Riddles of the Week
(For answers see inside)
- There is a halachah in Shulchan Aruch (Even HaEzer 21:5): אסור להשתמש באשה כלל, בין גדולה בין קטנה, בין שפחה בין משוחררת, שמא יבא לידי הרהור עבירה, באיזה שמוש אמרו, אפילו ליצוק לו מים לרחוץ פניו ידיו ורגליו אפילו אינה נוגעת בו והצעת המטה בפניו, ומזיגת הכוס - "It is forbidden to use a woman to carry out a job, whether she is old, young, a maidservant or free, as it may lead to sinful thoughts. What type of job are we talking about? Even pouring water for one to wash his face, hands and feet, even if she doesn’t touch the man, nor should she make a bed, or pour a drink."
The question therefore is, how was Eliezer the slave of Avraham allowed to ask Rivkah: השקיני נא מעט מים מכדך – "Please give me a bit of water from your jug", surely doing so is in violation of the above halachah? - In this week’s parsha Eliezer says: לא אוכל עד אשר דברתי – "I am not going to eat until I have spoken" (24:33). We learn from this pasuk: דאין מסיחין בשעת הסעודה – "That one shouldn’t talk during a meal" (see Medrash Lekach Tov). The Gemara in Ta’anis (5b) also teaches: אין מסיחין בשעת הסעודה שמא יקדים קנה לושט - "One shouldn’t talk during a meal, as food may end up going down the air pipe instead of the food pipe." This halachah is paskened in Shulchan Aruch (Orach Chaim 170). The question is, most people aren’t concerned about this today and happily talk whilst eating, what are they relying on?
- We learn in this week’s parsha, that when Rivkah finally saw Yitzchak she fell off the camel. The pasuk says: ותרא את יצחק ותפל מעל הגמל – "She saw Yitzchak, and she fell off the camel" (Bereishis 24:64). The obvious question is, why did she fall off the camel, what scary thing did she see that caused her to fall off?
- Rashi (24:67) writes that Sorah Imeinu’s Shabbos candles burnt from erev Shabbos to erev Shabbos. The question is, which candle did she light first, the right one or the left one?