Happenstance – Chayei Sarah
הַשִּׁעוּר מֻקְדָּשׁ לִרְפוּאַת שִׂמְּעוֹנָה בַּת שָׂרָה
וַיֹּאמַר ה' אֱ-לֹקֵי אֲדֹנִי אַבְרָהָם הַקְרֵה נָא לְפָנַי הַיּוֹם וַעֲשֵׂה חֶסֶד עִם אֲדֹנִי אַבְרָהָם (בראשית כד, יב).
Avraham sends his servant Eliezer to find a wife for Yitzchak. The Gemara (סנהדרין צה, ע"א) says that Eliezer experienced קְפִיצַת הַדֶּרֶךְ, loosely translated as a kind of "teleporting", instant travel from one point to another at the speed of light. The distance from Canaan to Charan was many days travel, but Eliezer was instantly teleported to Charan, which the Gemara learns from the passuk, דִּכְתִיב "וָאָבֹא הַיּוֹם אֶל הָעָיִן" (בראשית כד, מב) לְמֵימְרָא דְּהָהוּא יוֹמָא נְפַק, i.e that he arrived the same day he left.
Eliezer, despite his conflicting hope that his daughter might one day marry Yitzchak, was now resolute to follow his master Avraham's bidding, devoid of any prior bias or ulterior motives. Eliezer asks HKB"H to "intervene" and give him some kind of sign that the woman he sees will be the right woman to marry Yitzchak. Eliezer concocts a scenario, a kind of a "test" that if the woman fits the criteria, it means that she is the right shidduch for Yitzchak. It is a test of chessed, "over-the-top chessed" actually - the kind of chessed that his master Avraham typifies.
There is a whole debate how Eliezer could do such a thing, which seemingly contravenes the Torah prohibition of לֹא תְנַחֲשׁוּ, but we will leave that discussion for another shiur, bli neder.
In this shiur I would like to concentrate rather on how Eliezer verbalizes this request for HKB"H to help him in his selection, הַקְרֵה נָא לְפָנַי הַיּוֹם.
The Malbim (ibid.) explains the word הַקְרֵה as follows, הַמִּקְרֶה הוּא דָּבָר הַבִּלְתִּי מְחוּיָּב מְסִבּוֹת הָרְגִילוֹת, וְזֶה הַהֶבְדֵּל בֵּין קוֹרוֹת וּבֵין מוֹצְאוֹת.
A מִּקְרֶה is something that is independent of normal circumstances, something that does not follow a predetermined pattern. This is the difference between a מִּקְרֶה and מְצִיאוּת (the Malbim calls it מוֹצְאוֹת). מְצִיאוּת, reality, is something that is the result of cause and effect.
Stated in colloquial terms, a מִּקְרֶה is something that happens by chance, there is no guiding hand behind it, it is just random.
In this shiur I will try to explore how "chance" is only in the eyes of the beholder.
Imagine if you were an innocent bystander in Charan, standing nearby the well, and you suddenly see a young girl (Rashi [בראשית כה, כ] says Rivka was only 3-years-old) going up and down, multiple times, to draw water for some unknown stranger's camels. Would it make a big impression on you? Would you rush back home to your wife and blurt out "Fatima, you will not believe what I just saw!"? In all likelihood, it would perhaps merit a second glance ("Um, that's curious") and be forgotten the next minute. It is a little out of the ordinary, but not enough out of the ordinary to seriously rock your world.
On the other hand, if you were Eliezer and you see Rivka (the first girl who just "happened" by) going back and forth to the well, shlepping heavy urns of water on her shoulders, it would be mind-shattering, because, to you, it is not something that "just happened", it is something monumental that happened by HKB"H's Guiding Hand.
Eliezer is teaching us in this passuk that "chance" does not exist. There is no such thing as chance. Everything that happens has a Guiding Hand behind it. This is later echoed in the תּוֹכֵחָה in parshat Bechukotai - וַהֲלַכְתֶּם עִמִּי בְּקֶרִי (ויקרא כו, כז). HKB"H chastises Am Yisrael for not acknowledging the Guiding Hand of HKB"H and attributing things to "chance".
Two people may look at the world and perceive it diametrically differently, depending on whether or not they apply this fundamental Torah principle.
I recently heard a riveting analysis by retired senior Shabak officer, Dr. Doron Matza from the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies, regarding current events in the world, which I would like to share with you here, because they paint reality in a completely different light that we should all be aware of.
Dr. Matza says that Am Yisrael experienced two major catastrophes previously in our history, that could have been prevented if we would have "read the signs" correctly. They occurred primarily due to our failure to recognize the impending disaster.
The first was the destruction of the second Beit HaMikdash.
The conflict between the Roman Empire and the Jewish Nation of Israel was not purely military. Yes, Eretz Yisrael is located in a strategic location, the gateway between the continents of Europe, Africa and Asia. However, the clash was much more deep-rooted, it was a clash between cultures. Am Yisrael represented a monotheistic moral culture of accountability, שָׂכָר וְעֹנֶשׁ, while pagan Rome represented a hedonistic culture of zero accountability. This was not to say that Rome were ignorant barbarians, they were the world superpower at the time. They made incredible advances in multiple fields - construction, sanitation, harnessing energy, government, communication, medicine, military, etc., many of which form the foundations for modern technology and society.
In order for the Roman culture to emerge as "superior", it was not sufficient to militarily defeat the Nation of Israel, they had to eradicate any remnant of the Jewish culture and morality. It was not enough to simply burn the Beit HaMikdash to the ground, the Romans had to totally flatten the city of Jerusalem צִיּוֹן שָׂדֶה תֵחָרֵשׁ (מיכה ג, יב), they ploughed the entire city into a "parking lot" Rachmana litzlan. They also could not allow the population to remain in situ, so they dispersed us throughout the Roman Empire.
For Am Yisrael it was almost an "extinction" event. We lost sovereignty over our own land, the wellspring and center of our faith and religious leadership, the Mikdash and the integrity of our population. Almost 2000 years later, we have still not yet fully recovered from that catastrophe.
This disaster was preventable, if we would have correctly read the "signs" and prevented the deterioration that led to the cataclysm.
170 years prior to חֻרְבַּן בַּיִת שֵׁנִי, Israel and Rome enjoyed very close political and commercial ties. It began with an internal dispute between the sons of king אָלֶכְּסַנְדֶּר יַנַּאי – Yehuda (Aristobulus) and Yochanan (Horkenus) over ascension to power after their father's death. This resulted in a civil war between the two. Unable to resolve this internal conflict, the warring brothers turned to Rome (general Pompeii) to mediate. It was this invitation that gave Rome their initial footprint in Israel.
Rome was the superpower at the time and regarded Israel as a vassal state, but initially - also as a strategic ally. Roman influence, political, cultural and military, progressively infiltrated internal Israeli affairs, sanctioned by Israel who saw this as a "good thing".
However, the Romans from the outset were never interested in coexistence, only conquest. Once Israel woke up to this fact it was already too late. This gave rise to increasing resistance from Israel against Roman influence, which eventually resulted in direct military conflict and ultimate destruction.
The Romans never battled alone against Israel - they formed the first "Red-Green" alliance. This is how the Midrash describes it –
שָׁלשׁ שָׁנִים וּמֶחֱצָה הִקִּיף אַסְפַּסְיָאנוּס אֶת יְרוּשָׁלָיִם, וְהָיוּ עִמּוֹ אַרְבָּעָה דֻכָּסִין, דֻּכָּס דַּעֲרַבְיָא, דֻּכָּס דְּאַפְרִיקָא, דֻּכָּס דַּאֲלֶכְּסַנְדְּרִיָא, דֻּכָּס דְּפַלַסְטִינִי (איכה רבה א, לא).
This alliance consisted of Romans (Europeans), Arabs, Africans (south?), Egyptians and Palestinians (I am not making this up).
The Midrash tells us that each of the four "dukes" were entrusted with destroying one of the walls surrounding the Mikdash. The Africans, Egyptians and Palestinians succeeded in destroying their three walls, but the Duke of Arabia named פַנְגַּר, try as he might, could not totally destroy the fourth wall, the כֹּתֶל הַמַּעֲרָבִי, which remains standing to this day.
(This Midrash quote above was my addition, it was not part of Dr. Matza's talk).
The root cause that led to חֻרְבַּן בַּיִת שֵׁנִי was unresolvable political dissention within Am Yisrael prior to and during the conflict, the brothers Yehuda and Yochanan and the zealot factions in Am Yisrael who set fire to the food stores that could have sustained Jerusalem, enabling us to survive the Roman siege and remain a sovereign nation.
The next almost "extinction" event, according to Dr. Matza was the Holocaust.
This too was not a military battle between the Nazis and the Jews - it was a cultural battle. Although the Nation of Israel ceased to exist in 70 CE, our culture could not be fully extinguished, HKB"H ensured that it endure. It persisted throughout our centuries of exile, a constant thorn in the side of whichever country we happened to find ourselves in, resulting in repeated persecution and expulsion.
The Nazis regarded themselves as the "new order" that would replace the Jewish morality that had partially influenced other faiths such as Christianity and Islam. The Nazi culture itself was based on Teutonic, pagan, Roman roots.
It was not sufficient for the Nazis to physically eradicate the Jews - they had to also culturally eradicate the Jewish idea, Jewish morality. They too formed their own "Red-Green" alliance with all the Jew haters around the world, Christians and Muslims, who aided and abetted the Holocaust, actively or by their silent complicity.
The Holocaust was preceded by one of the greatest divisions in Am Yisrael since the destruction of בַּיִת שֵׁנִי. A cultural war raged within Am Yisrael between the Reform and Orthodox movements, that ripped our nation apart and continues to the present day.
The State of Israel was born out of the conflagration of the Holocaust and this internal conflict within our own nation.
Dr. Matza says that we are now facing a third "extinction" event. All the Jew haters around the world are once again rallying around a common cause – their inexplicable hate for Am Yisrael. Despite being on diametrically opposite poles of the cultural and political spectrum, we are once again witnessing a "Red-Green" alliance that has no common thread aside from their obsession to eradicate Jewish morality from the world.
The fanatic left, progressive movement seeks to eradicate biblical Judeo-Christian morality from the face of the earth and replace it with a "new order" of "equality" that will institutionalize their hedonistic lack of morality. The fanatic, radical Islam movement seeks to eradicate anything non-Islam from the world (including the progressive left), and are prepared to feign cooperation with the radical left around their common cause of Jew hatred. After they will get rid of the Jews chas vechalila, they will then move on to getting rid of the left progressives as well, just like they have done in every other place they infiltrate in the world.
All the Jew haters from "Arabia" (radical Islam), "Africa" (south), "Egypt", and "Europe" are once again rallying around the "Palestinian" flag, as stated in the Midrash above with a common mission – to eliminate the Jews, beginning with the only Jewish state - Israel.
As for Am Yisrael, instead of uniting to prevent and defend ourselves against this burgeoning international alliance against us, we continue to battle with one another and wage civil war, politically here in Israel and culturally in the USA.
Dr. Matza is very pessimistic as to the outcome of this "third repetition" of history with the exact same blueprint.
It has been a long time since I have heard such an insightful and thought-provoking analysis regarding what is happening in the world around us today.
What is lacking however from the above analysis is one small thing and it relates to how I began the shiur.
While undoubtedly well researched and factually correct, Dr. Matza is missing one critical element and that is what Eliezer is teaching us in our parsha. Nothing happens by chance. Nothing even happens because it matches a statistical pattern. The only reason things happen is because there is the Guiding Hand of HKB"H behind them.
What Dr. Matza's talk is lacking is the additional dimension of Tanachic prophecy and correlation with the Torah timeline.
The fundamental difference between the first Red-Green alliance and the current one is that the first (Roman) one was in year 3828 (from בְּרִיאַת הָעוֹלָם), which was 2172 years before the 6000-year deadline of בְּעִתָּה.
The difference between the second Red-Green alliance and the current one is that during the Holocaust, Am Yisrael were not a sovereign nation in our own land.
Yechezkel (פרקים לח, לט) details the war of גּוֹג וּמָגוֹג prior to HKB"H sending Mashiach at the end of time, 6000 years. According to the Vilna Gaon's calculation, the Geulah will commence approximately 200 years before the 6000 are up (we are now 213 years before that).
Yechezkel describes גּוֹג וּמָגוֹג as an alliance of HKB"H/Jew-hating nations who will attack the Nation of Israel from the north at the end of days.
In last week's shiur I stressed that our job is to leave HKB"H's cheshbonot up to Him and refrain from trying to predict the future. That we cannot understand the hidden codes in the Torah unless in hindsight.
But at the same time, when we are confronted with a clear sign, it is forbidden to ignore it. Our parsha teaches us that we cannot say "Oh that's just by chance, it doesn't mean anything! It is irrelevant".
HKB"H wants us to be attuned to the world and what is going on in the world. He wants us to look behind the events and try understand why they are happening. Doing the opposite brings curses.
When the election results in Israel turned out deadlocked, when the Arabs flocked in unprecedented droves to the ballots to vote, HKB"H is telling us – this is not chance, there is something at play here. I am communicating with you, figure out what I am trying to tell you!
Learn from previous mistakes, do not repeat them over and over again.
We cannot ignore warning signs given to us from an expert strategic analyst like Dr. Matza, we are forbidden to ignore them. But we need to also look beyond the signs themselves, ask not only what and how, but why!
Unlike Dr. Matza, I am not pessimistic about how this puzzle comes together. I am not pessimistic about Am Yisrael coming together. I know for a fact that HKB"H loves us, His chosen people, and everything that He does is for our benefit, directly or indirectly.
I believe we are living in rare historic times, one of, perhaps the nexus time in history. We are privileged to be witnessing, with our own eyes, a complete reset of the world. A stripping away of all illusions and delusions and a clear delineation and clarification between those who seek to build the world and those who seek to destroy it.
Along with the privilege comes responsibility. We do not have the luxury to sit idly by and let others do the work for us. Each of us has to be an active participant, to be highly attuned, to reach out - both to HKB"H and to our fellow Jew - and "help" HKB"H help us rather than the opposite. To heal the rift in our nation and forego ego and personal agendas.
The Midrash (ילקוט שמעוני, בראשית ה, כב) lists nine people who never died and went straight to Gan Eden, Eliezer is one of them. The Mefarshim bring numerous reasons why he merited this reward, but all the reasons they list are בֵּין אָדָם לַחֲבֵרוֹ. To be admitted alive into Heaven directly, like Chanoch, like Eliyahu, imho indicates some act of בֵּין אָדָם לַמָּקוֹם that made him worthy of being instantly connected with HKB"H.
Perhaps the reason is that Eliezer looked beyond everything circumstantial for the inner meaning. He sought out HKB"H even in the seemingly mundane, circumstantial. Perhaps HKB"H said "Eliezer is always looking for Me. I want him beside Me so he can get a better look".
According to the Midrash (ילקוט שמעוני, מלכים א', רמז קפד) the third Beit HaMikdash will be rebuilt in the month of Cheshvan. יְהִי רָצוֹן that this month we will bear witness to a healing process within Am Yisrael, the defeat of the axis of evil in the world and the Geulah that we have been longing for and praying for and the restoration of מַלְכוּת to HKB"H, the Creator of the universe. בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא יִהְיֶה ה' אֶחָד וּשְׁמוֹ אֶחָד, בבי"א.
Shabbat Shalom
Eliezer Meir Saidel
Machon Lechem Hapanim
www.machonlechemhapanim.org
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