Sunday, November 4, 2007

A gift of a life's work

B"H

Bereshit (Genesis) Ch. 24:10 reads:
ויקח העבד עשרה גמלים מגמלי אדניו וילך וכל טוב אדניו בידו

Loosely translated:
And the servant (=Eliezer) too ten camels from his master's (=Avraham) stock and he went on his way and the entire wealth of his master in his hand.

Rash comments on the words "and the entire wealth of his master in his hand":
...שטר מתנה כתב ליצחק על כל אשר לו

Loosely translated:
Avraham wrote a bill-of-gifting to Yitzhak of his entire wealth.

In other words, prior to sending Eliezer to find a wife for his son Yitzhak, Avraham wrote his entire wealth over to Yitzhak and gave the bill to Eliezer as proof of Yitzhak's immense wealth, so that the parents of the prospective bride will be more willing to give their daughter's hand in marriage.

So, a few issues arise from Avraham's transaction:
1. How would Avraham sustain himself without any worldly possession or any money. This question is especially troubling considering that Avraham is known to live about 50 years after this episode.
2. Why would Avraham gift everything over to his son? Since Avraham was super-rich, he could have gifted him a portion of his entire wealth which would have still be considered a very respectful sum in the eyes of the prospective bride.
3. Avraham's wealth is destined to be given to Yitzhak as inheritance in any event, why bother gifting it. Essentially, Avraham has given to Yitzhak his inheritance while Avraham's still alive.
4. Why would Yitzahak even accept such a gift, since, As the Rambam write in the very last halacha in Sefer Kinyian that a righteous person should not accept gifts...

An explanation:
Hashem has created imperfection in the world so that the Jewish people can occupy themselves with rectifying the world through the performance of mitzvas i.e., G-d's will. Since the world itself is physical in nature, to rectify it one needs physical tools. However, since the master plan (being G-d's plan) is spiritual, one needs spiritual faculties to perceive it. In other words, in order to implement G-d's plan one spiritual faculties combined with physical tools.

Yitzhak symbolizes the Jewish neshama (=soul), while Rivka symbolizes the Jewish body (need citation). Their marriage symbolizes the descent and infusion of the Jewish neshama with the Jewish body. This combination, i.e., a Jewish person, is exactly what's needed in order to put G-d's plan into motion and rectify the world -- spiritual neshama on the one hand, and a physical body on the other.

Yitzhak's marriage to Rivka is also the first Jewish wedding history. (Avraham and Sarah were both converts, and their wedding occurred prior to their conversion.) Since Yitzhak's wedding to Rivka is the first Jewish wedding, it sets the tone for all subsequent weddings for the rest of eternity. As is the case with a neshama infusion with a body, a Jewish marriage is a vehicle to enable the bride and groom to perform G-d's will at a level higher than at which the bride and groom may have been able to perform on their own.

This then explains Avraham's behavior: The marriage of Yitzhak and Rivka paves the road to Jewish wedding for the rest of eternity through which enables a couple can perform G-d's will at a higher level (hence rectify the world at a higher level.) The end product of the rectification of the world is the revelation of G-d in every aspect of physical existence. It will be as clear as day that Hashem is running the show and is involved in every minuet detail. This is essentially Avraham life's mission: to spread G-d's name throughout the world through love and kindness by teaching people how to acknowledge, recognize and thank Hashem in every aspect of life. Ultimately, his mission is to expose Hashem in every aspect of physical existence.

Since Yitzhak's marriage to Rivka embodies Avraham's life's mission, he completely invested himself in their marriage. This is true in the spiritual/emotional sense. But this is just as true in the physical sense, which explains why Avraham wrote his entire wealth over to Yitzhak, thereby completely investing himself in his marriage, paving the road of Jews to walk on for all the generations, rectifying the world though the performance of mitzvas and acts of kindness.