Shabbos Parashas Chaye-Sarah - 5777

Shabbos Parashas Chaye-Sarah - 5777

Rabbi Hal Miller

Rather, to my land and to my birthplace shall you go and take a wife for my son, for

Yitzchak. [Bereishis 24:4]

Unless you go to my father's house and to my family and take a wife for my son.

[Bereishis 24:38]

Our first verse is Avraham instructing Eliezer. Our second verse, later in this week's

parsha, is Eliezer explaining to Rivka's family what his instructions were. Avraham could

have ordered Yitzchak directly not to take a wife from the Canaanites. If he felt it important

enough to go instead through Eliezer, why did Eliezer then change the instructions?

In Lech Lecha two weeks ago, G-d told Avraham to leave from his land, from his

birthplace, and from his father's house. Here, Avraham sends Eliezer back to his land and

birthplace. We can perhaps explain the absence of "father's house" by noting that Terach

and his family were presumably long gone, but Eliezer's version includes "father's house",

specifying "my family", and leaves out the other two.

Rav Hirsch and others attribute the differences in Eliezer's story to his being polite. Even

Abarbanel says that Eliezer wanted to make the family feel that Avraham had chosen them

over all the other people in the region. The commentators go down the list of differences,

and give an explanation for each, but do not compare our verses to Lech Lecha, yet the ties

seem too clear to ignore.

The verse in Lech Lecha is often explained to mean leave not only the customs that you

learned as an adult, but also those of the place you were raised, and even more importantly,

those of the family into which you were born. Avraham here in Chaye Sarah specifies that

he wants a wife for Yitzchak whose environment is not that of the Canaanites, rather that of

his own background, an environment he knew would have less negative impact on the

family, especially being removed from the source. He knew that such a wife would have a

greater strength to withstand the negative pressures of the Canaanite peoples where she

would then be living.

Eliezer, a native of Canaan, did not feel as strongly about the need to resist the surrounding

environment. He recognized that the people "back east" in Avraham's old stomping grounds

were no better in general than those of Canaan. He did, though, want woman for Yitzchak

who had the same strength of character that Avraham and Sarah had. The place to find that

strength of character and strength of belief in G-d was not in the general population of either

place, but only within Avraham's own family.

Eliezer did not change the instructions. He understood what Avraham wanted, and refined

the wording of the request to ensure that Avraham's wishes would be met.