By: Jenna Raimist
Director of Annual Campaign
In this week’s Torah portion, Parashat Chayei Sara, Sara dies at the age of 127, and Abraham buries her in Canaan. Soon thereafter, as a result of his loss and feeling his age, Abraham sends his oldest and most trusted servant, Eliezer, to find a wife for Isaac. With a dowry including ten camels, Eliezer journeys to Nahor and stops outside the city for a drink of water, ultimately hoping he’ll find a woman both generous and kind to allow all eleven of them water from her pitcher. This is where he meets Rebecca, who does exactly that. Rebecca hurries home with news of this opportunity, and after meeting with Eliezer, asks if she would go with him to marry Isaac. She says yes.
Outside Nahor, Abraham tests Rebecca. He asks if he may sip from her pitcher, and with her yes, she encourages him that once he finishes she will draw water for his camels as well. While there could have been endless ways to judge and choose a woman to become the matriarch of the Jewish people, Eliezer ultimately chose kindness as the deciding factor.
In a world that is feeling less and less kind as the days roll by, it’s more important than ever to choose kindness. While we can’t control the world around us, we can continue to center kindness on an individual level, hoping that those generous, and often small acts of kindness, will create a ripple effect.
Shabbat Shalom.
Please email Jenna Raimist at jraimist@jewishcolorado.org with questions or comments.