitzchak and a suitable Mother of the Jewish People. We learn from this that the power of praying is huge, when one prays they are capable of elevating themselves to supreme levels and prayer may or may not be accepted or granted, however one needs to pray ideally from the heart and not see prayers as a regular chore.
Once Eliezer realized that G-d had provided him with the correct girl for Yitzchak (Taanit 4a), Rivka, he showered her with gifts and went to her fathers house, Betuel, in order to finalize the marriage negotiations. Betuel and his son, Lavan, accepted the marriage arrangements realizing as Eliezer told them what happened at the ‘well’ that the potential marriage was made from Hashem (Bereishit 24:50). In fact the great sages see this as a biblical proof that it is G-d that decides a man's partner in life (Moed Katan 18b).
In the interim, as Betuel had agreed to give his daughter in marriage to Yitzchak, Eliezer excitingly adorned Rivka with more gold, silver and lavish gifts, however he gave some delicious fruits to Lavan (Bereishit 24:53), this was much less than the greedy Lavan was hoping for, in fact Betuel, the father of Rivkah, wanted to take some sort of revenge against Eliezer for only giving fruits as a present, which in its own right was generous of Eliezer, he tried to poison Eliezer, however G-d sent an angel to kill Betuel instead (Bereishit Rabba 60:12/ Rashi).
As Eliezer brought Rivka to Yitzchak toward the evening, he had just finished davening the Mincha prayer at the time Rivka appeared to him, in fact it is from this that we derive that Yitzchak instituted the Mincha prayer (Berachot 26b). The two of them then got married (Bereishit 24:67). Eliezer shortly after went in to ‘Gan Eden’ alive (Mesechet Derech Eretz) due to the fantastic job he did in bringing the couple together, he was seen to be one of the most faithful servants of any of the leaders ever had throughout Biblical history.
The Torah reading concludes as Avraham remarries a woman named Keturah (Bereishit 25:1) (many say this was his former wife, Hager (Rashi)) and the death of Ishmael at the age of 137 years old ((Bereishit 25:17/Yevamot 64a).
The Haftorah this week is from the first chapter in the first book of Kings, which narrates how Shlomo was the successor to King David, after King David’s death at the age of 70 years (Kings I 1:1-31).
Have a great Shabbat, Shabbat Shalom!
Important Numbers
