Dear TBZ community:
This week in response to a thank you email I sent to one of our TBZ members for helping a fellow congregant in a time of challenge, he wrote to me:
When the Hesed committee called me this past summer to ask me if I could give one of our members who needed support a ride to an appointment (which I did), I was sitting on a hotel balcony in Lake Placid with a long time friend. After I hung the phone, I turned to him and said, "And that's why everyone should join a house of worship!"
As I read these words tears came down my face, feeling joy for the community we have built and for the many volunteers that every day help us care for those in our community that need support. These words, for me, really capture exactly who we are and what being part of our community means.
Parashat Chayei Sara, tells us about the death of Sara, our first matriarch and her burial followed by the search for a wife for Isaac. The story is well-known, Abraham sends a servant (named Eliezer in the midrash) to find a wife for his son. He sends him back to their birthplace:
כִּ֧י אֶל־אַרְצִ֛י וְאֶל־מוֹלַדְתִּ֖י תֵּלֵ֑ךְ וְלָקַחְתָּ֥ אִשָּׁ֖ה לִבְנִ֥י לְיִצְחָֽק
...go to the land of my birth and get a wife for my son Isaac.
The servant had a plan: He would go to the well, where the daughters of the townsmen came out to draw water to see if the right one will come forward:
וְהָיָ֣ה הַֽנַּעֲרָ֗ אֲשֶׁ֨ר אֹמַ֤ר אֵלֶ֙יהָ֙ הַטִּי־נָ֤א כַדֵּךְ֙ וְאֶשְׁתֶּ֔ה וְאָמְרָ֣ה שְׁתֵ֔ה וְגַם־גְּמַלֶּ֖יךָ אַשְׁקֶ֑ה אֹתָ֤הּ הֹכַ֙חְתָּ֙ לְעַבְדְּךָ֣ לְיִצְחָ֔ק וּבָ֣הּ אֵדַ֔ע כִּי־עָשִׂ֥יתָ חֶ֖סֶד עִם־אֲדֹנִֽי
let the maiden to whom I say, ‘Please, lower your jar that I may drink,’ and who replies, ‘Drink, and I will also water your camels’—let her be the one whom You have decreed for Your servant Isaac. Thereby shall I know that You have dealt graciously with my master.
And that is what happens, Rebecca comes out and the servant runs toward her, we read in verses 15-19:
וַֽיְהִי־ה֗וּא טֶ֘רֶם֮ כִּלָּ֣ה לְדַבֵּר֒ וְהִנֵּ֧ה רִבְקָ֣ה יֹצֵ֗את אֲשֶׁ֤ר יֻלְּדָה֙ לִבְתוּאֵ֣ל בֶּן־מִלְכָּ֔ה אֵ֥שֶׁת נָח֖וֹר אֲחִ֣י אַבְרָהָ֑ם וְכַדָּ֖הּ עַל־שִׁכְמָֽהּ
He had scarcely finished speaking, when Rebekah, who was born to Bethuel, the son of Milcah the wife of Abraham’s brother Nahor, came out with her jar on her shoulder.
וְהַֽנַּעֲרָ֗ טֹבַ֤ת מַרְאֶה֙ מְאֹ֔ד בְּתוּלָ֕ה וְאִ֖ישׁ לֹ֣א יְדָעָ֑הּ וַתֵּ֣רֶד הָעַ֔יְנָה וַתְּמַלֵּ֥א כַדָּ֖הּ וַתָּֽעַל
The maiden was very beautiful, a virgin whom no man had known. She went down to the spring, filled her jar, and came up.
וַיָּ֥רׇץ הָעֶ֖בֶד לִקְרָאתָ֑הּ וַיֹּ֕אמֶר הַגְמִיאִ֥ינִי נָ֛א מְעַט־מַ֖יִם מִכַּדֵּֽךְ
The servant ran toward her and said, “Please, let me sip a little water from your jar.”
וַתֹּ֖אמֶר שְׁתֵ֣ה אֲדֹנִ֑י וַתְּמַהֵ֗ר וַתֹּ֧רֶד כַּדָּ֛הּ עַל־יָדָ֖הּ וַתַּשְׁקֵֽהוּ
“Drink, my lord,” she said, and she quickly lowered her jar upon her hand and let him drink.
וַתְּכַ֖ל לְהַשְׁקֹת֑וֹ וַתֹּ֗אמֶר גַּ֤ם לִגְמַלֶּ֙יךָ֙ אֶשְׁאָ֔ב עַ֥ד אִם־כִּלּ֖וּ לִשְׁתֹּֽת
When she had let him drink his fill, she said, “I will also draw for your camels, until they finish drinking.”
“The spring was in a small depression. All the maidens who came to draw water had to climb down the stairs to the water. When Rebecca arrived, however, water began to gush out the spring, filling up the entire depression as if it were rising to greet her. She was immediately able to fill her jug and head toward home.
When Eliezer saw that the water rose up to prevent her from going to the trouble to climb down the stairs, he realized that this girl was an unusual saint. He quickly ran to her and asked her for a sip of water from her jug. She told him to drink and also offered to water the camels”
(Yalkut Me’am Loez to 25:15-16 & 17-19, page 398 English edition).
This image of water rising out of the spring to greet Rebecca so that she can then share it with the stranger she encounters, invites us to imagine the possibility of finding blessings rising up to greet us and enabling us to bless others. It is as if, Godself, gives water to Eliezer, through Rebecca. Rebecca becomes a vessel of this flowing water. However, God alone cannot give water to the servant, Rebecca is the necessary agent. It is her compassion and her openness to serve and to quench the thirst of Eliezer (and of his camels) which provides the sign for Eliezer to identify our next matriarch.
Each of us is a vessel that can provide blessings to other human beings. In our community we are brought together around a well overflowing with water, and as our fellow member reminded me this is why we belong to a house of worship. Each of us are at times like Rivkah or like Eliezer (and even like the camels!!) and our community is the holder of this well!
Some of you are standing or sitting a bit further from the spring, and some of you are sitting just next to it. Some of us are thirsty and tired and need to be served water, and some of us are strong and ready to carry as much water as needed. And most of us are far and close, weak and strong on any given day. But, hopefully, it is the belonging to this house of worship, to this spring that overflows with water that gives us the strength to continue walking through the challenges of life, together.
I am grateful for our water filled spring, which overflows with blessings and opportunities; song and joy; prayer and Torah; learning and so much more.
And I am especially grateful to all the Rivkah’s that are continuously filling their jugs to support and help those in our community and beyond our community that need the support.
May this Shabbat bring renewal and blessings to all of you and your loved ones.
May we find strength, courage, and patience, and open our hearts with generosity.
May we start the journey of learning Torah together again, in depth and with joy.
May all those who are ill find healing.
May we have a joyful and restful Shabbat!
Shabbat Shalom,
