With the passing of Sarah, many excitements come to Isaac in this week's Torah portion. First of all, Abraham purchases a burial ground for him and his wife. Sarah unfortunately passes on, and Abraham is quite old and frail. Knowing he will not be on Earth much longer, Abraham assigns one of his servants to go back to his homeland. In this land, the servant must find Isaac a wife. The servant does not want to a pick a random woman to be the next matriarch of the Jewish people. He sets up a test for Isaac's future wife. Abraham's servant and his camels stop by a well outside the city. They rest there, for this servant wants to see which women will offer him and his camels water. If his plan is successful, he will ask to stay the night with this woman. He finds Rebekah, and his plan works. At Rebekah's household, Abraham's servant reveals the objective of his quest, asking Rebekah's parents permission to take her back to Isaac. When they agree to his terms, Rebekah returns to Canaan with him. Her and Isaac fall in love, and they wed at once. Abraham leaves Isaac his numerous possessions and the title of being head of the Jewish people.
In general, Abraham's servant is assessing Rebekah's generosity and hospitality. The water well is a common spot for many Biblical women to go, but only Rebekah offers this man and all his band of camels a drink after a long journey in the desert. This servant and his objectives are unknown to Rebekah, yet she continues to be as kind to this stranger as she would her kin. Later, Rebekah invites the servant to stay the night as he discusses his lack of a place to stay. Imagine for a walk and coming back with a houseguest. In the modern world, such random hospitality seems absurd. In Biblical times, being homeless, even for a night, was threat to one's survival. Nights were often cold, and the animals were wild at night. A multitude of things could kill one overnight, including a lack of food since lunchtime. Rebekah exhibits extraordinary kindness as she sets all doubts aside and allows this strange man into her life.
Is the principle of hospitality a thing of the past? In some ways, life is far more public than it ever was. Social networks, like Facebook, make a person's entire life known to anyone they accept. While one must accept someone on Facebook, there are many people that the accepter barely talks tom, but he or she shrugs and questions why not accept them. On the contrary, technology makes it easier for people to hide behind a screen to communicate. Even relationships are being started over Facebook chats and texts messages. In addition, there are many more charities today than there ever were. People want to do help the world by donating, but they are overwhelmed by the choosing who to award money. There was no single cause for the decline of hospitality and generosity. However, the decline is evident in how open people are to strangers. Thanksgiving is in less than a week, but there are few people outside one's general circle they would invite. Would they invite a homeless man or woman to share a meal with them? What if that man or woman was dirty versus clean? Does that make a difference? Even I could not say whether I would offer this invitation. In this situation, I would probably inform the homeless person about a local Thanksgiving meal in a public place. It allows him or her to enjoy the holiday, but it also relieves me of any discomfort I may feel. However, is it not true that person will still go to bed cold that night? Hospitably is not dead, but it is dying. I may never know if that homeless man or woman is on a quest to find someone's husband or wife.
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