November 22, 2024 / 21 Cheshvan 5785
Rivka/Rebekah and Yitzhak/Isaac meet in a most dramatic way.
Now Yitzhak had gone out from where you come to the Well of the Living-One Seeing-Me, for he had settled in the Negev. And Yitzhak went out to stroll in the field around the turning of sunset. He lifted up his eyes and saw: here, camels coming! And Rivka lifted up her eyes and saw Yitzhak; she got down from the camel and said to the servant: Who is the man over there that is walking in the field to meet us? The servant said: That is my lord. So she took a veil and covered herself. [Genesis 24:62-65; Everett Fox translation]
Where, I wonder, is the ‘Well of the Living-One Seeing-Me’ (Be’er lachai ro’i בְּאֵ֥ר לַחַ֖י רֹאִ֑י in Hebrew)?
We know the place from an earlier story; Hagar, after running away from Sarai and Abram’s household, encounters God there, and according to the Torah (Genesis 16:14) it is located ‘between Kadesh and Bered.’ Reports Nahum Sarna: ‘it was probably part of an oasis to which sheep-breeders seasonally repaired for water and pasturage.’
And what is Yitzhak/Isaac doing there?
R Avraham ben haRambam (Abraham Maimuni, 12/13th century Egypt) offers this enticing suggestion: ‘Isaac’s regular spiritual practice involved leaving home and going into the desert to a particular well to engage in hit’bodedut (solitude) in the way of the pietists (ha’hasidim) and the prophets.’
Similarly, 19th century Italian scholar R Shmuel David Luzzatto (ShaDaL) describes Isaac as ‘a holy man who loved solitude (hit’bodedut).’ ‘At this moment he was anticipating marriage and so he went to be’er lachai ro’i to meditate and pray.’
Before his big moment, Yitzhak/Isaac meditates and prays and only then acts. In a sense he refuels before stepping (back) onto the playing field. And his action goes well. Perhaps in Yitzhak/Isaac the Torah means to offer us a role model? I kind of think so.
Shabbat Shalom.
Rabbi David
