[Avodah] Gemilas Chassodim

[Prof. Levine]

The following, which is taken from RSRH's 
commentary on Bereishis 24: 17 - 20 gives insight 
into what Gemilas Chassodim is all about.

17 The servant ran toward her and said: Let me 
please sip a little water from your pitcher.

18 She replied: Drink, my lord! And she hurried 
and let down her pitcher upon her hand and gave him drink.

19 When she had finished giving him drink, she 
said: I will draw for your camels also, until they have finished drinking.

20 And she hurried and emptied her pitcher into 
the watering trough and ran again to the well to 
draw, and drew for all his camels.

17 -  20 It is not as Eliezer, but as “the servant,” in the demeanor of
a servant, that he runs to meet Rivkah. He asks her for “a little water”
to “sip.” She, however, replies, “Drink,” and addresses him as “my lord,”
even though he stands before her as a servant. Then she proceeds, step
by step, to reveal herself as the woman who — because her spirit is
akin to Avraham’s spirit — is worthy of becoming the successor to
Sarah.

Eliezer hopes that she will add: “. . . and I will give your camels
drink also” (see v. 14). At first, however, she says nothing about the
camels. Only after she has completely quenched his thirst does she say:
“I will also draw water for your camels until they have finished drinking.”
Here we have a demonstration of one of the characteristic traits of
the true Gomel Chesed, a sure sign of the Jewish Aishes Chayil. Had Rivkah said
immediately what she had in mind to do ultimately, she would have
shown herself to be a chatterbox who boasts of her good deeds. Rather,
only after the servant has finished drinking does she offer to draw water
for his camels, too. And she offers not only to give them a drink (this,
too, is quite a tiresome task: giving just one pitcherful of water to each
camel entails making ten trips down to the well and drawing the bucket
ten times), but to draw water and fill up the watering trough again and
again until all ten camels have drunk their fill! (A camel drinks enough
at a time to enable it to go a long while without drinking, which may
account for its name, “Gamal,” to wean, make self-sufficient.)

With it all, how quick and eager she is: va't'maher va'taratz. She does not
hesitate and is not slow to move when given an opportunity to perform
an act of kindness.

Note, too, that she empties into the watering trough whatever water
Eliezer has left in the pitcher. She could have left it in the pitcher or
poured it out on the ground. But the way of a Gomel Chesed is to be sparing
in the use of goods and resources, just as he can be extravagant in
lavishing them upon others. Precisely because he views everything —
even things of the slightest value — as a means for performing a mitzvah,
for fulfilling one’s duty, everything is sacred in his sight. He will
not waste any of his resources, not even a drop of water. At the same
time, there is no end and there are no bounds to his willingness to give
of himself and of his substance for the sake of a good cause.
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