Serving an Adam Gadol

By Rabbi Moshe Krieger, Yeshivas Bircas HaTorah (www.bircas.org)

In Parshas Chayei Sarah, Avraham Avinu sends his servant, Eliezer, to undertake the most important task of finding a wife for Yitzchak. In the eyes of Chazal, Eliezer is a shining example of a talmid devoted to his rebbe. Eliezer had internalized Avraham’s teachings and spread them throughout the world. He is called “Damesek Eliezer” because he was “doleh umashkeh,” meaning he “drew up and taught” all that he had learned from Avraham to the masses (Yoma 28b).

Eliezer was “master of all he [Avraham] possessed” (Bereishis 15:2). In pshat, Avraham Avinu had entrusted all of his possessions to Eliezer, who oversaw all his affairs. Chazal (Bereishis Rabba 59:8) add depth to this expression: Eliezer had gone in Avraham’s ways to the extent that he “mastered all that he himself possessed” — meaning, he was in full control of himself; a man of impeccable character who had purged himself of all bad middos.

This leads to a question: When Avraham gave Eliezer the task of finding Yitzchak a wife, Eliezer hinted to Avraham that he himself had a daughter whom Yitzchak could marry (Rashi, Bereishis 24:39). Surely this loyal disciple of Avraham would not have hinted to such a proposal if his daughter was not at a spiritual level worthy of marrying Yitzchak. And yet, Avraham rejected Eliezer’s idea with uncharacteristic sharpness: “I am blessed and you [as a Canaanite, descended from Cham, whom Noach cursed] are cursed. A cursed being cannot cling to a blessed one.”

Rav Dov Ze’ev Steinhaus, a mashgiach in Yeshivas Kol Torah, asks: How could Avraham, the archetypal baal chessed, speak so harshly to Eliezer? Moreover, the Medrash (Bereishis Rabba 60:7) states that since Eliezer had served Avraham so faithfully, he had literally become a new person, no longer cursed but in fact blessed. If so, it seems that Avraham’s rejection of Eliezer was not only scathing but even unjustified?

Rav Steinhaus answers that Avraham knew that Eliezer was a great man who had reached a high spiritual level, but he also knew that Eliezer’s level depended on his servitude. Through being Avraham’s servant, Eliezer maintained this powerful connection to his rebbe. Eliezer himself was aware of this, and therefore refers to himself always as “eved Avraham.” Eliezer’s daughter was a maidservant in the house of Avraham and Sarah. To marry Yitzchak, Avraham would first have to free her, but once she was free of servitude, she might lose all of her greatness. This was Avraham’s message, that without the yoke of servitude, both Eliezer and his daughter were apt to revert back to being cursed.

This is an important lesson for us. Just like Eliezer was able to gain greatness by subjugating himself to Avraham, so too, we can reach greatness by submitting ourselves to a great talmid chacham. If you’re in a yeshiva, submit yourself to the Rosh Yeshiva or Mashgiach. Heed his words and obey them, fulfill the sedarim and other requirements of the yeshiva, and do your part in order that others will do so as well.

If you’re out of yeshiva, make sure to be part of a kehilla and submit yourself to the Rav. Sometimes, the demands of a Rav or Rosh Yeshiva may seem to us taxing or unduly stringent, but the way to greatness is to submit ourselves to them, even when it’s hard.

Moreover, look for ways to serve them. If you are traveling into town, ask the Rav: “I’ll be in town. Is there something I can take care of for you there?” If you’re handy, offer: “Is there anything in the Rav’s house that needs fixing?” Find ways to be with the Rav and serve him. If you’re in yeshiva, after the shiur, ask your magid shiur if you can help him put away the sefarim he used. This is a very important form of service called “shimush talmidei chachamim,” with two important benefits (see Brachos 7b). By serving a talmid chacham, you become more connected to him and can tap into his greatness. Also, extra closeness to him enables you to observe close-up his good middos, wisdom, yiras Shamayim, precise fulfillment of halacha and more. In short, you can see his greatness and learn from it, as did Eliezer with Avraham Avinu.

Even a Canaanite maidservant was able to reach an exalted level of spiritual greatness through serving one of the gedolei hador.  Chazal (Mo’ed Katan 17a, see Rosh) relate that once, a maidservant of the house of Rabbi Yehuda HaNassi saw a Jew hitting his adult son (which is forbidden) and put him into nidui (ex-communication). Later, when this man had corrected his ways, he sought out a sage who could remove the nidui, but this required someone who was on a higher level than the maidservant, and no sage was sure that he was greater than her. The maidservant was no longer alive to undo the nidui herself, so this man remained in nidui for several years, until finally, several sages joined together to undo it. Look how much greatness can be achieved simply by serving an adam gadol!

R’ Shlomo Lorincz, during his years of service to the public, and particularly as a Knesset member of Agudas Yisrael, merited 14 years in which he was very close to the Chazon Ish.

“Every meeting with the Chazon Ish brought out a new, awesome dimension of his character. Sometimes, it was his utter separation from anger, no matter what the circumstances. Other times, one saw how he had nothing in this world except Torah and avodas Hashem. One always saw his inner sense of joy and yiras Shamayim. Other times, what struck me was his wisdom. People came to him with what seemed like hopelessly complicated issues, but through the Chazon Ish’s astute questions, the answers became clear without his having to tell them what to do. Every time, I came away inspired, filled with a desire to try to emulate what I had seen, if only in part.

“If I only came to this world for those 14 years to observe this great man — it would have been enough!” said R’ Lorincz.

May we be zoche to serve talmidei chachamim!