פרשת חיי שרה
This week’s Parsha tells us how Avraham sent his trusted servant Eliezer to go and find a wife for his son Yitzchak. The Torah lavishes great praise on Eliezer for his many accomplishments. The verse refers to Eliezer as “The elder amongst Avraham’s household, in charge of all that was there”. Chazal explain to us that this term of “elder” is reserved for one who has spent many years in Yeshiva and has gained tremendous wisdom. Furthermore, Chazal explain the term, “He was in charge of Avraham’s house” to mean that he ruled over his evil inclination just as Avraham did, and he mastered the Torah just like Avraham. From these few examples, we get an idea as to the esteem in which the Torah held Eliezer. It is no small wonder, therefore, that in the next verse Eliezer indicates that perhaps his own daughter would be appropriate for Yitzchak as a potential mate. However, Avraham’s response to this proposal is quite perplexing. Avraham patiently explains to Eliezer the since Eliezer’s root are from the land of Canaan, and he is therefore cursed, it would not be appropriate for his daughter to wed Yitzhak, who came from the Jewish people who are blessed!
Avraham’s response is quite puzzling on three accounts. Firstly, how could Avraham, the pillar of kindness, respond in such a harsh, insensitive way to his most trusted and faithful servant throughout the years? Couldn’t he have worded his answer in a bit more sensitive way? Secondly, Avraham was just plain wrong! The Torah went out of its way to extol the virtues of Eliezer and the lofty level he had achieved, and Avraham pronounced coldly that Eliezer was cursed, seeming to contradict God’s impression of Eliezer. And thirdly, there is a Midrash in Bereishis Rabbah, (Chap. 4) which states that on account of Eliezer’s diligence in his service of a Tzadik, he raised himself out of the category of “cursed” and became “blessed”. Why then does Avraham still refer to his servant as cursed?
I found, thank God, that R’ Shteinholtz, the famous Mashgiach dwells on these points. He quotes Rabbi Dessler who asks, why was it that Noach cursed his son Canaan after his son dishonored him? Isn’t the normal reaction of a father to reprimand his son instead of cursing him? R’ Dessler explains that Noach’s response to his son was indeed not a curse at all. Noach condemned his son and all his offspring to life-long servitude of others. The reason for this was very logical. He saw that his son could not control his own passions, so he realized that the best remedy for this would be to put Canaan in the charge of others so that he would not have to be responsible for his own actions. (Indeed we see today that when some people are slaves they behave much better than when they are freed and have no ability to control their passions.)
The Mashgiach returns to our issue and explains that certainly Eliezer had removed himself from the category of “cursed” as Chazal explained through all the good deeds and faithful service of a Tzadik throughout the years and put himself in the category of “blessed”. But this didn’t change the fact that all of his greatness was only on account of the fact that he was the servant of Avraham, and indeed, were he to be freed he would not have been able to maintain his level of holiness that he achieved. Eliezer himself constantly identifies himself as “the servant of Avraham” evidencing that he is keenly aware of his status in life and the key to his success. With this explanation, all of our difficulties are removed. It was not insulting at all to Eliezer that he was a servant to Avraham, on the contrary, this was the key to all of his success. So in a sense, this “curse” was really a blessing for Eliezer. And while it is true that Eliezer had entered into the category of “blessed” this would only be true so long as he continued to serve Avraham Avinu and maintain his position, but the minute his daughter would wed Yitzchak, she would become a free person and would lose all the holiness that she had attained as a servant in the house of Avraham Avinu.
The Mashgiach would conclude his powerful oration by asking, how is this Chazal relevant to our lives? He would explain that in our world, it is very difficult to serve God as “free” people. There are so many passions and desires which pull us in vastly different directions. But through the complete subjugation of ourselves to the Torah, we can be assured that we will tread upon the proper path. By making sure that we are always in a place of Torah, and that the people around us are Bnei Torah, we can fulfill this instruction of Chazal to always be blessed like Eliezer was, but the minute we begin to sway from this path, even for a very short time, we put ourselves in extreme danger of becoming susceptible to the influence of the world around us.
There is a very interesting Rambam in Chapter 6 of Daos. The Rambam says that there is a positive commandment in the Torah to cling to God. The Rambam asks is it possible to cling to God who has no physical existence? The Rambam explains that the way to fulfill this commandment is to cling to His people – i.e. the Talmidei Chachamim. By constantly being in their presence, even for mundane purposes such as eating with them at their table, drinking with them, doing business with them, marrying your daughters to them, one can fulfill this commandment. We see from this Rambam how important it is to always be located in an environment where the Torah is of central importance.
With this Rambam, we can also explain the Mishna in Avos. The Mishnah says that one should always be around Talmidei Chachamim, drinking thirstily from their words and sitting in their dust. One could understand why it is important to hear their words, but why must one sit in their dust? Based on what we have explained, this is quite understandable. It is integral for a person to be constantly located amongst the righteous scholars because one puts himself in an environment which is conducive to growth and success in Torah, and even if all one is doing is sitting in their presence, this will ensure that a person does the right thing consistently and constantly.
May Hashem help us to fulfill this commandment of the Torah to always be in the presence of the Torah and those who learn it!