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The following, which is taken from RSRH's commentary on Bereishis 24: 17
- 20 gives insight into what Gemilas Chassodim is all about. <br><br>
<font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=4><b>17
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>The servant ran toward her
and said: Let me please sip a little water from your pitcher.<br><br>
</i></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=4>18
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>She replied: Drink, my
lord! And she hurried and let down her pitcher upon her hand and gave him
drink.<br><br>
</i></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=4>19
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>When she had finished
giving him drink, she said: I will draw for your camels also, until they
have finished drinking.<br><br>
</i></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=4>20
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>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.<br><br>
</i></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>17 - 20 </b>It is
not as Eliezer, but as “the servant,” in the demeanor of<br>
a servant, that he runs to meet Rivkah. He asks her for “a little
water”<br>
to “sip.” She, however, replies, “Drink,” and addresses him as “my
lord,”<br>
even though he stands before her as a servant. Then she proceeds,
step<br>
by step, to reveal herself as the woman who — because her spirit is<br>
akin to Avraham’s spirit — is worthy of becoming the successor to<br>
Sarah.<br><br>
Eliezer hopes that she will add: “. . . and I will give your camels<br>
drink also” (see v. 14). At first, however, she says nothing about
the<br>
camels. Only after she has completely quenched his thirst does she
say:<br>
“I will also draw water for your camels until they have finished
drinking.”<br>
Here we have a demonstration of one of the characteristic traits of<br>
the true </font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>Gomel
Chesed</i></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>, a sure sign of
the Jewish </font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>Aishes
Chayil</i></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>. Had Rivkah
said<br>
immediately what she had in mind to do ultimately, she would have<br>
shown herself to be a chatterbox who boasts of her good deeds.
Rather,<br>
only after the servant has finished drinking does she offer to draw
water<br>
for his camels, too. And she offers not only to give them a drink
(this,<br>
too, is quite a tiresome task: giving just one pitcherful of water to
each<br>
camel entails making ten trips down to the well and drawing the
bucket<br>
ten times), but to draw water and fill up the watering trough again
and<br>
again until </font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>all ten camels
have drunk their fill</i></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>! (A
camel drinks enough<br>
at a time to enable it to go a long while without drinking, which
may<br>
account for its name,
“</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>Gamal</i></font>
<font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>,” to wean, make
self-sufficient.)<br><br>
With it all, how quick and eager she is:
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>va't'maher</i></font>
<font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>va'taratz</font>
<font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>. She does not<br>
hesitate and is not slow to move when given an opportunity to
perform<br>
an act of kindness.<br><br>
Note, too, that she empties into the watering trough whatever water<br>
Eliezer has left in the pitcher. She could have left it in the pitcher
or<br>
poured it out on the ground. But the way of a
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>Gomel Chesed</i>
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>is to be sparing<br>
in the use of goods and resources, just as he can be extravagant in<br>
lavishing them upon others. Precisely because he views everything —<br>
even things of the slightest value — as a means for performing a
mitzvah,<br>
for fulfilling one’s duty, everything is sacred in his sight. He
will<br>
not waste any of his resources, not even a drop of water. At the
same<br>
time, there is no end and there are no bounds to his willingness to
give<br>
of himself and of his substance for the sake of a good
cause.</font></body>
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