Talmud reads Torah // Chayei Sarah

But her brother and her mother said, “Let the maiden remain with us some ten days; then you may go.” He said to them, “Do not delay me, now that the LORD has made my errand successful. Give me leave that I may go to my master.” And they said, “Let us call the girl and ask for her reply.” They called Rebekah and said to her, “Will you go with this man?” And she said, “I will.” So they sent off their sister Rebekah and her nurse along with Abraham’s servant and his men. And they blessed Rebekah and said to her, “O sister! May you grow Into thousands of myriads; May your offspring seize The gates of their foes.” Then Rebekah and her maids arose, mounted the camels, and followed the man. So the servant took Rebekah and went his way. Isaac had just come back from the vicinity of Beer-lahai-roi, for he was settled in the region of the Negeb. And Isaac went out walking in the field toward evening and, looking up, he saw camels approaching. Raising her eyes, Rebekah saw Isaac. She alighted from the camel and said to the servant, “Who is that man walking in the field toward us?” And the servant said, “That is my master.” So she took her veil and covered herself. The servant told Isaac all the things that he had done. Isaac then brought her into the tent of his mother Sarah, and he took Rebekah as his wife. Isaac loved her, and thus found comfort after his mother’s death.

"But her brother and her mother said, 'Let the maiden remain with us some ten days; then you may go'.” Where was Betuel? He wished to stall and was afflicted at night [...] "Let the maiden remain with us a few days" these are his seven days of mourning. "Or ten days" these are the 12 months a virgin to support herself. "And they said, 'Let us call the girl and ask for her reply'." From here we learn that an orphan girl is not married without her consent. "They called Rebekah and said to her, 'Will you go with this man?'" Rabbi Yitzhak said: she is coaxed (saying:) "will you go? Will you go?" "And she said, “I will." I go despite you and irrespective of you.

The Gemara asks: From where are these matters derived, that a virgin is given twelve months to prepare for her wedding? Rav Ḥisda said it is based on the fact that the verse states with regard to Rebecca: “And her brother and mother said: Let the damsel abide with us for days, or ten” (Genesis 24:55).

A bride is forbidden to her husband without the [marriage] benediction (sheva berachot) in the same manner as a niddah. Just as a niddah who has not immersed [in the ritual bath following menstruation] is forbidden to her husband, so too is a bride forbidden to her husband without the [marriage] benediction. Whence is the benediction of bridegrooms derived from the Torah? As it is stated: "And they blessed Rebekah (Genesis 24:60). And whence do we derive that even a widow is so forbidden? As it is stated: "And he took ten men of the elders of the city … And all the people that were in the gate, and the elders said, We are witnesses." "The Lord make the woman … and let thy house be like the house of Perez." (Ruth 4:2)

"Raising her eyes, Rebekah saw Isaac." Rav Huna said: she saw his hand flat in prayer and said to herself: he must be a great man. Therefore she asked about him [...] Two (women) covered themselves with scarves and gave birth to twins: Rebecca and Tamar. Rebecca, as it is written: "So she took her veil and covered herself." Tamar, as it is written: "So she took off her widow’s garb and covered her face with a veil." (Genesis 38:14)

Rava said to Rabba bar Mari: From where is this matter derived whereby people say: Sixty discomforts come to the teeth [lekhakha] of one who hears the sound of another eating and does not eat? [...] Rava said to him: You said the proof from there, from a verse in the Prophets, and I say the proof from here, from a verse in the Torah. As it is written: “And Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah’s tent, and took Rebekah, and she became his wife; and he loved her, and Isaac was comforted for his mother” (Genesis 24:67). And it is written immediately afterward: “And Abraham took another wife, and her name was Keturah” (Genesis 25:1). After seeing his son marry, Abraham was disquieted by the fact he was not married. This is akin to one who sees another eating and does not eat.

It was stated: Rabbi Yosei, son of Rabbi Ḥanina, said: The practice of praying three times daily is ancient, albeit not in its present form; prayers were instituted by the Patriarchs. However, Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said that the prayers were instituted based on the daily offerings sacrificed in the Holy Temple, and the prayers parallel the offerings, in terms of both time and characteristics. The Gemara comments: It was taught in a baraita in accordance with the opinion of Rabbi Yosei, son of Rabbi Ḥanina, and it was taught in a baraita in accordance with the opinion of Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi. The Gemara elaborates: It was taught in a baraita in accordance with the opinion of Rabbi Yosei, son of Rabbi Ḥanina: Abraham instituted the morning prayer, as it is stated when Abraham came to look out over Sodom the day after he had prayed on its behalf: “And Abraham rose early in the morning to the place where he had stood before the Lord” (Genesis 19:27), and from the context as well as the language utilized in the verse, the verb standing means nothing other than prayer, as this language is used to describe Pinehas’ prayer after the plague, as it is stated: “And Pinehas stood up and prayed and the plague ended” (Psalms 106:30). Clearly, Abraham was accustomed to stand in prayer in the morning. Isaac instituted the afternoon prayer, as it is stated: “And Isaac went out to converse [lasuaḥ] in the field toward evening” (Genesis 24:63), and conversation means nothing other than prayer, as it is stated: “A prayer of the afflicted when he is faint and pours out his complaint [siḥo] before the Lord” (Psalms 102:1). Obviously, Isaac was the first to pray as evening approached, at the time of the afternoon prayer. Jacob instituted the evening prayer, as it is stated: “And he encountered [vayifga] the place and he slept there for the sun had set” (Genesis 28:11). The word encounter means nothing other than prayer, as it is stated when God spoke to Jeremiah: “And you, do not pray on behalf of this nation and do not raise on their behalf song and prayer, and do not encounter [tifga] Me for I do not hear you” (Jeremiah 7:16). Jacob prayed during the evening, after the sun had set.

It is taught in a baraita that Rabbi Eliezer says: A person should request his own needs first and afterward recite the Amida prayer, as it is stated: “A prayer of the afflicted, when he is faint and pours out siḥo before the Lord. O Lord, hear my prayer” (Psalms 102:1–2). These verses indicate that one first requests help concerning his afflictions and pains, and only afterward pours forth his siḥa. And siḥa means nothing other than prayer, as it is stated: “And Isaac went out to meditate [lasuaḥ] in the field” (Genesis 24:63). Rabbi Yehoshua says: One should pray first and afterward request his own needs, as it is stated: “I pour out siḥi before Him, I declare before Him my trouble” (Psalms 142:3), which teaches that first one pours forth his siḥa, and only afterward speaks of his own troubles.