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November 13, 1998/ 24 Cheshvan 5759, Vol. 51, No. 8
Rebecca, not Isaac, is model of holiness
Torah Study
RABBI LAWRENCE TROSTER
Chayei Sarah/Genesis 23:1-25:18
Psalm 24 asks: "Who may ascend the mountain of the Lord? Who may stand in his holy place?" The answer given is: "He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who has not taken a false oath by my life or sworn deceitfully" (Psalm 24:3-4).
The medieval commentator David Kimhi of Provence (1160-1235) felt that the answer to the question lists three requirements: proper action - clean hands; proper thoughts - pure heart; and faith in speech - not swearing deceitfully. We might say that these characteristics constitute the complete person of religious integrity. In thought, action and speech, such a person is in harmony with God and the world.
Abraham, in all his actions, thoughts and speech, had full integrity and faith. He has clean hands because he took nothing for himself when he intervened in the war of the kings. He has a pure heart because he believed in God's promise. He did not swear falsely before Nimrod and did not take God's name in vain before the king of Sodom.
Jacob, also, possesses all the proper qualifications to stand in God's holy place. He had clean hands because he did not steal from his uncle Laban. He has a pure heart because he did not know of Rachel's theft of her father's idols. And he did not take God's name in vain like Laban, but swore truly by his father's faith.
So how did Abraham's grandson Jacob learn to follow his path? It could not have been through his father, Isaac, for Isaac was not a person of balanced piety. He was someone who rarely acted. He reacted or was acted upon.
He was bound and willingly gave himself to the knife, but he had nothing to do other than not resist. He did not even search for his own wife, it was done for him. And when it came time to designate his heir, he lacked the foresight to choose correctly. So the choice was made for him by the true heir to Abraham's example, the one who fulfilled the requirements of the psalm and taught it to her son.
Rebecca was the real link in the chain of the tradition, and all of her character and future actions are illuminated to us the very first time we meet her in this week's Torah portion.
Abraham's servant has traveled to Nahor in Aram-naharaim in order to find a wife for Isaac from among Abraham's relatives. After his arrival, the servant makes a strange request of God. He asks for a particular sequence of events to occur which will reveal to him the proper choice of bride for his master's son. Suddenly, Rebecca appears and miraculously fulfills the whole sequence, thus proving her to be the right choice. But it is not only the fact of her fulfilling the sequence that marks her out; it is also how she is described. All of the verbs in Hebrew referring to her are verbs of movement, action and speed.
Ovadiah Seforno, the 16th century Italian Bible commentator, said that Rebecca's hurriedness in getting the water reveals how important the action was to her. He felt that her speed revealed her hospitality.
Contrast Rebecca's actions with the reactions of her brother, Laban. When he is told by Rebecca of what has happened, he too runs to the well, but not in hospitality. He runs only to look at the wealth and riches of the servant.
The mention of Laban seeing the riches first is a sign of his future greediness in his relations with Rebecca's son Jacob. And Rebecca's actions also portend her future behavior.
In the future, when she knows that Jacob was the one who had to inherit the legacy of Abraham, she is willing to risk everything, even to the point of having the curse of her husband come down upon her. She is willing to suffer the consequences in order to save the future.
Because of her courage, her initiative and her integrity, Rebecca is the real link between Abraham and Jacob. Like them, she teaches us how to ascend to the holy mountain in harmony with God and the world.
Rabbi Lawrence Troster is adviser to students and visiting lecturer in professional skills in the Rabbinical School of the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York City.
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