Dvar Torah

Parshas Chayei Sarah

In last week's Parsha, Chayei Sarah, the first Jewish marriage takes place between Yitzchak and Rivka. On one side there was Yitzchak, the first Jew who was "holy from birth," born to righteous parents and entered into the covenant with Hashem when he was eight days old. He was raised in a home of immense holiness and purity, and was ordained to a life of serving Hashem when he was "sacrificed" by his father on Har HaMoriah. He was so holy, that he was forbidden to leave the sacred confines of the Land of Israel. On the other hand there was Rivka; daughter of the pagan Betuel and sister of Lavan, who was known for his dishonorable character. She grew up in Charan, a city known for corruption amongst its inhabitants. And now, she was going to marry one of the holiest men. Eliezer, Avraham's most trusted servants mission was: to be the shadchan. The Lubavitcher rebbe said in a lecture that: the first Jewish wedding is so elaborately described in the Torah because it is a metaphor that we can apply to our lives. We are all Eliezer's, and our mission is to create a shidduch even stranger than the one between Yitzchak and Rivka. One party is Hashem, who radiates selflessness and spirituality, and the other party is our mundane world, which is riddled with materialism and egotism, two complete opposites. Our mission, set up the marriage of the two. We are the perfect shadchan because we are a juxtaposition of the two. On one hand we are humans who have our needs, and on the other a divine soul with a fervent love and desire to serve our creator. One who can balance these opposing factors in his life is surely capable of fusing the groom, Hashem, and the bride, this world. Have a great Shabbos!