Liberation of the Rose

Now today I came to the spring…" (Gen. 24:42)

Rashi comments: "I left today and arrived today." Eliezer merited a miraculous contraction of the earth so that his entire journey was completed in a single day.

G-d set the laws of nature in place and does not change them without reason. What was the necessity for this miracle? It is in the rose's merit that the thorns are watered and cared for…

Rebecca in her parents' home was a "rose among the thorns". The thorns protect the rose, but it is in the rose's merit that the thorns are watered and cared for. Until the proper time had arrived to liberate Rebecca, Abraham could not send Eliezer on a mission to do so. Once the time came, however, it would have been wrong to leave Rebecca there for even one unnecessary day. Eliezer's miraculous journey, therefore, was necessary, for he could not leave a day earlier, and yet he could not arrive even a day later.

Accordingly, Eliezer's mention of this miracle to Bethuel and Laban served an obvious goal. He knew that they would attempt to procrastinate. He therefore showed them conclusively that G-d had not only caused his mission to be successful, but that expedience was important enough to suspend the laws of nature.

As with all the events that occurred to the Patriarchs and Matriarchs, this one, too, will be re-enacted in the lives of their children. When the long-awaited time arrives for the rose to be liberated from among the thorns, for the Jewish people to be redeemed from their long exile, there will certainly not be even a moment of unneeded delay.

Furthermore, the marriage of Isaac and Rebecca, being a precursor to the revelation of the Torah, expressed the general revelation of God in the world, while the revelation of God in the Temple and through the prophets were particulars of this general revelation. Eliezer’s prayer for the match was therefore answered more quickly than were the other two prayers.

In Kabbala, the marriage of Isaac and Rebecca expresses the unification of two of the four principle ways of spelling out the Name of God. Isaac is identified as the Name of God spelled out so that its numerical value is 45, while Rebecca is identified as the Name of God spelled out so that its numerical value is 52. As is explained in Kabbala, the union of these two variations on God’s Name is the essence of our study of the Torah and performance of its commandments.

Based on Likutei Sichot, vol. 1, pp. 34-36; vol. 20, pp. 91-99; Hitva’aduyot 5742, vol. 1, pp. 399-405

Copyright 2001 Chabad of California / http://www.LAchumash.org