Story
There was once a great askan in Poland named Reb Shaul Wahl. He had a young son who was a tremendous genius. Reb Shaul would sometimes take his son along when he visited government ministers, and they always enjoyed talking to the boy and hearing his incredible wisdom.
One day, the ministers decided that this brilliant young boy would be the perfect match for the daughter of the Polish king! They even got the pope to agree that the princess could marry a Yid, and everything was arranged.
Clearly, such a marriage would be a tragedy, and when Reb Shaul heard about this through his connections, he quickly came up with a plan. He would find a different girl, a Jewish one, and quickly marry off his son. This way, when the king’s servants would officially offer the shidduch, he could refuse them, as his son would already be married. But finding a suitable shidduch in a rush wasn’t so simple. In the end, he found a girl who was terribly sick and close to death. He decided to have his son marry her for the time being. Indeed, when the king’s messengers arrived with the marriage proposal, Reb Shaul replied, “Wow! I am so honored by this proposal! But my dear son is already married!”
Three years later, a woman knocked on Reb Shaul’s door and introduced herself as his daughter-in-law! She explained that when she had been lying in bed, terribly sick and almost dead, a young man had come and married her. This had filled her with such tremendous simcha that it gave her the strength to recover! Now that she was healthy again, she wanted to come live with her husband.
Reb Shaul was beside himself! He had never intended for his son to actually remain married to this woman. He tried convincing her to accept a get (divorce), and after offering her a large sum of money, she finally agreed.
But just before the get was given, the woman asked to speak to her husband.
“I know that you will receive offers to marry girls from wealthy families with great yichus,” she told him. “So I would also like to suggest a shidduch for you! I know a fine girl who has lots of money and great yichus. That girl is me! Since you are giving me all this money, I am now rich. And I have wonderful yichus, because I am a niece of the Rav Moshe Isserles, the famous Rama.”
She then reminded him how he had saved her life by marrying her when she was on her deathbed. She explained that if he divorced her now, she would become terribly depressed.
When the young man heard this, he turned to his father and said that he saw this shidduch as a sign from Heaven, and he wanted to remain married to her!
Reb Shaul went to the girl’s uncle, the Rama, to ask his advice. The Rama replied that as long as the woman was able to bring children into the world, then just as we say about Rivka and Yitzchak, מה’ יצא הדבר, this shidduch was clearly arranged by Hashem!
And so, the young couple remained married and were zocheh to have a daughter, who later married one of the great gedolim of the 17th century, Rav Yonah Teomim-Frankel, the ba’al m’chaber kikayon d’Yonah!
Where was Yitzchak?
The pasuk says that Avraham Avinu came to give a hesped for Sara Imeinu, but it doesn’t mention Yitzchak. Where was he? The Paneach Raza explains that Yitzchak got a cut during the Akeidah when Avraham was about to shecht him, and the malachim took him to Gan Eden to heal him!
Super Strength
The Midrash tells us that when Lavan and Besuel saw the jewelry Rivkah had received, they decided to gang up on Eliezer, kill him, and take his money. But then they saw something incredible — from a distance, they watched Eliezer pick up two camels and carry them across the river, with his bare hands! When they saw how strong he was, they decided it was better not to start up with him!
#1 Why does the pasuk spell עפרן without a vav?
#2 Who was Keturah?
#3 The pasuk says that Eliezer went to look for a kallah with all of his master’s possessions in his hands. How was this possible?
Answers: 1) The lacking letter hints to a lacking quality about Efron, namely, that he was a huge liar! He first offered to give Avraham the me’aras hamachpeilah for free, but then he charged him an extremely high price (Rashi to 23:16). 2) Hagar (Rashi to 25:1). 3) He had a document signed by Avraham, giving all his wealth to Yitzchaak (Rashi to 24:10).
This article was found in Nekuda Tova Issue 105.