Thursday, October 28, 2021

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.

Rabbi Frand began the vort by quoting Bereishis 24:5 wherein the Torah states that Eliezer asked Avraham -  אוּלַי֙ לֹֽא־תֹאבֶ֣ה הָֽאִשָּׁ֔ה לָלֶ֥כֶת אַֽחֲרַ֖י אֶל־הָאָ֣רֶץ הַזֹּ֑את - maybe she won't go with me? However the Torah spells the word אוּלַי֙ without the Vuv. Rashi comments that it is spelled that way because Eliezer had a daughter and he had hoped that Yitzchak would marry her. Avraham put those dreams to rest, telling Eliezer in no uncertain terms that since Eliezer came from Canaan he was cursed and his daughter could not wed Yitzchak who was blessed.

However, despite this gut punch, Eliezer quickly went about his way to find a bride for Yitzchak. 

R' Frand quoted the sefer Arugas HaBosem which ties this story into a Gemara in Chullin which states that each creature was asked whether it accepted its form before it was created. The elephant was asked - would you like to be an elephant and he accepted it. So did the cockroach (for reasons I can't fathom).

Much in the same way, the earth and the heavens accepted their roles when Hashem created them. This can be seen in the word for earth being Eretz - it has the word Ratz (run) as the earth ran to do what Hashem asked it to do.

The Arugas HaBosem writes that Eliezer learned from the earth and quickly ran to perform his assigned task. This tie in can be seen numerous times in the parsha. By example when Eliezer is sworn by Avraham in Bereishis 24:3, wherein it states וְאַשְׁבִּ֣יעֲךָ֔ בַּֽיהֹוָה֙ אֱלֹהֵ֣י הַשָּׁמַ֔יִם וֵֽאלֹהֵ֖י הָאָ֑רֶץ. Later in the parsha where it states that Eliezer came to the well, Rashi teaches that the Eretz jumped for him.

R' Frand also quoted a pasuk from Tehillim which states that Hashem's eyes are on the Ne'emanei HaAretz. It does not call them the Tzadikim, but those of the land who will honestly do Hashem's work. 

R' Frand remarked that many times a person has a belief of what their tafkid should be - a law student may want to be a Supreme Court Judge, but winds up hearing disability appeals. A student in Beis Medrash may want to be a Rosh Yeshiva, but instead is a 6th grade Rebbi. The message is that Hashem places us where we belong and we need to run to do our mission, even if it is not glamorous, or what we dreamed our job would be.

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