[Avodah] Marriage and Love

Prof. Levine Larry.Levine at stevens.edu
Mon Nov 1 12:56:17 PDT 2010


At 12:39 PM 11/1/2010, R. Micha  wrote:

>It also depends what emotion destabilized Rivqa off her camel. Was
>she afraid of Yitzchaq, that he was too great for someone like her?
>Was it awe and excitement about the holiness of the man she was to
>marry?

According to RSRH Rivkah was not  "destablized" 
by emotion when she came down from the camel she was riding.

Below is how he translates Bereishis 24: 64 and his commentary on this Possuk.

64 Rivkah, too, looked up and saw Yitzchak, and 
she let herself slip down from the camel.

During the journey, Eliezer had undoubtedly made a point of telling
her about Yitzchak. As a result, she recognized him immediately; there
is no need to say that she had an “intuitive presentiment.” She may also
have recognized the field from Eliezer’s description, and, seeing the
manner in which Yitzchak walked straight through the field to meet
them, she may have concluded that here was the owner.

Vatepol, an intentional quick dismounting from the camel. As it says of
Na’aman: Vayipol mayal  hamerkavah 
l'krahso  (Melachim II, 5:21) — out of respect
for Elisha, what is more, for his servant. Here, too, when meeting
Yitzchak, Rivkah did not want to be riding high upon a camel’s back.
This, too, is characteristic. A haughty young lady, when meeting her
future husband, would certainly have preferred to come riding in state,
at the head of a long train of attendants, and then to permit him to
help her alight from the camel. But especially since Yitzchak was approaching
her on foot, she did not consider it proper to ride to meet
him. Moreover, riding was a sign of high rank, and Rivkah did not want
to appear as a grand lady when she met Yitzchak. This was not a premeditated,
calculated act on her part (if it had been so, her modesty
would have been merely an act, difficult to distinguish from arrogance);
rather, Vatepol, it all happened spontaneously, without calculation, the result
of intuition and correct feeling.


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