This Shabbos David Schlesinger led discussion. This Shabbos was a special Shabbos because it was the anniversary of Yaki’s barmitzvah parsha and Yaki’s Hebrew birthday. And this Shabbos we welcome Avishai back from Israel.
We discussed parsha Chayei Sarah, including commentary by Rav Yeager. In the parsha, Sara passes away and then Abraham sends out his servant, Eliezer, to find a wife for Isaac. Eliezer uses a test to see who will offer water to not only him but to his camel as well. The test seems to be too easy of a test to pass, and a a wife is quickly picked out.
Why did this “well test” end up working, even though it was so easy to pass? Avishai Schlesinger pointed out that the reason the test worked, was because of divine intervention and the fact the test did in fact represent a necessary condition. There is a story of another test, in which the first thing that leaves out of a yard is chosen. Avishai points out, however, that in this later case, there is absolutely no correlation at all between passing the test and any conceivable necessary condition so Hashem does not help out at all.
Norm commented that Eliezer may have been trying to come up with a test that would pick a wife as quick as possible, so that he would not be tempted by the evil inclination to offer up his own daughter to be the wife of Isaac.
One of the discussions we had which is brought up by Rav Yeager, is why a slave was chosen to do this test. What are the differences between a slave and and a child. Who is better able to carry out the wishes of the master? It would seem that a slave would feel more pressure to be “like” the master and carry out his wishes, but Avishai points out that a slave has spent most of his life somewhere else and is simply with the master for economic reasons. Perhaps a child would be more likely to represent the wishes of his father.
One of the discussions we had which is brought up by Rav Yeager, is why a slave was chosen to do this test. What are the differences between a slave and and a child. Who is better able to carry out the wishes of the master? It would seem that a slave would feel more pressure to be “like” the master and carry out his wishes, but Avishai points out that a slave has spent most of his life somewhere else and is simply with the master for economic reasons. Perhaps a child would be more likely to represent the wishes of his father.
Efroni points out in his commentary that we can learn more about the parsha, and perhaps help answer our questions by taking a look at the Midrash. He starts out making the comment about the midrash that those who do not believe any of them have no heart, and those who believe all of them have no brain. He then goes on and says that all of the midrash are true, but they are not true. Efroni then clarifies that what is not true is that the literal events took place. But the stories that are told help teach us truths and help us learn concepts from the Torah that we may have otherwise missed.
We discussed Efroni’s commentary. Efroni comments that just like Abraham and Sara are compliments for each other, so too are Isaac and Rivka. Efroni comments that, Sara was more of the “indoors” person, whereas Abraham was more of the “outdoors” person. With Isaac, the roles are reversed. Isaac was more of an “indoors” person, which necessitated finding an “outdoors” person to be his wife. Efroni concludes his commentary with the observation that the jewish people are not a bunch of independent people all with different goals. We are one “organism” all descendant from Abraham – all with the same goal of finding wholeness, that can be achieved by finding people that compliment ourselves.
This Shabbos was the anniversary of Yaki’s barmitzvah parsha, as well as his Hebrew birthday! David talked about how Yaki is a person who has a lot of patience. Yaki waited many years to finally have a great neighbor. Yaki finally received this neighbor with not only an open gate, but an open house as well. David talked further about the importance of resisting short term temptation and inclination, and remaining focused on long term goals, and how this is a major challenge that we all face.
Yaki posed a series of questions, with respect to why it would seem that Sara would pass away upon hearing such bad news about her son. Yaki later answers the questions, that Sara would have passed away anyhow at this moment of time. Yaki has given many interested dvar Torah. Many of them conveying to us that we all have purposes and missions to carry out. In his commentary, Yaki has noted that we often have obstacles in our path that are there by design and part of our mission is to overcome these obstacles.
David commented last Shabbos that sometimes our mission may be that which we find easiest and seem to gravitate towards. This seems to contradict Yaki's commentary that our mission is that in which we face obstacles. Perhaps the truth is somewhere in the middle. It is not Hashem’s plans that I become a NFL quarterback, as there would be a very large number of obstacles to achieving that, but it is not his plan that I find the easiest thing possible.
We discussed Efroni’s commentary. Efroni comments that just like Abraham and Sara are compliments for each other, so too are Isaac and Rivka. Efroni comments that, Sara was more of the “indoors” person, whereas Abraham was more of the “outdoors” person. With Isaac, the roles are reversed. Isaac was more of an “indoors” person, which necessitated finding an “outdoors” person to be his wife. Efroni concludes his commentary with the observation that the jewish people are not a bunch of independent people all with different goals. We are one “organism” all descendant from Abraham – all with the same goal of finding wholeness, that can be achieved by finding people that compliment ourselves.
This Shabbos was the anniversary of Yaki’s barmitzvah parsha, as well as his Hebrew birthday! David talked about how Yaki is a person who has a lot of patience. Yaki waited many years to finally have a great neighbor. Yaki finally received this neighbor with not only an open gate, but an open house as well. David talked further about the importance of resisting short term temptation and inclination, and remaining focused on long term goals, and how this is a major challenge that we all face.
Yaki posed a series of questions, with respect to why it would seem that Sara would pass away upon hearing such bad news about her son. Yaki later answers the questions, that Sara would have passed away anyhow at this moment of time. Yaki has given many interested dvar Torah. Many of them conveying to us that we all have purposes and missions to carry out. In his commentary, Yaki has noted that we often have obstacles in our path that are there by design and part of our mission is to overcome these obstacles.
David commented last Shabbos that sometimes our mission may be that which we find easiest and seem to gravitate towards. This seems to contradict Yaki's commentary that our mission is that in which we face obstacles. Perhaps the truth is somewhere in the middle. It is not Hashem’s plans that I become a NFL quarterback, as there would be a very large number of obstacles to achieving that, but it is not his plan that I find the easiest thing possible.
This is a summary of what we discussed. No Halachic rulings are intended or should be inferred.
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