The Bearded Meshugener
That’s a very important point we’re studying now. Avraham’s actions were considered irrational by many people! Like the Navi Hosheia states (9:7), ַחּרוָה ׁ ̆יƒ‡ עָּ‚ֻׁ ̆¿מ – The man of the spirit seems insane to other people.
Anybody who demonstrates some idealism is considered a lunatic by people who lack that attitude. I remember about thirty years ago (1945), a man who wore a beard was considered a meshugener. If you walked through the streets of a Jewish district, they called you meshugener. Now, you’re not much of an idealist just because you wear a beard. But for the beardless, that was already meshuge. I remember that!
And don’t think that it’s any different today. A person who’s less idealistic than you, thinks that you’re an extremist. And the person just below him thinks he’s an extremist. If you go out to some far-off Jewish community, the wife of the rabbi, she’s an extremist because she covers her hair. And if you go further out, then the one who won’t drive to shul Shabbos, he’s the extremist.
But I want you to know something; it’s much more than that. Because even among the good ones, the best ones, the great tzaddik looks at a tzaddik that is greater than him and he thinks he’s too extreme.
Scorning The Better Ones
That’s what the Chachomim say in Medrash Rabah, Shir Hashirim on the possuk (8:7), ׁ ̆יƒ‡ ן≈ּ ̇ƒי םƒ‡ הָבֲהַ‡ָּב ֹו ̇י≈ּב ןֹהו לָּכ ̇∆‡ – if a man will give away all the wealth of his house for the sake of love on an ideal, זֹוּבֹלוּזוּבוָי – other people scorn him.
It means that when one person makes a big sacrifice for something that he desires – let’s say he goes all out for limud Torah; he gives up opportunities to make a good parnassah because he wants to stay in kollel. Or maybe he doesn’t travel places or run to every simchah because he wants to learn in the beis medrash every night – so other people will look down on him because for them it seems excessive to make such sacrifices.
Now, who is it speaking about over here? So we would think maybe the am haaretz; the man who never opens a sefer, and he sees the talmid chochom who learns till late at night in the beis medrash, or he stays all day Sunday in the beis medrash; he scorns that. He thinks the talmid chochom is an extremist.
Scorning Wealth
But that’s not it. It is, but it’s more than that. Listen now to the story that the Medrash uses to illustrate this possuk: Rabbi Yochanan was walking down the road with Rabbi Chiya bar Abba, his talmid, and they passed a farm where a lush crop of standing grain was swaying in the wind. It meant a successful year, a lot of wealth. A big crop sometimes means for a farmer success for years and years.
And so as they passed by, Rabbi Chiya commented on this field, about how beautiful and valuable it is.
So Rabbi Yochanan said, “It was once mine.”
“Yours?” said Rabbi Chiya. ‘So what happened?”
He said, “I sold it to learn Torah.”
Rabbi Chiya kept quiet.
As they continued down the road they passed a vineyard. And Rabbi Chiya again noted the big luscious grapes that were hanging in profusion and he made some remark about them. He admired the big clusters of grapes.
So, Rabbi Yochanan said, “This kerem was also once mine but I sold it in order to study Torah.”
Scorning a Rebbe
Then they came to a pardes, an orchard with all kinds of trees bedecked with fruits hanging from their branches; big juicy luscious fruits.
Rabbi Chiya was already afraid to say anything so Rabbi Yochanan said, “That was also mine once and I sold it to study Torah.”
This time Rabbi Chiya could not contain himself – he burst out weeping. He was thinking “How could it be? The rebbe was once so wealthy. His family bequeathed to him such a lavishness of wealth and today he is penniless. He sold it all so that he could learn Torah?!”
Now, Rabbi Chiya didn’t say to his Rebbe “Why did you do that?” He didn’t criticize him but in his heart he could not understand such extreme action. “To become pauperized in order to study Torah? You could study Torah without that. You can remain a wealthy man and still study Torah too. Maybe not as much but this is too extreme, to give away such wealth!” Reb Chiya wouldn’t say anything but he couldn’t control himself and he cried.
And the Medrash explains that this is the meaning of ֹלוּזוּבוָי זֹוּב. Rabbi Yochanan wasn’t understood, even by his closest talmid. Now, Rabbi Chiya was a big idealist in his own right and he made great sacrifices for learning Torah. You know, Rabbi Chiyah came all the way from Bavel to learn Torah; he forsook his home to come to Rabbi Yochanan’s yeshivah in Eretz Yisroel to learn Torah. Nevertheless Rabbi Yochanan was far superior to his talmid and the fire that burned in Rabbi Yochanan’s heart, the fire of ahavas haTorah, was too great even for Rabbi Chiya to understand.
Hunting Idealism
It means that the great idealist is misunderstood even by other idealists because what is in his heart is unknown to them. His love for his ideals and his desire to achieve shleimus is so powerful that it cannot be imagined by other people – even though they themselves are also great personalities. They don’t understand him! That’s an important rule to remember. When the big idealist meets somebody who is far above him, who towers with his head in the clouds far above him, he can’t understand him.
And that’s what Avraham was worried about when he thought of a shidduch with the family of Malkitzedek. And because he knew that the future of his family, the future nation, was being guided by the Hand of Hashem, Avraham had full confidence that somewhere there’s a girl who is worthy of this family of extremists. There must be someplace one pure perfect soul who was fit to be a mate for Yitzchok.
Now it could be that she would not be in Avraham’s family; but Avraham thought if it’s probable to find her anyplace, the most likely place is in my family. Because that family had never cast away its allegiance to Hashem and therefore the great traditions of decency, of kindliness and all the other aspirations of mankind for perfection could more readily survive in Avraham’s family in Aram Naharayim than anywhere else. It could have been not so, but Avraham was thinking ‘that’s the first place to go.’
Devising a Test
What happened when Eliezer arrived in Charan? You remember what he found there? He found a girl just as extreme as his master.
ּהָּב¿ך≈יל≈ל ה∆ˆֹרו םָ„ָ‡∆ׁ ̆¿ך∆ר∆„¿ּבֹו ֹ̇ו‡ יןƒיכƒלֹמו – In the way a man wants to go, Hashem helps him (Makkos 10b). And if Avraham was willing to forsake the local, convenient shidduch because he didn’t want to be encumbered with half-hearted, or three-quarters hearted servants of Hashem, so Hashem was going to help.
Eliezer decided on a test – it was his own idea – only that he prayed to Hakadosh Baruch Hu to help him succeed with his test. And the test was to see if he could find someone with a measure of idealism fit for this family, someone worthy enough of the house of Avraham.
Eliezer offered the following suggestion: “I’m going to ask one of the girls who come to the well to give me to drink and if she will offer to give water not only to me but even to my camels, then You, Hashem, should see to it that the right girl is there at that time to accept my offer.”
Not Looking For Politeness
Now what was the reason that Eliezer chose this stratagem, this idea of giving his camels to drink too? If he would request a drink of water and the maiden would graciously comply, that already would be a sign of good character. If she would have said, “Mister, I’m happy to share my water with you. And here, you can use my bucket too,” that would have been good enough. After all, why shouldn’t Eliezer draw it himself? He was able bodied and he had at least ten able-bodied men with him. And so if she would be polite enough and kindly enough to acquiesce, that’s enough – that’s a good sign.
But it would be a good sign only of politeness, of kindliness, and Eliezer was looking for something else. Politeness and dedication and chessed he could have found by Malkitzedek. No, he was looking for much more than that. He was looking for somebody who would be extreme and enthusiastic, someone who would be strange and over the top. That’s the one who would be befitting to be the mother of the Am Yisroel.
Magical Words
Now when he came to the place he saw a girl at the well and he put the fateful question to her, “Can you let me drink a little water from your pitcher?”
And she said, “Drink my master, drink.” And she lowered the heavy pitcher from her shoulder and she gave him to drink. She didn’t say “Take it off my shoulder please.” She lowered the heavy pitcher off her shoulder and held it into his mouth and he drank.
And when he finished, she said the magic words. בָ‡¿ׁ ̆∆‡ָיך∆ּלַמ¿‚ƒל םַּ‚ – “Could I have the privilege of drawing water for your camels too?” (Chayei Sarah 24:19).
And she didn’t say “I’ll give them a drink.” She said “Can I water your camels ֹּ̇ ̇¿ׁ ̆ƒלּוּלƒּכ םƒ‡ „ַﬠ, until they finish drinking” (ibid.). A camel never finishes drinking, you know. You have to force a camel to go away from the well; otherwise he’ll burst, he’ll founder.
And she didn’t wait for an answer; it doesn’t say that he said anything. Right away she ran to the well again and drew water and she began to give it to the camels. And she ran back and forth, again and again. She couldn’t walk because she had a big task ahead of her – she had to fill the troughs with water incessantly. As the camel approached, it dried up the trough with the first gulp. And so, she ran back and forth. There were ten camels and so it took her a long time.
Gasoline Jerry Cans
I must tell you a little secret. Don’t tell anybody I said it; but she looked crazy. It was actually like a meshuga’as. If we had been there, we would think she was off her head. ֹלוּזוּבוָי זֹוּב! Here is a man with a
