PARSHAS CHAYEI SARAH REVISITED

ALL BEGINNINGS ARE HARD = kol haschalos kashos (Mechilta Shemos 19, Parshas Yisro).

The text underneath relates to Parshas Chayei Sarah. Much of it is from the RABAM, who is Rabbi Pinky Shmeckelstein's collaborator, and Rosheshiva of Yeshiva Chipas Emess West Coast, sometimes located in beautiful downtown San Francisco, sometimes somewhere listening to da steel bands ya man!

You might want to have a bit of bronfen while drinking this - it is deep stuff, and you're gonna need help. Like much of the Rabam's scribbling it only makes sense if you have Rabbi Pinky's drasha in front of you, along with a copy of the Torah.

[And yes, tayere Lakewoodyid, I've cleaned it up!]


RIVKA'S AGE

It was after the passing of his wife that Avraham decided to marry off his son.
[Forty years old, and still living with his father? Achenebbish!]

Rashi postulates that Rivka was an infant, azoi: Sarah Imeinu was 90 when Yitzhok was born, 127 years old when Avrohom and Yitzhak go up the mountain. After the Akeida, Avrohom et famiglia return to Be’er Sheva, then Sarah dies in Chevron, at which time Yitzhak was 37. Then Avrohom hears of the birth of Rivka, who his son Yitzhok will marry in three years.
From this Rashi shpers that Rivka was three years old.

Ibn Ezra, ma she’ein kein, takes a far less meshune tack on this, pointing out (Seder Olam Rabba) that Rivka’s birth is mentioned before Sarah’s death, even though Avrohom only hears about it afterwards. Ibn Ezra further postulates that at least a dozen years passed between the Akeidah and the death of Sarah Imaeinu, and if Rivka was born in the same year as the binding, then she was only thirteen years younger than Yitzhak – not so much a chidush as a much more reasonable assumption.
After all, a three year old is hardly likely to be at the village well drawing buckets of water for the household, giving an elderly gentleman (Eliezer) a tip of a jug for a drink of water, AND watering his camels.

Supporting the belief that Rivka was three years old at the time of her shidduch, Beraishis Rabba 58:2 says ‘Ere Hashem allows the sun of one righteous person to set, He causes the sun of the next righteous person to rise’, which is taken to mean that G-d balanced out the death of Sarah with the birth of Rivka.

But should we really assume so close a match in time?

Probably not. In Bereishis 24:16, Rivka is referred to as a na’arah, which means a girl who has reached the age of sexuality – at least bat mitzvah age, or even older. A girl who would’ve been much more likely to slide down from the camel she was riding when first seeing her future husband, whereas a three year old would’ve probably fallen off and hurt herself (which is not how it is described in this parsha, though in the Gemara...).

A teenager, in other words.

The Vilna Gaon cites Beraishis Rabba 56:11 which says that Yitzhak was 26 years old at the time of the Akeidah, and that Sarah Imaeinu did not die at that time, as it was at the end of the time when Avrohom and his family lived in the land of the Pelishtim, and after that they lived in Chevron for another twelve years. So, if Avrohom heard of Rivka’s birth after the death of our mother Sarah, then Rivka would have indeed been a na’arah.

[But Rashi disagrees, telling us "because through (hearing) the report that her son was bound for slaughter, her soul flew from her and she died. In other words Avraham killed his wife by pretending to kill her son.]


Now note further that Rashi states that 127 years signifies one hundred years of being like the innocence of a twenty year old, and the twenty signifies the beauty of a seven year old.

[The beauty of a seven year old!?!??.]


SARAH'S TOMB

Meuras Ha Machpelah = The cave of Machpelah, which is by the oaks of Mamre asher mipnei Chebron. A choice bit of real-estate owned by Efron the Hittite.

When Avraham made inquiries about the cave on the property of Efron the Hittite, the elders of the community wish to give it to Avraham, but he refused it as gift, instead insisting on purchase, at a fair price, so that thereafter no one can say that he took land, or was dependent upon strangers for the grave of his wife. It is the first part of the Eretz Kadosh owned by the Bnei Yisroel. It is on the Yishmoeli side of the line, and hence disputed over by Arabs, Jews, and Reb David Wilder.


ELIEZER

Avraham sends Eliezer, his steward, to Aram Naharaim (the land of Aram between the rivers: Mesopotamia. Modern Bavel) to find a women among his kinfolk who has all the virtues that a woman who will give birth to the nation of Yisrael will need – a suitable mother of a tribe which will be numerous as the grains of sand and the stars in the sky.

Eliezer travels north-eastward, and comes to a well outside the city. At this point, he is wondering how to complete the task that Avraham set him.

It then says in psook 24:14 "Ve haya ha naara asher omar eleiha hati-na chadech ve eshte ve amra shete ve gam-gemaleicha ashke ota hochachta le avdecha le Yitzhak u va eda ki-asita chesed im-adoni"
(So let it be ordered, that the girl to whom I shall say ‘lower your pitcher, I ask you, that I may drink’ shall say ‘drink, and I will give your camels to drink also"; let this same one be she that you have designated for your servant, for Isaac, and thereby shall I know that you are kind to my master).

Psook 24:15 "va yehi-hu terem kila le daber, ve hine, Rivka yotset asher yulda li Vtuel ben Milka eishet Nachor achi Avraham ve chada al-shichma"
(And so it happened that before he had finished speaking, that, lo, Rebekah came out, who was born to Bethuel, the son of Milcah, the wife of Nahor, Abraham's brother, with her pitcher on her shoulder).

Psook 24:16 "ve ha na’ara tovat mare meod betula, ve ish lo yedaa, va tered ha aina va temale chada va taal"
(And the girl was very nice to look upon – and a virgin whom no man had known, and she went down to the spring, and filled her pitcher, and came up).

Psook 24:17 "va yarats ha eved likrata, va yomer ha gemiini na meat-mayim mikadech"
(And the servant ran to meet her, and said 'please give me a little water to drink from your pitcher').

Psook 24:18 "va tomer shete adoni, va temaher va tored kada al-yada va tashkehu"
(And she said: 'drink, my lord', and she promptly lowered her pitcher onto her other hand (to support it), and gave him drink).

Psook 24:19 "va techal le hashkoto va tomer gam li gmaleicha eshav ad im-kilu lishtot"
(And when she had given him drink, she said 'I will draw for your camels also, until they too have drunk').

Psook 24:20 "va temaher va tear kada el ha shoket, va tarats od el-ha beer lishov va tishav lechol-gemalav"
(And she emptied her pitcher into the trough, and ran again to the well to draw water, and drew for all his camels).

Psook 24:21 "ve ha ish mishtae la macharish la daat hahitsliach Adonai darko im-lo"
(And the man observed her thoroughly, saying naught, to know whether the Lord had made his journey fortunate or not).

Psook 24:22 "va yehi ka asher kilu ha gemalim lishtot, va yikach ha ish nezem zahav beka mishkalo u shenei tsemidim al-yadeiha asara zahav mishkalam"
(And so it happened that when the camels had finished drinking, the man took a gold ring of half a shekel in weight, and two bracelets for her hands of ten shekels weight in gold).


Question: why does Eliezer put his hand underneath Avrohom's thigh?

Per Rashi: "one who takes an oath must take in his hand an object of a commandment (an item with which a mitzvah was performed) such as a Torah scroll or a set of tfillin. And circumcision was the first commandment given to him, so Avraham had Eliezer take hold of his manly part, because it was precious to him".


[If Yitzhok had gotten married while his mother was still alive, Rivka would’ve been big with seed within mere months; it is well known that grandchildren are caused by nagging mothers-in-law.]

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Ibn Ezra = Abraham Ben Meir Ibn Ezra, born between 1089 and 1093 (probably the latter), died 1167. Native of Tudela in the emirate of Sarragosa. One of the greatest Torah commentators and a forerunner of modern criticism. Much admired by Spinoza, he was one of the first to translate writings of Muslims and Arabic-speaking Jews into Hebrew. A rationalistic and scientific minded interpreter of Talmud-Torah, a grammarian, and a mystic. A scholar whose profound influence on later scholars continues even today.

Rashi = Rabbi Shlomo ben Yitzhak, a mediaeval bible commentator (1040 - 1105) from Troyes. His commentary and annotation of the Torah and Talmud is often included on the printed page, and is considered the basis from whence all study of the material must grow. He was thorough, but not always correct. By the unimaginative he is made much of.

[Tayere Rabbosai, he did not invent the Torah, he merely inherited it – so stop acting like he’s the second coming of Moishe already!]



The Vilna Gaon = The Genius (Gaon) of Vilna (Vilnius - the capitol city of Lithuania, once the intellectual heartland of Yiddishkeit). Rabbi Eliyahu Ben Shlomo Zalman, 1720 - 1797. He and his followers were called the Mitnagdim (opposers) because of their rejection of mysticism and mumbo-jumbo, to which category they reckoned Hasidus.
He is also called the GRA (an acronym of Gaon Rav Eliyahu), and also Ha Gaon Ha Chassid Mi Vilna – the saintly genius of Vilna.
By what is he a genius?
As a toddler he memorized the Torah, at the age of seven he was studying Talmud, and by ten he was already engaged upon independent study. When barely an adult, he was consulted by rabbeyim regarding halacha, by goyishe scientists regarding astronomy and mathematics.
In his late fifties he became embroiled in the quarrel between the followers of the Besht (Ba’al Shem Tov; Yisroel Ben Eliezer, 1698 to 1760, the founder of Chassidus), who at that time were led by Rabbi Shneer Zalman of Liyadi (1745 to 1813, founder of Lubavitch and ancestor or Rebbe Shneerson), versus the mainstream of Rabbinical Judaism.
The upshot was that the entire Chassidic community was put under a cherem (decree of excommunication), and it was forbidden to associate with them in any way.
The Gaon was not a much published writer in his lifetime, but collections of his commentaries and glosses to many major works were published in the years following his death. Among others: Shanos Eliyahu (the years of Eliyahu – a commentary on the Mishna), Aderes Eliyahu (the glory of Eliyahu – a commentary on the Torah), and perhaps most notably the Biur Ha Gra (Gloss of the Gra – an annotation and supercommentary on the Bavli and the Shulchan Aruch).
He was a humble and somewhat withdrawn man – it should be noted that the titles above were put on works assembled after his death.
He did not refer to himself as the saintly Chassid of Vilna, nor to his Torah commentary as glorious. But we do.