Corporate Torah

Dvar Torah – Love in the Jewish Home In this week’s portion we read the story of Eliezer, Abraham’s servant, who sojourns to Aram Naharayim to find a wife for Isaac. There, he meets Rebecca, who amazes him with her extraordinary Chessed - acts of kindness toward an unknown traveler – and who readily agrees to journey with him to Canaan and be wed to Isaac. When Rebecca arrives in the Negev and meets Isaac for the first time, the Torah records a major milestone when it tells us that Isaac loved Rebecca. F or the first time in the biblical narrative, we learn about love as a concept. Two powerful themes can be highlighted from this story: First, Isaac did not have a typical upbringing by any stretch of the imagination. Miraculously born to Sarah when she was ninety, he grew up surrounded by his parents' legendary mission to spread monotheism and practice Chessed . Above all, he experienced the Akeidah - his dramatic binding on Mount Moriah. In many cultures and relig...