Match Made in Heaven

(66) ויספר העבד AND THE SERVANT RELATED — He reported to him the miracles that had been wrought for him — how the earth had shrunk for him, and how Rebecca was ready for him in response to his prayer (Genesis Rabbah 60:15).

(64) ותפל SHE ALIGHTED (literally, she fell) — She let herself slide towards the ground; as the Targum renders it וארכינת —she inclined herself towards the earth, but did not actually reach the ground. Similarly in (Genesis 24:14) “let down thy pitcher, I pray thee”, the word הטי let down, Onkelos translates by ארכיני “incline”, and (Psalm 18:10) “He bowed (ויט) the heavens” he translates by וארכין which means “He bent them towards the ground”. A similar idea is (Psalms 37:24) “Though he fall (יפול) he shall not be utterly cast down” which is as much as to say, “though he bends himself towards the earth yet he shall not touch the ground (i. e. shall not fall entirely)” (Genesis Rabbah 60:15).

(66) ויספר העבד ליצחק, to inform him of all the miracles he had encountered on the way to carrying out his mission. This was to convince Yitzchok that Rivkah was destined for him from heaven.

(64) ותפל SHE ALIGHTED (literally, she fell) — She let herself slide towards the ground; as the Targum renders it וארכינת —she inclined herself towards the earth, but did not actually reach the ground. Similarly in (Genesis 24:14) “let down thy pitcher, I pray thee”, the word הטי let down, Onkelos translates by ארכיני “incline”, and (Psalm 18:10) “He bowed (ויט) the heavens” he translates by וארכין which means “He bent them towards the ground”. A similar idea is (Psalms 37:24) “Though he fall (יפול) he shall not be utterly cast down” which is as much as to say, “though he bends himself towards the earth yet he shall not touch the ground (i. e. shall not fall entirely)” (Genesis Rabbah 60:15).

(64) ותרא את יצחק AND SHE SAW ISAAC — She saw his lordly appearance and gazed at him in astonishment (Genesis Rabbah 60:15).

(67) ותהי לו לאשה ויאהבה, he discovered her many virtuous qualities including her chastity, qualities he had admired in his mother Sarah. Seeing that most husbands love their wives, the statement “he loved her,” here, must have an additional significance. The Torah writes this to tell us that Yitzchok loved the outstanding qualities of Rivkah. This is why the statement is followed by the line

(67) האהלה שרה אמו INTO HIS MOTHER SARAH’S TENT — He brought her into the tent and she became exactly like his mother Sarah — that is to say, the words signify as much as, [And he brought her into the tent] and, behold, she was Sarah, his mother). For whilst Sarah was living, a light had been burning in the tent from one Sabbath eve to the next, there was always a blessing in the dough (a miraculous increase) and a cloud was always hanging over the tent (as a divine protection), but since her death all these had stopped. However, when Rebecca came, they reappeared” (Genesis Rabbah 60:16).

(11) ויבך AND HE WEPT- because he foresaw by the Holy Spirit that she would not be buried with him in the cave of Machpelah (Genesis Rabbah 70:12). Another explanation is: he wept because he came with empty hands. He thought: Eliezer, my grandfather’s servant, had with him rings, bracelets and all good things, whilst I have nothing with me (Genesis Rabbah 70:12). This was because Eliphaz Esau’s son pursued Jacob by his father’s order to kill him, and overtook him. But because Eliphaz had been brought up on Isaac’s lap, (cp. Deuteronomy Rabbah 2:13) he withheld his hand. He said to him (Jacob), “But what shall I do as regards my father’s order?” Jacob replied, “Take all I have and you can say that I am dead for a poor man may be accounted as dead" (Nedarim 64b).

(11) וישק, since she had realised that Yaakov had done all this on her account, she accepted his kiss. Furthermore, he had told them כי אחי אביה הוא, i.e. a son of her father’s sister, a son of Rivkah, who was known to all the people of Charan to have become married to Yitzchok.

(13) וירץ לקראתו HE RAN TOWARDS HIM — thinking that he was laden with money, for the servant of that household (Eliezer) had come there with ten camels fully laden (Bereishit Rabbah 70:13).

(undefined) Genesis 29,11. “Yaakov gave Rachel a kiss, etc;” ‎‎[note that the Torah does not refer to Rachel’s physical ‎appearance until verse 17 after Yaakov had already worked for ‎him for over a month. Ed.]‎
Genesis 29,17. “and Rachel was shapely and ‎beautiful.” At first glance it is surprising that the Torah ‎appears to link Yaakov’s falling in love with Rachel in verse 18, ‎ויאהב יעקב את רחל‎, “Yaakov loved Rachel,” to the description ‎of her physical assets in verse 17. Is it possible that Yaakov, the ‎most highly admired of our patriarchs, was attracted by Rachel’s ‎physical features, and that this is why the Torah reports matters ‎in this sequence? Our sages called our attention to Yaakov’s ‎message to his brother Esau in Genesis 32,4 where he told him ‎עם ‏לבן גרתי‎, ”I have remained a stranger while with Lavan, etc.” The ‎numerical value of the letters in the word ‎גרתי‎, equals 613, the ‎number of commandments in the Torah. Yaakov reminded his ‎brother that during the entire period that he spent in Charan he ‎had observed the Torah, and therefore had little to fear. A man ‎who could make such a statement certainly did not marry Rachel ‎because he was smitten by lust to possess her shapely body. ‎Anyone who observes the 613 commandments is well aware of ‎the statement by Solomon in Proverbs 31,30 that ‎שקר החן והבך ‏היופי‎, that external attributes such as physical beauty or even a ‎graceful walk, etc., are deceptive and offer no clue to the owner’s ‎character.‎
We must look further for the reason why the Torah made a ‎point of mentioning Rachel’s physical attributes. I have heard ‎from my revered teacher the Maggid of Mezeritch Dov Baer, of ‎sainted memory, that we must understand this as follows. We ‎know that the principal attribute used by Yaakov in serving the ‎Lord is the attribute known as ‎תפארת‎, harmony, located in the ‎center of diagrams of the 10 emanations, ‎ספירות‎. Any physical ‎matter on earth, containing a “spark” from this emanation, is ‎spiritually elevated by the presence of this spark, regardless of ‎how secular it is by nature. Through this spark of the attribute of ‎תפארת‎, its host is brought closer to its roots in the celestial ‎regions, and engages in some degree of service to the Lord.‎
We must look further for the reason why the Torah made a ‎point of mentioning Rachel’s physical attributes. I have heard ‎from my revered teacher the Maggid of Mezeritch Dov Baer, of ‎sainted memory, that we must understand this as follows. We ‎know that the principal attribute used by Yaakov in serving the ‎Lord is the attribute known as ‎תפארת‎, harmony, located in the ‎center of diagrams of the 10 emanations, ‎ספירות‎. Any physical ‎matter on earth, containing a “spark” from this emanation, is ‎spiritually elevated by the presence of this spark, regardless of ‎how secular it is by nature. Through this spark of the attribute of ‎תפארת‎, its host is brought closer to its roots in the celestial ‎regions, and engages in some degree of service to the Lord.‎
When the Torah (Genesis 39,13) reports that Joseph ‎וינס ויצא ‏החוצה‎, “fled and went “outside,” to escape the efforts of ‎Potiphar’s wife to seduce him, he did so because he realized that ‎that woman had used her mode of dress to lure him into a sinful ‎relationship (Yuma 35). She had employed whatever holy ‎spark she possessed in a reverse manner, instead of a means to ‎come closer to her Creator. When Joseph escaped from her ‎presence he took with him this “holy spark” thereby serving his ‎Creator and paving the way for this “spark” that had escaped ‎from the Shechinah to find its way back to its roots.‎
It is known that Joseph, though, of course also serving the ‎Lord, did not do so by using principally the attribute of harmony ‎as his father was in the habit of doing. However, at this critical ‎juncture, in his fateful seclusion with the wife of his master ‎Potiphar, he resorted to the attribute of ‎תפארת‎ as the means to ‎avoid sinning.‎
It is also known that every tzaddik who serves the Lord, ‎regardless of which of the attributes in the diagram of the ‎emanations he uses as his primary model, will be granted a vision ‎of the tzaddik who had made that attribute his primary role ‎model in serving the Lord. When the Talmud Sotah 36 ‎relates that at the critical moment before the seduction, Joseph ‎had a vision of his father, it is a vision of the emanation of ‎תפארת‎ ‎that the Talmud refers to as having been seen by Joseph.‎

(20) ויהיו בעיניו כימים אחדים, “these seven years went by for him as if they had been only a few days.” Yaakov considered having to work for seven years in order to marry Rachel, as cheap at the price, as if he had paid only the equivalent of a few days’ wages for her. This reflected how much he was in love with her. If Lavan had demanded a higher price, he would also have been willing to pay it. While engaged actively in labouring, however, he felt the opposite way and could not await the time when he would finally be united with her.

(18) אעבדך שבע שנים I WILL SERVE THEE SEVEN YEARS — These are the “few days” of which his mother had spoken to him (27:44)): “And thou shalt tarry with him a few days”. You can see that this is so, for it is written (v. 20) “And they (the seven years) were in his eyes (i.e. according to his view) the few days” of which his mother had spoken (Genesis Rabbah 70:17).