This week’s parsha is Chayei Sarah. The parsha begins with the passing of Sarah Imeinu, Avraham’s wife. Avraham, moments after going through his ultimate test of Akedat Yitzchak, suddenly had to face the terrifying reality that his wife was gone.
Avraham begins to internalize just how short life can be, leading him to understand the importance of carrying on. This idea was especially evident to him through his son, Yitzchak. Therefore, Avraham set out to find a woman for Yitzhak to marry.
Avraham developed a few criteria that this woman must meet, such as not being from the land of Canaan, possessing a strong character, and embodying the trait of kindness. To accomplish this, Avraham sends out his servant, Eliezer, in search of a suitable girl.
Eliezer devises a strategic plan to identify such a girl, by asking for water for himself and seeing if she would offer him to drink and his camels as well. Right after his tefila, Rivka appears, and immediately offers him water and even goes to the length of watering his camels. This act of care and kindness seals the deal for Eliezer, making him confident that he has found the correct woman for Yitzchak.
In a parallel but different sort of chessed, Yitzhak is described as davening in a place called Be’er LeChai Roi for Hagar to remarry his father (see Rashi, who explains that it was there that Hagar had encountered the angel, which is why she named it “The Well Where the Living One Saw Me”).
While Yitzchak could have just as well prayed for his own shidduch, seeing that he was 40 and not yet married, here he was davening for his father to find his match after his mother’s passing. Even though Yishmael had tormented Yitzchak when they were younger, Yitzchak knew that Yishmael’s mother, if she would do teshuva, would be the perfect wife for Avraham at this stage in his life. She does teshuva, they get remarried, and they have six more children together, who the Zohar tell us taught spirituality in the East.
It is not a coincidence that just as he was finishing to pray for his father, his own future wife appeared on the horizon. There is a Torah principle that praying for others results in our own prayers being answered first since the one who is davening is most directly connected to Hashem in their tefila. Yitzchak’s prayer for his father, Avraham, led to his own blessing in finding a partner in Rivkah.
Rivka, being a new woman in the household, is able to close a circle for Yitzchak and fill his mother’s shoes after her death. Avraham, too, eventually married Keturah (who was actually Hagar, having done teshuva), and together, they have six children. This further demonstrates that when we act selflessly, the blessings abundantly trickle back to us.
May we all be inspired by Yitzchak’s example of selflessness and devotion, praying for others with sincerity and love, while knowing that through our prayers, Hashem will answer us as well!
Good Shabbos!
By: Simona Folk (11th)
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