Yitzchak was a grown man when Eliezer set off to find him a wife. The strong education that he had received from his parents had clearly had the desired impact, and Yitzchak lived by the same values of devotion to G-d as his parents had. (Thus, for example, when G-d commanded Avraham to offer Yitzchak as a sacrifice, Yitzchak was equally as willing to go ahead with it as was Avraham.) Now that Yitzchak was 40 years old, one would assume that he could be left to his own devices to find a wife, without needing parental assistance to ensure that he’d continue on the right path.
But good wasn’t good enough for Avraham. Avraham wanted to make certain that Yitzchak would encounter no hindrance whatsoever in marrying the right person and building a life on the path that G-d desired. Therefore, though Avraham still had many years to live, he parted with all his worldly possessions and gifted everything to Yitzchak in order to make him a more attractive suitor. As Rashi says, “Avraham wrote a deed gifting all he owned to Yitzchak, so that they [family of the prospective bride] would be eager to send him their daughter.”
Avraham demonstrated that even once our children and students are grown and mature, ready to build independent lives of their own, we mustn’t cease in guiding them in the right direction. We must continue to guide them toward the proper path even at the cost of tremendous personal sacrifice, thereby ensuring that they build their lives in accordance with the Torah’s eternal ways.
—Sichos Kodesh 5730, vol. 1, pp. 209–210
7. See Rashi, Bereishis 22:8.
8. Rashi ad loc.
