Thursday, November 1, 2018

Thursday's Parsha Tidbits - Parshas Chaye Sarah

The following is a brief summary of some of thoughts said over by R' Frand on the parsha this evening. I have attempted to reproduce these vorts to the best of my ability. Any perceived inconsistency is the result of my efforts to transcribe the shiur and should not be attributed to R' Frand.

At the tail end of the 67 pesukim in which the Torah tells the story of Eliezer' quest to find a bride for Yitzchak, the Torah recounts the blessing which Lavan gives his sister. In Bereishis 24:60 Lavan blesses his sister and says that she should be "L'alfei Rivava". But even beyond wishing that her offspring multiply, he adds that they should inherit their enemies.

R' Frand noted that Minhag Yisrael has developed that the father of the bride gives this blessing to his daughter at the badekin (although the Kitzur writes that the elders of the city give the beracha, the concept is the same). But the meforshim struggle with why this beracha is given. Lavan is certainly not a good guy, why are his words the beracha that is given on this joyous day? R' Frand noted that the Mahashal would not say Mah Tovu when entering a shul because those words were uttered by Bila'am Harasha. So why is this our minhag?

R' Frand offered a solution that perhaps it has to do with Lavan offering the beracha of multiplying, even though he was not happy about the shidduch. He theorized, what would be the reaction of a secular man who saw his sister marrying a chassid and entering that lifestyle? And yet with that, and the pain which he felt at seeing this, he still gave her this beracha for success.

Perhaps this is the reason that we use this beracha. because if Lavan could look past his personal feelings and wish his sister (prophetically) that her offspring would inherit its enemies, we hope that our children will only have the best for them as well.

If you have seen this post being carried on another site, please feel free to click www.kosherbeers.blogspot.com to find other articles on the kosherbeers blogsite. Hey its free and you can push my counter numbers up!

No comments: