פרשת חיי שרה
In this week’s parsha Avraham Avinu sends his faithful servant Eliezer to find a zivug for his son Yitzhak. This marriage would enable the perpetuation of Avraham Avinu’s vision and ultimately lead to the formation of the Jewish people. Rashi comments that Eliezer, desiring the merit of building Avraham’s family, proposed a shidduch between Yitzhak and his own daughter. However, Avraham refused the proposal arguing that such a union was incompatible. Avraham descended from Shem, being part of a blessed and noble lineage, whereas Eliezer, although extremely righteous, still bore the blemish of descending from Canaan, who was cursed by Noach for unspeakable atrocities. Avraham’s view was that this flaw could not be overlooked when choosing a wife for his son and a progenitor of the Jewish people. Nevertheless, the Midrash in Breishis Rabba Parshas Chayei Sarah 7 shares with us something very interesting. By finding Rivka, thus completing his mission to find Yitzhak’s zivug, Eliezer actually transcended his status of “cursed” and elevated himself and his progeny to “blessed.” We can see clearly from this Midrash the great significance of Eliezer’s deed. However, we must ask why did it take so long for Eliezer to reach this golden plateau? Eliezer wasn’t a zero before he found Yitzhak’s zivug. Chazal teach us that Eliezer was an amazing human being. He was Avraham’s Avinu’s closest disciple and was responsible for spreading his rebbi’s Torah wherever he went. Besides, Eliezer had refined himself to a point where he was completely in control of his physicality. In fact, he achieved such an exalted level of holiness people even mistook him for Avraham Avinu. He literally embodied his master. Why weren’t these accomplishments enough to give him the title of “blessed”? Surely facilitating a shidduch wasn’t the crown of Eliezer’s life achievements!!!
Rav Yechezkel Levinshtein answers that no matter how great a person is there is always at least one issue he must struggle with in order to become a truly complete and fulfilled human being. The problems that we find most difficult in life, although we prefer not to think about them, are actually the core of our service of G-d, and overcoming these challenges is really what makes us great. Eliezer was a phenomenal person who had perfected nearly every aspect of his personality. He was a true servant of G-d, just like Avraham Avinu. Who was more fitting than him to help build the Jewish people? Surely the correct match for Yitzhak was Eliezer’s own daughter, or so Eliezer thought. When Avraham Avinu rejected Eliezer’s daughter, and Eliezer himself, Eliezer was understandably distraught. This was a complete obliteration of Eliezer’s hopes and dreams. Moreover, Eliezer now felt betrayed by Avraham the very man to whom he had subjugated himself and faithfully served for so long. Was this the reward of a faithful servant, who for years stood by Avraham’s side against a world threatening to annihilate them for their belief in one G-d? As if this was not enough, Eliezer was now asked to be the actual agent who would bring about the demise of his very own dreams. Nevertheless, Eliezer transcended his personal ambitions and feelings to enable the materialization of a vision not his own, completely negating himself to the will of his master and to Hashem as well. This was Eliezer’s real test in life. Succeeding in this challenge was what made Eliezer complete. Although the most difficult and painful decision he ever made, this decision is what changed his spiritual DNA from cursed to blessed. Furthermore, Eliezer is an example and an inspiration to all of us to not be daunted by our central struggles. These are the most crucial battles we will ever engage in and these are the things that will determine whether or not we fulfilled our purpose in life.
Rav Yechezkel observes that even those who make a whole-hearted commitment to serve G-d often fail to face the real issues. People can even become great in Torah but nevertheless continue to repeat the same mistakes and get tripped up by the same little things. Instead of directly addressing our problems as they arise, we prefer to overlook them and avoid the conflict within ourselves. We reason that these relapses are infrequent and don’t deserve too much attention, smugly choosing to focus on the things we find easy in life. However, according to Rav Yechezkel we are really ignoring the reason why we’re here on this earth. These “little things” are not insignificant. They are here to bring out the best of our potential. Working unceasingly through each issue point by point until we come to a resolution of the problem will ultimately lead us to the heights of spiritual perfection. This is what made the Avos so great. The gemara in Sanhedrin 96a says that the Avos “ran through puddles.” In other words, when others are confronted with their personal challenges, they just stop in their tracks as if a deep puddle were in front of them. They are too scared to confront what lies ahead of them due to the inevitable discomfort such a confrontation presents. In contrast, the Avos ran straight ahead, triumphing over the intimidation of the seemingly difficult. This was the secret to their success. Their growth knew no bounds and they courageously marched onwards, living each day of their lives completely focused on the problems that they were created to solve. This is why Chazal say that Avraham and Sarah lived their lives to the fullest.
However, continues Rav Yechezkel, demonstrating the perseverance to work through our issues doesn’t always mean beginning a Mussar Vaad. Sometimes, just keeping the sedarim is the best way to work through a problem. Even though we may still struggle with many issues, persevering and pushing ourselves to learn consistently despite the personal deficiencies that pull us away is in itself an incredible victory. Furthermore, by constantly getting past the obstacles that keep us from learning we are strengthening our dedication to keeping the Torah and weakening the forces of evil which chain us down. We can be assured that if we cling to Hashem and stick with the program, little by little these challenges will wear away. The Shaagas Aryeh’s life illustrated this idea beautifully. He finished Shas over 1,000 times and also wrote many deep halachic and analytical works. At the end of the Shaagas Aryeh’s life, as he was beginning to slip away, his talmidim pushed him to say Vidui. “Fine, I’ll do it because that’s the minhag,” acquiesced the Shaages Aryeh, “but you should know, I was just too busy learning to do aveiros!”
May we all be zoche to go from strength to strength and fulfill our purposes in life!!!