“And it came to pass after these matters that it was told
to Avraham, saying: ‘Behold Milka, she also bore sons to Nachor, your brother.
Uz, his firstborn, and Buz, his brother, and Kemuel, the father of Aram. And
Kesed and Chazo and Pildash and Yidlaf, and Betuel. And Betuel begot Rivka
(Rebecca).’” (Bereishit/Genesis 22:20-23)
Rivka’s birth is
recorded at the end of the Torah portion Vayeira, immediately after “these
matters,” the near-sacrifice of Yitzchak (Isaac.) The Midrash (Bereishit
Rabbah 57:1-3) recounts that Avraham realizes that Yitzchak has almost
died, and the future of the Jewish nation might have died with him. He
understands it is time to find a wife for Yitzchak. Rashi writes that G-d then
announces to him that Rivka, Yitzchak’s soulmate, has just been born.
Rivka’s birth also coincides with the death of Avraham’s
wife and Yitzchak’s mother, Sarah. The Midrash (Bereishit Rabbah 58:2) relates
that G-d provides a successor for Sarah before He takes her soul.
Rivka is Avraham’s nephew’s daughter, which makes her
Yitchak’s cousin. In the Torah portion Chaye Sarah, Avraham asks his
servant Eliezer to return to Avraham’s birthplace (where Betuel and Rivka
reside) to find a wife for Yitzchak.
Eliezer stops in the evening at a well where women come to
draw water. He begins to ask G-d for a sign so he can find the right woman.
Before Eliezer finishes his prayer, Rivka appears at the well. “And the maiden was of very comely
appearance, a virgin, and no man had been intimate with her.” (Bereishit
24:16) Most commentators say that by now Rivka is 14 years old and Yitzchak is
40; other interpretations put forth that she is a three-year-old.
Rivka fills her pitcher and Eliezer asks for a drink, which
she provides. “And she finished giving him to drink and she said, ‘I will
also draw for your camels.’” (Bereishit 24:19) The Midrash (Bereishit
Rabbah 60:5) says that the well water miraculously rises to fill Rivka’s
bucket.
When the ten camels finish drinking, Eliezer gives Rivka a
gold nose-ring and two gold bracelets. Only then does he ask who her father is
and if there is room in her father’s house for him to spend the night. She
tells him she is Betuel’s daughter and that there is room. Then she runs ahead
to tell her mother. Meanwhile, her brother, Lavan (Laban), sees that Eliezer is
wealthy and sets his sights on Eliezer’s fortune. Anticipating a monotheistic
guest, he removes idols from the house (Kehot Chumash.)
The Midrash (Bereishit Rabbah 60: 7-9) describes what
happens when Eliezer meets Rivka’s family. The Midrashic account points out the
moral differences between the families: Rivka's family tries to poison Eliezer! (An
angel switches the bowls and Eliezer lives.) When presented with the
opportunity to leave her family, Rivka does not hesitate, even though she would
go against her family’s will. “And they [her family] summoned Rivka, and
they said to her, ‘Will you go with this man?’ And she said, ‘I will go.’”
(Bereishit 24:58)
Eliezer, Rivka and Rivka’s nursemaid Devorah return to
Canaan. It is shortly before sunset and Yitzchak is in the field saying his
afternoon prayers. Rivka is overwhelmed by Yitzchak’s aura of holiness (Kehot
Chumash.) “And Rivka lifted her eyes, and saw Yitzchak, and she let herself
down from the camel. And she said to the servant, ‘Who is that man walking in
the field towards us?’ And the servant said, ‘He is my master.’ And she took
the veil and covered herself.” (Bereishit 24:64-65)
The Netziv in Haamek Davar writes that Rivka covers
up “out of reverence and shame, as if she realized she is not worthy of being
his wife.” He goes on to say that this initial interaction shapes how Rivka
communicates with Yitzchak throughout their marriage. She is “not like Sarah with Avraham or Rachel
with Yaakov, who felt equal to their husbands and never feared to confront them
with complaints or criticism.”
Writes Rivka Zakutinsky in Finding the Woman of Valor:
“Sarah was direct. Having been raised among royalty, she was used to being
heeded. Rivka’s family was different. She was born in the house of the
trickster Lavan and she therefore knew how to keep the peace through deliberate
discretion, avoiding confrontation with her husband.”
Mrs. Zakutinsky comments on the couple’s first meeting. “This…was
by no means a case of love at first sight. Yitzchak only saw camels from a
distance and by the time he approached, Rivka was veiled…and apparently this
act of modesty was a sign she was worthy to enter the tent of his mother.”
“And Yitzchak brought her to the tent of Sarah his
mother, and he took Rivka, and she became his wife, and he loved her. And
Yitzchak was comforted for [the loss of] his mother.” (Bereishit 24:
67)
Writes Mrs. Dina Coopersmith on aish.com: “The text emphasizes
that after Yitzchak marries her [Rivka], he then loves her. The more he
gets to know her, the more she gains his love and respect. Rivka’s feelings of
inferiority are her own, not encouraged or shared by Yitzchak.”
The Midrash (Bereishit Rabbah 60:16) relates that
when Rivka enters the tent, all three of the miracles attributed to Sarah
resume: the candles burn all week; the challah bread stays fresh all week and eating
only a small piece provides satiety; and G-d’s presence, the Shechina,
hovers in a cloud over the tent. These miracles relate to the three mitzvot
(commandments) directed to Jewish women: lighting Shabbat candles; baking and
“taking” challah (reserving a small piece before baking for a special
blessing); and bringing G-d’s presence and holiness into the home through
observing the laws of family purity (mikvah).
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