Last week I quoted the question of the Aderet as to why Hashem touts the fact that Avraham is charitable וְשָֽׁמְרוּ֙ דֶּ֣רֶךְ ה׳ לַעֲשׂ֥וֹת צְדָקָ֖ה וּמִשְׁפָּ֑ט and declares that as the basis for special reward when tzedakah is a mitzvah sichlit that all humanity is obligated in. The Aderet answered that Avraham was special because he did chessed and tzedakah because it was the ratzon Hashem, not just because it was a nice thing to do or because he felt bad for the poor. When I said this question over last week I added another answer that I didn't include in the post. Avraham did not just wait to do chessed until the Salvation Army or the Red Cross or a poor person knocked on his door to ask for a help. A Jew has to be "rodef tzedakah va'chessed." A Jew has to go looking for chessed, not wait for it to come to him. At the beginning of last weeks's parsha we see that even when Avraham had no one knocking on his door, when it was too hot for visitors to be wandering about, Avraham still went out and went looking for people to help despite the fact that he was ill himself recovering from milah. Even if a ben Noach is obligated in chessed, I think that's only when the need lands in their lap, when it knocks on their door. Avraham went above and beyond that standard.
In the sefer Sidduro Shel Shabbos and in the Be'er Mayim Chaim (by the same author) this same point is made in a discussion about our parsha. He distinguishes between rachamim and chessed. Rachamim is when the poor person knocks on your door and tells you a story that tugs at your heart strings, as I put it last week. You feel sympathy and therefore want to give. A gomeil chessed is someone who doesn't wait for the poor to come to him, but rather he looks for the opportunities to give. The gemara (Shabbos 104) says that the leg of the letter gimmel sticks out towards the daled that follows because שֶׁכֵּן דַּרְכּוֹ שֶׁל גּוֹמֵל חֲסָדִים לָרוּץ אַחַר דַּלִּים. Furthermore, he writes, rachamim stops when the needs of the poor, on some minimal level, are met. Chessed extends to the rich and the poor alike, and goes beyond meeting bare needs.
Rashi in last week's parsha explains why Lot's wife was turned into a pillar of salt (19:26): אמר לה: תן מעט מלח לאורחים הללו. אמרה לו: אף המנהג הזה הרע אתה בא להנהיג במקום הזה. Lot's wife was not as bad as the people of Sdom. She had rachmanus on the angels who came as guests. She let them into her home. She was willing to provide them sustenance in the form of plain bread. However, more than that she was not willing to do. She was not a gomeles chessed. To provide salt, to do a little extra so that there would not only be bread, but so that it would be tasty bread and not bland, that she was not willing to do (Oznayim laTorah). Lot, for all his faults, had the midah of chessed impressed upon him because he spent time living under Avraham's roof.
Coming to our parsha, Eliezer's test for Rivka was וְהָיָ֣ה הַֽנַּעֲרָ֗ אֲשֶׁ֨ר אֹמַ֤ר אֵלֶ֙יהָ֙ הַטִּי־נָ֤א כַדֵּךְ֙ וְאֶשְׁתֶּ֔ה וְאָמְרָ֣ה שְׁתֵ֔ה וְגַם־גְּמַלֶּ֖יךָ אַשְׁקֶ֑ה (24:14). Eliezer only asked Rivka to draw a little water for him, וַיֹּ֕אמֶר הַגְמִיאִ֥ינִי נָ֛א מְעַט־מַ֖יִם מִכַּדֵּֽךְ. Notice that he made a point of asking only for מְעַט־מַ֖יִם. Even by offering him enough to fully quench his thirst, Rivka proved that she was willing to go above and beyond, but she did far more than that. She offered to water the camels as well. This was not just rachmanus; this was chessed. Rivka thus proved that she was fit to be part of Avraham's household.
I want to turn to what seems to be a contradiction in the description of what Rivka did. When Rivka first comes out to the well to draw water, וַתֵּ֣רֶד הָעַ֔יְנָה וַתְּמַלֵּ֥א כַדָּ֖הּ וַתָּֽעַל, Rashi tells us that ראה שעלו המים לקראתה (24:18 See Ramban, Mizrachi, Gur Aryeh what this derash is based on). The waters rose up from the well into Rivka's bucket. Yet, as Ramban notes, just a few pesukim later (24:20), we read וַתְּמַהֵ֗ר וַתְּעַ֤ר כַּדָּהּ֙ אֶל־הַשֹּׁ֔קֶת, that Rivka had to lower her bucket into the well to draw water. Did the water rise up to greet Rivka or did they not?
I want to share two insights that, although they read the pesukim in almost contradictory fashion, actually I think compliment one each other.
The Berdichiver explains as follows: When Rivka first came to the well, the water she drew was for her own sake. That's why the water rose up to fill her bucket. However, after Eliezer made his request for a drink, Rivka had to draw more water. This time, when the water being drawn was for the sake of doing chessed, the water did not rise; she had to stoop down and draw it from the well. There's no comparison between something you put in effort to accomplish and something done with no effort. Hashem wanted Rivka to have the opportunity to not just do chessed, but to do a chessed that she put in effort for. That's a qualitatively different mitzvah entirely.
You have the same idea in last week's parsha as well, as I wrote about once before. Rashi tells us that Hashem brought the sun out in full force so that Avraham would not be bothered with entertaining guests while recovering from his bris milah. Avraham, however, would not be dissuaded from doing his usual hachnasas orchim and went out “’k'chom hayom,” in the middle of the hot day, to look for guests. Since Avraham would not give up, Hashem sent him the three angels as guests.
Why did Hashem have to summon angels to appear as guests? Why didn’t Hashem just remove the unusual heat wave that He had sent and then guests would come by as usual?
The answer is that once Avraham made the effort to do hachnasas orchim in the middle of the heat wave, Hashem wanted to give him the opportunity to do that mitzvah. Had Hashem removed the heat wave, the mitzvah would have required far less effort. A mitzvah without effort is a different animal entirely from one done with effort.
The Be'er Mayim Chaim deals with the same basic question, but he frames it a bit differently (he actually has two solutions, one that he offers in Sidduro shel Shabbos 1:4 and one in the Be'er Mayim Chaim. I am presenting the latter one.) He points out that the pasuk ַוַתֵּ֣רֶד הָעַ֔יְנָה וַתְּמַלֵּ֥א כַדָּ֖הּ וַתָּֽעַל is itself a stira minei u'bei, self contradictory. It starts with the words וַתֵּ֣רֶד הָעַ֔יְנָה וַתְּמַלֵּ֥א כַדָּ֖הּּ, telling us that Rivka went down to the well to fill her bucket, but then Rashi comments on וַתָּֽעַל that the water rose to Rivka. You can't have it both ways!?
The Be'er Mayim Chaim answers that drawing water for Eliezer alone was rachmanut, not chessed, and for that, Hashem was not about to do a miracle and cause the waters to rise. Rivka had to descend to the water to draw enough for him. Now came the test -- would Rivka do more than that and prove herself a baalas chessed? At this point, the yetzer ha'ra and lots of negative forces were working overtime to mess things up, as this moment would determine whether the shidduch with Yitzchak would happen or not. You can normally be a big baal chessed, but along comes the yetzer ha'ra and gets you angry about something just as a poor person is about to ask you for help, or gets you involved in some other "important" project just as someone needs chessed. The yetzer ha'ra always is anxious to step in just as something good is about to happen to cause you to stumble. Here too, as big a baalas chessed as Rivka was, the yetzer ha'ra was going to bring a full court press to try to make her stumble just now when Eliezer is watching. Hashem therefore gave Rivka a hint to point her in the right direction. Even though she had already filled her bucket, the water continued to rise to her. This was the signal that one bucket is not enough -- take more, come back for more. You need more water because you have to bring some to the camels as well. It's davka after she made the effort on the first bucket that Hashem made things go smoother so she would not stop before finishing her task.
Whether you learn that Rivka had to put more effort in when she was doing things l'shem mitzah or whether you learn she had siyata d'Shemaya and things got easier for her, I think the two lessons can go hand in hand. The Berdichiver is speaking about what we have to put in. The greater the effort we are prepared to make, the greater the mitzvah. The Be'er Mayim Chaim is speaking about what we can take out with us. If you are willing to make the effort, Hashem will help you out along the way.
One of the hallmarks of Klal Yisrael is that we are gomlei chassadim. The Beis Yisrael says that Avraham insisted on paying full price for me'aras ha'machpeila so that Efron could not claim even one iota of credit for doing him a chessed. Avraham appreciated just how great the miztvah of chessed is, and so did not want someone unworthy to be able to claim any of its benefits. Just things of what we earn and can earn though all the chessed we do. I think I've written before that for all those yelling about "tikkun olam," where is their Hatzalah, Chaveirim, Tomchei Shabbos, etc.? It's davka our community which does all that and more. Why? Because Avraham is the beacon that guides us, and because chessed is part of our spiritual DNA.
