Parshas Chayei Sarah 5786
- Torah Tavlin
- Nov 13
- 2 min read
ויאמר ה' אלקי אדני אברהם ... (כד-יב)
Rashi, on פסוק מ"ב, quotes the famous words of Chazal, who comment on Avraham Avinu’s servant, Eliezer, and his repetitive dialogue. He says as follows: "אמר רב אחא, יפה שיחתן של עבדי אבות לפני המקום מתורתן של בנים, שהרי פרשה של אליעזר כפולה". What was so beautiful in this conversation that necessitated such attention? A few machshavos come to mind that the בעלי מוסר say. The last pshat would have been one that the Zaida, Baal Machsheves Halev zt”l, could have said.
Firstly, the dedication and conviction that Eliezer displayed for his master was exemplary. His opening words to Besuel and Lavan were "עבד אברהם אנכי". That encapsulates everything.
Additionally, as we know, Eliezer had a daughter whom he hoped would marry Yitzchok. Yet, he put his own dreams aside for the sake of fulfilling the wishes of his master. That is the paradigm of a true עבד. Perhaps the Torah repeats the entire storyline again so that we may glean a life’s lesson of what it means to be an עבד ה'.
A small ha’ara first. Why does Rashi quote this Chazal on פסוק מ"ב, and not when Eliezer begins speaking with the future mechutan? Maybe we can translate Rashi’s words a bit differently. The word "שיחה" can relate to tefillah. Thus, Rashi’s saying, "יפה שיחתן של עבדי אבות". The tefillah that Eliezer davened was so beautiful. Posuk מ"ב describes that prayer. In it, Eliezer begs for סייעתא דשמיא; not in his own merit, but in the zechus of Avraham Avinu. That is so precious. In fact, the trop on "ויאמר" in the first posuk is a שלשלת. Why? Perhaps we can learn that the power of tefillah lies in the power of a chain, a שלשלת, reaching and invoking the zechus avos a”h. This lesson is so powerful that the Torah repeats it twice.
May the zechus of our predecessors enable our tefillos to pierce the heavens, bringing ישועות לנו ולכל ישראל.