The Weekly Call: Chayei Sarah 5771 – The One About the Shidduch
October 29, 2010
There’s a whole lot of discussion in this week’s Parsha concerning what Eliezar did when looking for a wife for Yitzchak.
Avraham sent him to where he wanted Eliezer to look. Eliezer travels there and comes to the well where the young girls gather to draw water. He seems to set up a sign; that if it comes true, will reveal to him that this particular girl is the one God chose for Yitzhak.
Eliezer says to God, “Let it be that the young girl to whom I say, ‘Please tip your jug so that I may drink’ replies ‘Drink and I will also water your camels”, will be the girl You have chosen.
There are many different points of view as to where Eliezer was coming from.
The Sforno says it was simply a prayer and that Eliezer was not Minachesh, which means interpreting signs in order to tell the future, which is not allowed. (Minachesh, from the same root as Nachash, the original snake in the Garden who seduced us away from the present in order to improve on the future.)
The Gemorrah, on the other hand, seems to say that what Eliezer did was indeed Minachesh. What he did was wrong, and, however, it did work out for the best.
According to the Gemorrah’s interpretation, we might say that in spite of the fact that Eliezer botched it up; maybe it worked out because Avraham was Avraham.
Or maybe, it was simply God’s will that Rivka be the one and OK, Eliezar went about it in the wrong way.
Either way, the whole issue really got me thinking; the Torah spends significant time on this whole episode and according to the Gemorrah, Eliezer did it wrong, and, it did work out for the best.
We seem to know from quantum physics that there is no such thing as simply observing anything in a way that does not also affect the reality we are observing.
In other words, there is no such thing as me as other from the whole.
Certainly I affect reality through my actions and speech. What about through my prayers and thoughts?
There is a remarkable experiment that demonstrates that two particles, that were originally together, affect each other instantly, when they are later at a great distance from each other.
Assuming all is One, meaning every thing was together, (is, and will be, also, by the way) then, there is no getting away from everything affecting everything.
On the one hand, when we blow it, we can really blow it. There are consequences to our actions.
And
We can blow it, and it can still work out.
Do I really get that?
About as much as I get two seemingly separate particles, instantly affecting each other over great distances.
But it does seem to be the reality we live in.
We are individuals who matter, and that is no joke.
And
God is One; so who are all these important parts making all these important decisions, anyway?
Eliezer was looking for a wife for Yitzhak, who, after all, is the one who represents individuality and Din/justice. Life is serious business.
And
Yitzhak is also the one who will laugh in the future. It is serious business, but, on the other hand, come on, don’t take your self so seriously.
Have a great Shabbos,
Simcha Frischling
