Dear TBZ community:
Every Shabbat, we read the parasha of the week on Shabbat morning service, and we start to read the Torah portion of the next week on Saturday afternoon, during the mincha service. Last week, we began Shabbat reading Parshat Vayera which holds some of the most complicated of the stories of Genesis — Sodom and Gomorrah, Hagar and Sarah, and the binding of Isaac — stories of trauma, death, separation, jealousy, abandonment, and fear. We also began the morning holding our breaths and anxiously awaiting an outcome of our national election.
Last Shabbat, in the afternoon, we read Chayei Sarah. Although it is called Chayei Sarah “the life of Sarah,” it begins with our matriarch’s death, and with her passing we enter a new chapter. A chapter of reconciliation and new beginnings. And, last week, by the time we read Chayei Sarah, the news had spread and we had a new president-elect.
These two parshas mirrored the day — a morning of anxiety and an afternoon of hope.
In this week’s parasha, Chayei Sarah, Abaraham sends a servant to find a wife for Isaac. The servant is successful and finds Rivka. Isaac and Rivka marry. Abraham also marries. He marries a woman named Keturah, which the midrash even imagines to be Hagar, a way to depict healing and reconciliation between Abraham and Hagar. Soon Abraham dies, and his sons, Isaac and Ishamel join together to bury their father, showing the reconciliation between them. With this ending, the parasha feels like a “happily ever after” concluding tale and ends a season of trauma, pain, hurt, separation and tragedy.
Although, happily ever after is not really what happens in the Torah, or in reality for that matter, Chaye Sarah gives us a glimpse into values and behaviors that lift up love and reconciliation.
When Abraham’s servant arrives to the well looking for a wife for Isaac, he says to himself (Genesis 24:14)
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.”
As soon as he says these words, Rivkah appears and the servant asks her for water (Genesis 24:17-20):
וַיָּ֥רָץ 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.”
וַתְּמַהֵ֗ר וַתְּעַ֤ר כַּדָּהּ֙ אֶל־הַשֹּׁ֔קֶת וַתָּ֥רָץ ע֛וֹד אֶֽל־הַבְּאֵ֖ר לִשְׁאֹ֑ב וַתִּשְׁאַ֖ב לְכָל־גְּמַלָּֽיו
Quickly emptying her jar into the trough, she ran back to the well to draw, and she drew for all his camels.
This scene teaches us the first thing we value in Rivkah and about the values that the servant is looking for in a wife for Isaac. Generosity. It is Rivkah’s quick and generous response which makes her the second matriarch of our people. Later, we will get to know Rivkah as the mother of Jacob and Esau, and we will encounter once again a story of jealousy and separation, but at this moment, we encounter a story of generosity and love and an openness for what seems a potential for better, for good, for blessing.
Earlier in the parasha the first thing we are told after Sarah’s burial is that Abraham was blessed with everything (Genesis 24:1):
וְאַבְרָהָ֣ם זָקֵ֔ן בָּ֖א בַּיָּמִ֑ים וַֽיהוָ֛ה בֵּרַ֥ךְ אֶת־אַבְרָהָ֖ם בַּכֹּֽל
Abraham was now old, advanced in years, and Adonai had blessed Abraham in all things.
If we look at Abraham’s life from the moment we meet him in parshat Lech Lecha, leaving his home, journeying to a new place and experiencing loss and danger during his life, we see that the Torah looks at Abraham's life and recognizes the blessing of it. Moreover, it says that Abraham was blessed in everything. Abraham can look at his life, with its scars, and its beauty, and feel blessed. It is comforting to recognize blessing and satisfaction and a life well-lived even when there was hurt and loss.
This week many of us have a renewed sense of openness, and we feel the potential for something better to come. We can breathe again. But as we all know that in real life, there are no “happily ever after” endings. What there is, is the potential for generosity, for healing, for blessing. I invite us to ask ourselves: how do we take these moments and make them guide us through the challenges ahead.
Let us recognize the blessings and the potentials; let us embrace the challenges and live a life guided by generosity, because when our hearts are open to others we are more capable to find blessings, to fight for justice and bring healing to this broken world.
May this Shabbat bring renewal and blessings to all of you and your loved ones.
May we learn to find in darkness the possibility of blessing and new beginnings.
May we find strength, courage, and patience, and open our hearts with generosity.
May all those who are ill find healing.
May we have a joyful and restful Shabbat!
Shabbat Shalom,
