Chayei Sarah: 5786 - "The conversation of the servants of the Fathers is more pleasant than the Torah of the sons." Eliezer prays to succeed in his mission and find a wife for his master's son, and devises a test at the well, to determine whether the intended one is…

00:00 Speaker 1 What do we find in the weekly parsha? “The conversation of the Patriarchs’ servants is more precious than the Torah of their children.” The Torah goes into detail about Eliezer’s words and then repeats them. Eliezer’s mission was to find a wife for Yitzchak, and he prays to Hakadosh Boruch Hu to make his journey successful. What does he ask for? How will he know which woman is right for Yitzchak? So he sets up a test: he will test whether she is a person of kindness. When he arrives at the well, the young woman he asks for a drink, if she gives him one, “she is the one You have designated for Your servant.” In other words, she is worthy of joining the household of Avraham Avinu, who practices kindness, and she is worthy of Yitzchak. But several questions arise. First, he tests whether this young woman is worthy of Yitzchak by seeing whether she practices kindness. Shouldn’t he first check whether she has yiras Shamayim and believes in Hakadosh Boruch Hu? There, among Nachor’s family in Charan, they did not believe in Hakadosh Boruch Hu. Does she believe in Him at all? Second, even when it comes to kindness, a person might do a kind deed just once. Who says that makes her truly a person of kindness? Anyone can do a kind deed from time to time, but does that mean they are truly kind? Just because she gives him a drink once, who says she is truly a person of kindness? So, to test Rivkah, Eliezer asks for a young woman who will give him a drink and give water to the camels too. That is the test: if someone is not a person of kindness, why go to the trouble for the camels? Giving a person a drink is one thing, but

02:03 Speaker 1 giving water to the camels proves this is not just a one-time act; this is someone who is truly a person of kindness. But in practice, the Torah says she gave him a drink, and only after he finished drinking did she say, “I will draw water for your camels too.” Why didn’t she say at the outset, “I’ll give you a drink, and I’ll give the camels water too”? Why wait until after he drank? The Or HaChaim HaKadosh says this showed that she also had yiras Shamayim; she was also a believer. At first glance, why did she give him a drink first and only afterward say, “I will draw water for your camels too”? After all, it says, “I will give grass in your field for your animals, and you will eat and be satisfied.” You must first feed your animals, and only afterward eat yourself. So why did she give him a drink first? The Or HaChaim says that the halachah is that if a person is suffering or in danger, you must attend to the person first. If the person is not in danger and is not suffering greatly, you must attend to the animal first. But if the person is in danger, you attend to the person first. Here, Eliezer saw that her kindness was guided by yiras Shamayim as well. When he came to her and said, “Please let me sip a little water,” she understood from his words that he was suffering, that he was in danger and needed a drink. So she gave him a drink first. Only after he had finished drinking did she say, “I will draw water for your camels too.” Eliezer now understood that her kindness was not just a one-time act—someone would not ordinarily give water to the camels as well. And she acted wisely: first she gave him a drink, and only afterward said, “I will draw water for your camels too.” And someone adds

03:57 Speaker 1 that there was even further proof that she was wise. He asked her, “Please lower your jug,” so that he could drink from it. He wanted to test her, because he could not drink a whole jug. He wanted to see what she would do with the water left in it. If she poured it out, that would hurt his feelings. If she took the jug and brought that water home, perhaps he was ill and could pass on his illness. So he wanted to see what she would do with the water left in the jug. What did she do? She gave the remaining water to the camels. And she did not stop there; she drew water for them until they had finished drinking. So he saw that she was wise as well. In other words, Eliezer did all these things to test whether she was truly worthy—both in her kindness and in her yiras Shamayim—whether she was the one “You have designated for Your servant,” for Yitzchak. When he saw all this, he understood that she was indeed worthy of joining the household of Avraham Avinu and becoming Yitzchak’s wife. Have a good Shabbos. May we hear good news.

05:11 Speaker 2 Amen.