RESPONSE TO THE CHESED OF RIVKAH
"And the man (Eliezer) took a golden nose-ring, one beka (half-a-shekel) its weight, and two bracelets he placed on her hands, weighing ten golden shekolim" (Bereshis 24:22).
The weight of Beka, explains Rashi, hints at the half-shekolim that Yisroel would later give in the desert to the upkeep of the Mishkan, and the two bracelets weighing ten golden shekolim, at the two stone tablets of the Ten Commandments.
When Eliezer saw the extent to which Rivkah excelled in the midah of chesed, he hinted to her that chesed is but one of the three pillars on which the world stands, and that there are two more: Avodah and Torah. So, he gave her the nose-ring, signifying the half-shekel, with which they would purchase the korbanos (the pillar of Avodah), and the bracelets, signifying the two Luchos containing the Ten Commandments (the pillar of Torah) - Gur Aryeh.
Significantly, the Maharal (Gur Aryeh on Rashi) says these three middos were given to the three avos: Chesed to Avrohom, Avodah to Yitzchak, and Torah to Yaacov.
Rivkah as a non-Jew could excel in the midah of Chesed. Avodah and Torah are for the Jews. Whereas an observant Jew is trained to excel in midos of Avodah and Torah, often additional effort needs to obtain the universal midah of Chesed.
BRACELETS ON HER HANDS
- Ohr haChaim: Her hands fit exactly, as if the bracelet was made her exact size
- Tiferes Zion: Avrohom gave a siman to Eliezer with the bracelets. The bracelets would exactly fit the correct person that was to be the wife of Yitzchak just like the crown fits the king.
- Avodah Zarah (44a): When the crown of Dovid was placed on a person fitting to be King, it conformed to the dimensions of that person’s head. This great miracle demonstrated the person’s royal pedigree to be the Jewish King.
The verse states (II Divrei haYamim 23,11) “and they brought out the King’s son and placed the “neizer” and the testimony upon him. (The verse speaks of Yoash, the sole survivor of Athaliah’s attempt to exterminate the male offspring of the line of Dovid. Yoash had been saved by his sister who hid him for six years.) The Gemara is explaining that when Yoash grew up and his supporters brought him out of hiding, they demonstrated his right to be King, by placing the crown of Dovid on his head.
The word “neizer” means a crown. How is it a testimony? Rav Yehuda in the name of Rav stated it is a testimony for the House of Dovid, that the crown fits whoever was worthy of kingship, and it did not fit whoever was not worthy of kingship.
Similarly, Avrohom passed the bracelets to Eliezer as a siman (just like the crown of Dovid) that the bracelets would conform to the arms of the person fitting to be the wife of Yitzchak, and would not fit anyone not fitting to be the wife of Yitzchak.
