Machshavot HaLev - Yeshivat Lev HaTorah

40
Chayei Sarah
Avraham, the Bear and the Child
Eytan Goldstein
W e see in Shir Ha-ma’alot that one who toils in his work will inevitably appreciate
the outcome more. It says, “Ha-zorim be-dima be-rina yiktzoru”- those who tearfully
sow will reap in glad song” (Tehillim 126:5). When one prepares a beautiful meal on
one’s own, from beginning to end, one will enjoy it more than a meal that one buys.
We can learn this lesson from Avraham Avinu, bears, and children. By observing
these individuals and animals we can learn how toiling in avodat Hashem and in our
everyday lives can lead to true feelings of content.
Avraham is trying to find a wife for Yitzchak so he decides he will send his servant
Eliezer to go find one. He then makes Eliezer swear to certain guidelines regarding
his quest. The pasuk says, “Place now your hand on my thigh, and I will have you
swear by Hashem” (24:2). The obvious question is why Avraham would have Eliezer
swear by putting his hand on Avrahams thigh? Rashi explains that one must swear
on something holy. In this context, the thigh is really a euphemism for the brit milah
and therefore it is something holy to swear upon. If one were to stop reading Rashi at
that point one would now have a basic idea of why Avraham told Eliezer to swear on
his brit. But Rashi continues by explaining that Avraham had Eliezer swear on his brit
milah because it was something that was very special to him, as the result of it coming
to him through much effort and difficulty.
This observation is true in the animal kingdom as well. The last infant animal one
should provoke is a cub. The book Hegyonei Halacha (vol. 1 pp. 116-7) quotes the Radak