The rules of good etiquette must surely dictate that the
first thing one must do when meeting someone is to introduce oneself. Yet from reading through our Parsha, it seems
that Eliezer, servant of Avrohom, on his quest for a wife for Yitzchok, only
actually presents himself when he is about to sit down to eat in the home of
Rivka and Lovon. Why had he not already
told Rivka or at least informed his host, Lovon, that he was the person
responsible for all the worldly affairs of Avrohom?
To answer this the Chanukas Hatorah relates what actually
took place at that meal. As the food was
laid out in front of Eliezer, he turned to his hosts and insisted on first
apprising them of the nature of his business there. Lovon, in a show of piety, would not hear of
him speaking of mundane matters, reminding Eliezer of the concept stated by our
sages, that any table that there is not spoken by it words of Torah, is as if
those present have partaken of idolatrous sacrifices. This is when Eliezer saw fit to introduce
himself as a slave of one of the forefathers, reminding Lovon of another
relevant statement of Chazal, that even the conversation of the slaves of the
forefathers is greater than the main body of Torah. It was not the first time that he had
announced who he was, it was his retort to the accusations of Lovon.
When talking about people on such a high plane of existence,
influenced as they were by their masters, even their conversations are inevitably
opportunities for growth and any word said only uttered if it has been assessed
in terms of its positive worth. Anything
less than that commits the cardinal sin of wasting ones time and potential. Although this may be a level we have not yet
quite attained, the Avos are a beacon of light that we can at least try to head
towards in any way we can. Never emitting
one superfluous word may be beyond us, but we can strive to more carefully
examine even our non-destructive talk. Could
our Shabbos meals not be an opportunity for profound debate or powerful
teachings? Could we not make our exchanges
more meaningful from time to time, so that instead of small talk, our words may
actually make a difference? And when we do involve ourselves in casual
pleasantries, as some social situations require, can we not at least try to
mean it when we ask about the welfare of another and work on sincerely caring
about that person, instead of just going through a mechanical routine? Communication is an incredible opportunity to
connect in a profound way with another.
Let’s treat it like that.
May our Shabbos be full of exalted interactions.
L’ilui
Nishmas Leah bas Avrohom
No comments:
Post a Comment
Please let me know if you enjoyed this week's Musings or if you have any other comments that you would like to make about the ideas discussed. I would love to hear from you.