[Avodah] A Question About Yitzchok Taking a Canaanite Wife

[T613K at aol.com]

From: "Prof. Levine" _Larry.Levine at stevens.edu_ 
(mailto:Larry.Levine at stevens.edu) 


Bereishis 24: 3 says I will make you swear by God, the God of heaven  
and the God of earth, that you will not take a wife for my son from among  
the
daughters of the Canaanites in whose midst I dwell.

Did Avraham  really think that if Eliezer brought Yitzchok a Canaanite 
woman to be his  wife that Yitzchok would have accepted such a 
Shidduch?   ....
 
If this reasoning is correct, then I do not understand why Avraham  
made Eliezer take this vow. Why not make Eliezer take a vow that he  
would take a wife for Yitzchok from Avraham's family?

I have no  answer.

YL

 
 
>>>>>
 
Rashi says that if Eliezer couldn't bring back a wife for Yitzchak from  
Avraham's family, then he was to find a wife for Yitzchak from the daughters 
of  Aner, Eshkol or Mamre.  They were not of Canaanite stock.  I'm not  sure 
but I think they were Shemites.
 
Rashi also says that Eliezer himself couldn't be a mechutan to Avraham  
because he /was/ of Canaanite stock, hence "cursed," and blessed cannot marry  
cursed.
 
Sometimes I wonder if Eliezer's daughter, who must have known Yitzchak well 
 (after all, her father was in charge of all of Avraham's holdings), was in 
love  with Yitzchak and was left with sad disappointment when Avraham 
rejected the  match outright.
 

--Toby  Katz
==========

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