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“'Before You' or 'With You'"
-Based on a talk from the Rebbe, Likkutei Sichos, Vol 25, Chaya Sarah 2
Abraham sent Eliezer, his servant, on a mission (-Genesis 24:4), “you shall go to my land and to my birthplace, and you shall take a wife for my son, for Isaac.” Eliezer asks Abraham (-ibid, :4), “Perhaps the woman will not wish to go after me to this land. Shall I return your son to the land from which you came?” To which Abraham responds (-ibid, :6-7), “Beware, lest you return my son back there… G-d… He will send His angel before you, and you shall take a wife for my son from there.”
However, later on, when Eliezer relates all the events to Bethuel, father of Rebbeca, Eliezer says (-ibid, :40), “And he said to me, 'G-d… will send His angel with you and make your way prosper, and you shall take a wife for my son from my family and from my father's house.” Why did Eliezer change the words of Abraham to him?
Rashi himself previously (-ibid, 6:9) pointed out the difference between when one walks “before you” or “with you”: “‘Noah walked with G-d’: But concerning Abraham, Scripture says (-ibid 24:40): ‘[the L-rd] before Whom I walked.’ Noah required [G-d’s] support to uphold him [in righteousness], but Abraham strengthened himself and walked in his righteousness by himself.” Thus, why does Rashi not point out Eliezer’s change of Abraham’s words, being that the change is contextual, and not just of wording? Thus, we must say that Rashi, once explaining the contextual difference feels no need to have to explain why Eliezer made this change in his talking to Bethuel.
Explanation: The simple difference in meaning and in context between “with you” and “before you” is that “with you” means that the angel will be traveling with Eliezer, helping the to successfully fulfill his mission: “support to uphold him.” However, “before you” means that the angel will assure from before the success of Eliezer’s mission. This is a primary difference in the manner of the success of the mission. In the, “with you” the primary effort and action is that of Eliezer, and the angel is only adding its support for Eliezer’s success. However, in the “before you” the angel is not just helping, but prepares and assures beforehand the success of Eliezer’s efforts.
This is precisely what Abraham was saying to Eliezer, “He will send His angel before you.” That the success of Eliezer’s mission should be in a manner that G-d to begin with forewarns that it should play itself out correctly, without difficulties. And so it was!
At the very onset of how things unfolded: Upon arriving at (-ibid, :10-11), “Aram Naharaim… beside the well of water,” Eliezer did not have to wait at all, being that (-ibid, :12), “and behold, Rebecca came out,” More than this: This wasn’t even due to Eliezer’s prayer of (-ibid, :13), “and he said, "O L-rd, the G-d of my master Abraham, please cause to happen to me today,” because (-ibid, :15), “Now he had not yet finished speaking, and behold, Rebecca came out.” Meaning that before Eliezer finished his prayer, it was already to begin with set from Above that Rebbeca should go out as soon Eliezer arrived. So too, concerning Eliezer (besides Rebbeca’s going out to him) there was the (-Rashi, ibid :42), “‘So I came today’: Today I left, and today I arrived. From here we learn that the earth shrank for him [i.e., his journey was miraculously, from Above, shortened].”
Note: The Rebbe explains as to why G-d waited for Eliezer’s prayer is because Eliezer asked for the sign of, “And it will be, [that] the maiden to whom I will say, 'Lower your pitcher and I will drink,' and she will say, 'Drink, and I will also water your camels,' her have You designated for Your servant, for Isaac, and through her may I know that You have performed loving kindness with my master.” Thus, G-d waited for this, so that Eliezer would know that Rebbeca was the right one. However, in truth, G-d had already made that, “Now he had not yet finished speaking, and behold, Rebecca came out.”
At the middle of how things unfolded: When Bethuel wanted to stop the shidduch (marriage match), there was the (-Rashi, ibid :55), “‘And her brother and her mother said’: And where was Bethuel? He wanted to stop [Rebecca’s marriage]; so an angel came and slew him.”
At the conclusion of how things unfolded: When Eliezer --unlike Rebecca’s mother and brother who wanted, “Let the maiden stay with us a year or ten [months]; afterwards she will go”-- said to leave right away, and the decision was to, “Let us call the maiden and ask her,” and Rebbeca immediately responded, “And she said, ‘I will go,’” of which Rashi explains, “of my own accord, even if you do not desire it.” And we do not find that Eliezer had discussed the marriage proposal prior with Rebbeca. Thus, when Rebbeca was being asked whether she would go immediately, or take time preparing herself with her family, this was the first time of her hearing of the proposal at all. And without Eliezer’s doing (convincing) G-d had orchestrated that Rebbeca, a young child, decides to go with a stranger, Eliezer, in agreement to a marriage proposal!!
Now, we can understand why Eliezer changed the wording of Abraham from “G-d… will send His angel before you” to “G-d… will send His angel with you”. For by Bethuel, such a thing of “G-d… will send His angel before you” would not have been conceivable or acceptable. Eliezer was looking for Bethuel to agree to this marriage proposal. Thus, it does not make sense that Eliezer should tell Bethuel that all this was arranged from Above, by G-d, without human effort, and that the will of a human cannot disturb its success. And therefore, being that the success of the mission has been orchestrated from Above, thus, even though there is Freedom of Choice --which is why Eliezer had said, “Perhaps the woman will not wish to go after me to this land”-- nevertheless, it is certain, that in actuality the mission will be accomplished, that, “and you shall take a wife for my son from there,” and one of there will be a woman who will choose to go with Eliezer.
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This is one of the explanations to the teaching of our Sages (-Rashi, ibid :42), “The ordinary conversation of the servants of the Patriarchs is more beloved before the Omnipresent than the Torah of their sons (for the section dealing with Eliezer is repeated in the Torah, whereas many fundamentals of the Torah were given only through allusions)”:
Concerning “the Torah of their sons” there the rule (-Brochos 33b), “Everything is in the hands of Heaven, except for fear of Heaven (man has free will to serve G-d or not), as it is stated (-Deuteronomy 10:12), ‘And now Israel, what does the L-rd your G-d ask of you other than to fear (the L-rd your G-d, to walk in all of His ways, to love Him and to serve the L-rd your G-d with all your heart and with all your soul)’ (G-d asks man to perform these matters because ultimately, the choice is in his hands).” Meaning, that concerning Torah-study and Mitzvot-observance (“the Torah of their sons”) G-d does not take away one’s Freedom of Choice. However, concerning the mission of Eliezer it was in the order of, “G-d… He will send His angel before you,” in a manner of, “And you shall succeed in your journey.” The success of the mission was guaranteed from Above, even to the point that it touches the Freedom of Choice --For, “More beloved is the servants of the Patriarchs than the Torah….”
Only that, for this there is required two conditions:
(i) That one be “servants of the Patriarchs”. A servant has not existence of his own. The servant has an existence, and one that accomplishes great things. However, his entire existence is that he is the existence of his master. As the law states (-Pesachim 88b), “That which is acquired by the servant is (automatically) required by his master.” This law is founded upon the ruling that “the hand of the servant is the hand of the master!”
(ii) In addition to this there has the be the “conversation (sicha - שיחה) of the servants,” of which the Sages state (-Brochos 26b), “(the terminology) Sicha is but (referring to) Prayer.” This means, that there must be the clear recognition that we cannot rely on our own powers. Rather, we must pray to G-d. And it is through this humility of all and any (ego and self-reliance) that one becomes a vessel to the order of, “He will send His angel before you, and you shall take,” on a successful journey.
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The Lesson: Even though, “The ordinary conversation of the servants of the Patriarchs is more beloved before the Omnipresent than the Torah of their sons,” nevertheless, the “The ordinary conversation of the servants of the Patriarchs,” was placed within, “the Torah of their sons.” It is entire portion in “Their (sons’) Torah”. From which it is understood that the “sons” can reach and become “servants of the Patriarchs.”
This then is the lesson that we glean from “Portion of Eliezer” --and especially for those who merited to occupies themselves in the missions of the “Patriarchs” of every generations, Our Rebbes, Our Princes, in the service of strengthening Judaism and spreading Torah, including the “Spreading of your wellsprings to the outside -meaning the teachings of Chassidus:
One may think that concerning the mission, even though he and his family are completely dedicated and working with all their energy, however, the mission is only about their doing, and not about the outcome, being that they have no power over the person who he is trying to influence. That person has Freedom of Choice and he, the emissary, cannot force him to behave contrary to the way the person (seemingly) wants to behave!
Thus, we have the lesson from the Portion of Eliezer that when the emissary places himself into the status of “humility of all and any (ego and self-reliance),” as that of a servant to his master, and together with this he prays to G-d for success in his mission, then he is guaranteed that, “G-d… He will send His angel before you, and you shall take,” and “You will have success in your journey.” G-d assures success in his mission, be it it the onset in his traveling there, be it in the mission itself, and so too in his return from his mission --the conclusionary detail of the mission: “And I will go to my master” and “The servant said (to Rebbeca) he is my master.”
And then it will be, “you shall take a wife” this refers to the Jewish People, and we bring her back to her “Husband,” G-d, through awakening another Jew and another Jew, and to illuminate him, to the point of making him an “Illuminating Candle” -an emissary for our Father in Heaven.
And as Maimonides rules (-Laws of Teshuvah 7:5) that even though Freedom of Choice is a “Great Principle” and a “Foundation of Torah and Mitzvot,” nevertheless: “Torah guaranteed that at the end Israel will do Teshuvah (repentance; return) at the end of their exile, and immediately they will be redeemed.”
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