ויושם לפניו לאכל ויאמר לא אכל עד אם דברתי דברי וגו' (כד, לג)

And he said, “I will not eat until I say my words.” And they said, “Speak.” (24:33)

Not Eating Before the Shidduch is Finalized:

A story is told of a miserly man who owned an inn. One day, he invited his friend over to make a shidduch between their children. He first put out a meal, and then the shidduch was finalized. When his friend got up to go home, the innkeeper handed him a bill for the meal. He said,

“When you ate, you weren’t my mechutan yet. You were just a regular customer, so you must pay!”

The Dubno Magid zt”l uses this story to explain why Eliezer didn’t finalizing the shidduch. He knew that if he ate first, Lavan would make him pay for the food.

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