B"H

Tuesday, Mar-Cheshvan 21, 5780 / November 19, 2019

After telling us about Sarah’s passing and her burial, Parshat Chayei Sarah describes how Abraham went about finding a wife for his son, Yitzchak (Isaac). The Torah describes in great detail how Abraham sent his trusted servant, Eliezer, to find a wife for Yitzchak. Abraham tells him, “Go to my country and to my family and take a wife for my son Yitzchak."

Eliezer took 10 camels loaded with goods and went to Abraham's birth-place, Aram-Naharaim.  Before entering the city he stopped at a well, "when the women go out to draw water."

Eliezer devised a test to determine which girl would be suitable for Yitzchak and prayed to G-d for success.  "I will stand by the well, let it come to pass that the girl to whom I say, 'Lower your pitcher so that I may drink' and she will answer, 'Drink and I will give your camels to drink too,' she will be the one You have chosen for Yitzchak."

The Torah continues: "Before he finished praying, Rivkah came out with her pitcher on her shoulder. And Eliezer ran to meet her and said, 'Give me a little water to drink from your pitcher.'  She replied, 'Drink, my master,” She let down her pitcher and gave him to drink. Then she said, “Also for your camels I will draw until they have finished drinking."

After obtaining her family's permission, he took Rivkah back with him to Yitzchak.  The Torah tells us that, "Yitzchak brought her into the tent of his mother Sarah and she became his wife; and he loved her and Yitzchak was comforted for his mother."

According to tradition, matches are made in heaven. Yet, although everything is by Divine Providence, we have to do our part, as the saying goes, "G-d helps those who help themselves."

Q.   Why did Eliezer devise such a test to know whom to choose as a wife for Yitzchak?

A.   Abraham and Sarah stood out for their kindness to people.  Their home was always open to everyone. Eliezer knew that the most important quality Yitzchak would be looking for in a wife would be generosity and kindness. He wanted to make sure that the girl he would choose to marry Yitzchak will be extremely generous and he saw that when she offered him more than he asked her.

This story teaches us what is the true foundation for a successful marriage and building a Jewish home. He knew that if she was kind and generous, the rest would fall into place.

Our sages say, "The world stands on three foundations: The study of Torah; The service of G-d and Acts of kindness."  So too, the foundation of a Jew's personal world (i.e. the home) must be built upon the above three foundations; Torah, the service of G-d, generosity and kindness.

HAVE A VERY GOOD, HAPPY, HEALTHY AND SUCCESSFUL DAY

B"H

Monday, Kislev 4, 5780 / November 2, 2019

At the end of last week's Parsha, Toldot, we read that after Yaakov received his father’s blessings, his brother, Esau, wanted to kill him.  Yaakov is encouraged by his father and mother, Yitzchak and Rivkah, to run away from Esau and go to his uncle, Lavan, who lived in Charan. They suggest that while there he should marry one of Lavan’s daughters.

This week's Parsha, Vayeitzei, begins, "And Yaakov went out from Be'er Sheva and he went to Charan." Upon arriving in Charan, Yaakov stopped at a well and there he met his cousin, Rachel, who would later become his wife.

Q.  We know from the previous Parsha that Yaakov lived in Be’er Sheva. The Torah should have told us only that, “Yaakov went to Charan.”  We would already know that he left from Be'er Sheva?

A.  Our sages reply: Yaakov left his parents for two reasons: 1) To run away from his brother, Esau who wanted to kill him. 2) Yitzchak urged Yaakov to go find a wife from the daughters of Lavan.

Here, the Torah alludes to the two reasons: 1) "And Yaakov went out from Be'er Sheva" – was to flee from Esau; 2) "And he went to Charan" – was in order to find a wife from Lavan's daughters.

Q. How old was Yaakov when he received his blessings from his father and left Be’er Sheva? How old was he when he arrived in Charan? How old was he when he got married?

A. Yaakov was 63 years old when he got his blessings and left Be’er Sheva. On the way he stopped at the Yeshiva of Ever, where he spent 14 years studying. He came to his uncle, Lavan, when he was 77. He worked seven years for Lavan, in order to marry his daughter, Rachel. In the end, Lavan fooled him and gave him Leah instead.

A week after marrying Leah he also married her sister, Rachel, and worked for his father-in-law another seven years. Thus, Yaakov was 84 when he married Leah and Rachel.

Q.  What was the significance of waiting a week after marrying Leah before marrying also Rachel?

A.  The seven days after a marriage ceremony are called "Shiva’at Yemei Hamishte" - "seven days of feast and rejoicing." These are seven joyous days for the bride and groom.  Seven blessings are recited each of the seven days over a cup of wine at the conclusion of the Grace-after-meal. Thus, the reason Yaakov waited seven days was to complete the seven days of celebration for marrying Leah, before he could marry Rachel.

Isaac, Jacob and Moshe found their soul-mates near water. Water is a sign of blessing. The Baal Shem Tov when seeing a water-carrier carrying water, would say, “Water is a sign of blessing.”

HAVE A VERY GOOD, HAPPY, HEALTHY AND SUCCESSFUL DAY

B"H

Thursday, Kislev 7, 5780 / December 5, 2019

In this week's Parsha, Vayeitzei, we find the importance of work over idleness.

Yaakov, after living twenty years by his father-in-law, Lavan, decided to take his family (four wives and twelve children) and return to his parents. He fears that Lavan will not let him leave, so he  leaves while Lavan was away. When Lavan learns that they left, he chases after them with the intention of harming Yaakov. G-d appears to Lavan in a dream and warns him not to hurt Yaakov and his family.  

The Torah relates the dialogue between Yaakov and his father-in-law, Lavan, when they meet. Yaakov complains to his father-in-law that if not for G-d's protection he would not have survived the mistreatments and cheating he experienced at Lavan's house for the past 20 years.  Yaakov concludes, "My affliction and the labor of my hands G-d has seen..." Yaakov credits G-d's coming to his rescue to the "labor of my hands." 

The Midrash says, this teaches us the importance of work: "A person shall not say, 'I will eat, drink and enjoy what is good but I will not bother to work, for I will rely on G-d to take care of me.'  A man must toil and work with both his hands; only then will the Holy One send His blessings."

The Talmudic sage Rabbi Shimon ben Elazar explains the importance of work as follows, "When Adam was put in the Garden of Eden, although everything was prepared for him, G-d told him first, “to work it and tend to it.” Only after this did G-d permit him to eat from the fruits of the garden.

Rabbi Tarfon says: "G-d did not make His presence rest among Israel until they worked, as it says, Let them make Me a sanctuary and I will dwell among them."

The sage, Rabbi Yossi, says in the Talmud, “Man doesn’t die from work only out of idleness."

It is explained with the following parable: A farmer had a colt, a donkey and a pig. Every day, he measured the amount of barley he fed the donkey and colt, but would let the pig eat as much as it wanted. The colt complained to the donkey, "What is our boss doing?  We do all the work for the master, yet he rations our food. The pig does nothing, yet it gets to eat as much as it wants!"

The donkey replied, "The time will come when you will see the pig’s downfall, for it is not for its benefit that our master stuffs it with food, but rather for its harm." Soon afterwards a Roman holiday occurred. The farmer slaughtered the pig and served it for the feast.

The next day, when the owner fed barley to the donkey and colt, after seeing what happened to the pig, the colt refused to eat the barley. The donkey said to him, "Do not be afraid to eat. It is the idleness, not the eating, which led the pig to be slaughtered."

HAVE A VERY GOOD, HAPPY, HEALTHY AND SUCCESSFUL DAY