Shabbos Parashas Chayei Sarah - 5780

Shabbos Parashas Chayei Sarah - 5780

Rabbi Hal Miller

Rather to my artzi and to my moladeti shall you go and take a wife for my son,

for Yitzchak. [Bereishis 24:4]

Where exactly did Avraham send Eliezer to find a wife for Yitzchak? He could

have just given the name of a specific place, but he instead chose to use the

same language that God used in Lech Lecha a couple weeks ago. In 12:1,

the Hebrew is "mei-artzecha umi'moladetecha umi'beit avicha", which translates

as "from your land, and from the place of your birth, and from the house of your

father". In our verse we find "el artzi v'el moladeti" "to my land and to the place

of my birth", and three verses later we have the rest, "Mi-beit avi umi'eretz

moladeti", "from the house of my father and from the land of my birth". Ignoring

the first person-second person change of speakers, the text is identical between

the two incidents, and refers to Avram's land, the house of Avram's father, and

the land of his "molad", which is usually translated as birth.

So, where did Eliezer go?

Rashi says, "From the house of my father. From Charan. And from the land of

my birth. From Ur Kasdim." We know from verse 11:31 that Avram left Ur Kasdim

and settled in Charan with his father, and we see in 11:32 that Terach died there.

A simple reading of that verse supports Rashi. Following this verse, in 12:1, God

tells Avram to "Go for yourself from your land, from your birthplace, and from your

father's house", after they had already departed Ur Kasdim and arrived in Charan.

Therefore, why mean here, go from Ur Kasdim? Rashi gives a weak answer, that

it means Avram should put more distance between himself and Ur Kasdim. Ibn

Ezra tries to support Rashi by saying that God told this to Avram earlier, but the

Torah is just reporting it now. Ramban disagrees and points out that the leaving of

Ur Kasdim was by Terach, who brought his family along, and that had God told

Avram this before they left, the Torah would have said that Avram left, and took

the family with him. Further, why would Avram send Elliezer to Ur Kasdim, a

place so decadent that even Terach left? Who there would Eliezer choose?

Ramban further questions Rashi's definition of Charan. Avram lived in Canaan

much longer than he had been in Charan, so how could he send Eliezer from

Canaan to Charan and call it his land? Instead, Ramban defines Charan as the

place Avram was born, prior to Terach moving to Ur Kasdim, thus Avram sent

Eliezer to Charan, period.

Bereishis Rabbah [39:8] explains lech lecha of verse 12:1 as referring to two

goings, one from Aram Naharayim, and one from Aram Nachor. The latter is

another name for the city of Charan, which is located in the country of Aram

Naharayim, and is presumably where Avram's grandfather Charan lived. Radak

picks up on this and defines "from your land" as "from Aram Naharayim,

thus "from your birthplace" would be from Charan, but Radak sidetracks and

says the birthplace is Ur Kasdim. He is backed by the verse 11:28 that tells

that "Haran died in the lifetime of Terach his father, in his native land, in Ur

Kasdim", using moladeto. What the Torah does not define is whether this is

where Terach's sons were born, or where Terach himself was born.

Confused? How do you think Eliezer felt? How did he know where to go to

find a wife for Yitzchak?

Rashbam says that we are looking at this all wrong here. Instead of referring to

the geographical place where Avram was born, moladeti means "those who

gave birth to me", or "my family". Avram did not tell Eliezer where to drive his

camel train, he told him who to go see. It was up to Eliezer to figure out where

they were and meet them there.