* Translated by Janine Muller Sherr
1) This Shabbat we read Parashat Chayei Sarah. The parasha opens with the death of our matriarch Sarah. Avraham eulogizes Sarah and cries for her and then seeks to bury her in Me’arat Hamachpela in the city of Chevron. He persists in carrying on long and detailed negotiations with the locals in order to pay for that plot of land and to publicize that it belongs to him. Towards the end of the parasha, Avraham also dies and is buried next to Sarah.
2) After Sarah dies, Avraham turns to the future and starts to look for a suitable wife for his son Yitzhak. He wants to find a person who is worthy of being the next link in the glorious chain of the Jewish people. For this important mission, he sends his faithful servant Eliezer to find a woman from Avraham’s own family and not from the local residents.
3) But there was one important criterion that the future bride would need to fulfill: She would need to possess the quality of chesed—kindness. Eliezer orchestrates a kind of “audition” for Yitzhak’s potential mate: He arrives at the well, meets Rivka, and asks her for water to drink. Not only does Rivka give him to drink, but she also gives water to his camels. In other words, what she gives far exceeds what she was asked to give. This is the sign that she is fitting to become of the matriarchs of the Jewish people. Notice that it is neither money nor beauty but her exemplary character that determines her suitability. Yitzhak and Rivka marry and from their union our story continues until this day.
4) On this Shabbat—Shabbat Chayei Sarah—tens of thousands of people come to Chevron to visit Me’arat Hamachpeila.
5) This Shabbat is also known as “Shabbat Mevarchim,” the Shabbat before Rosh Chodesh. Rosh Chodesh Kislev will be observed next Friday.
Shabbat Shalom!
