Our parasha relates that Avraham sent his faithful servant, Eli‘ezer, back to Charan to find a suitable wife for his son, Yitzchaq. The Torah records that Eli‘ezer asked his master: אולי לא תאבה האשה ללכת אחרי אל הארץ הזאת ההשב אשיב את בנך אל הארץ אשר יצאת משם (“Perhaps the woman will not wish to go after me to this land; shall I bring your son back to the land whence you came?”; XXIV, 5).
Later on, as Eli‘ezer was sitting with Lavan in Charan and about to begin negotiating for Rivqa’s hand, he recapitulates, in part, his conversation with Avraham, and says that he had asked his master: אלי לא תלך האשה אחרי (“Perhaps the woman will not go after me”; ibid., 29). Rashi, evidently taking note of the fact that the word ulai (“perhaps”) is spelt malé with a vav in the earlier verse, and chasér, lacking the vav (so that it could be read élai, “to me”) remarks: בת היתה לו לאליעזר והי' מחזר למצוא עילה שיאמר לו אברהם לפנות אליו להשיאו בתו אמר לו אברהם בני ברוך ואתה ארור ואין ארור מתדבק בברוך (“Eli‘ezer had a daughter and was looking for a reason for Avraham to turn to him and marry [Yitzchaq] to his daughter; Avraham said to him, My son is blessed and you are cursed, and one who is cursed does not cling to one who is blessed”).
If the exchange recorded by Rashi in fact took place, surely it took place when Avraham and Eli‘ezer had their initial conversation. Why, then, does the Torah allude to it here, rather than there?
B.
That Eli‘ezer was “cursed” appears to be based upon the midrash, which records Rabbi Yossi ben Dosa’s opinion that כנען הוא אליעזר (“Kna‘an is Eli‘ezer”; בראשית רבה פ"ס סי' ח'). With this in mind, we recall that Noach said of his progeny: ארור כנען עבד עבדים יהי' לאחיו: ויאמר ברוך ד' אלקי שם ויהי כנען עבד למו (“Cursed is Kna‘an, a servant of servants will he be to his brothers. Blessed is Ha-Shem the G-d of Shem, and Kna‘an will be a servant to them”; IX, 25-6). Since Eli‘ezer was a Kna‘ani and Yitzchaq ben Avraham a descendant of Shem, Abrahsm’a remark can be understood.
But it is noteworthy that at the very neginning of his instructions to Eli‘ezer, Avraham said: ואשביעך בד' אלקי השמים ואלקי הארץ אשר לא תקח אשה לבני מבנות הכנעני וגו' (“And I shall have you swear by the G-d of the heavens and G-d of the earth that you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Kna‘anim....”; v. 4), and Eli‘ezer related this, as well, to Lavan (v. 37). How, then, given Avraham’s explicit statement at the very beginning of their exchange and what we have learnt about Eli ‘ezer, could he have held out any hope whatever that his daughter might be deemed suitable by Avraham?
Our attention is drawn to the way in which Lavan greeted Eli‘ezer: בוא ברוך ד' (“Come, blessed one of Ha-Shem....”; 31). The Mizrachi quotes the midrash: וע"י ששרת אברהם הצדיק באמונה יצא מכלל ארוא לכלל ברוך (“by means of the fact that [Eli‘ezer] had served Avraham the tzaddiq faithfully, he had left the category of ‘cursed’ and come to the category of ‘blessed’”; בראשית רבה פ"ס סי' ט').
But if this so, it hardly seems to answer our question: Eli‘ezer only heard this from Lavan long after he had received his instructions from Avraham, and just before beginning the negotiations for Rivqa’s hand; when, then, could the exchange with Avraham have taken place?
C.
What follows is based on the comments of the Gur Aryeh (Maharal mi-Prag), the Maskil l’David, and the Be’er ha-Torah.
Whatever Eli‘ezer’s thoughts, hopes, or dreams might have been, he clearly had to have uttered the word "ulai" when he spoke to Avraham; the sentence would make no sense had he actually said élai in this context. Furthermore, he could hardly have misunderstood Avraham’s opening statement, and so would have known that, as a Kna‘ani, his daughter was ipso facto ineligible to marry Yitzchaq.
However, Avraham knew his servant, and knew what lay behind the apparently innocent question of whether or not the girl would be willing to go to the Holy Land. A good indication of the likely tensions that probably existed between them is Avraham’s cri di cœur to Ha-Shem before the birth of his son that his presumptive heir had been none other that Eli‘ezer (XV, 2-3). Thus, Avraham insisted that his servant, whom he knew also to be a tzaddiq, swear to him that he would faithfully execute his mission. Avraham knew that the oath would bind him, and override any temptations he might have.
But Eli‘ezer would not have been human had he not felt his hopes rise on hearing Lavan call him “blessed of Ha-Shem” (the midrash cited by the Mizrachi is evidence that this was not empty flattery, either). Even so, he proceeded to negotiate in good faith.
The Torah, however, strongly implies that Lavan’s friendly greeting was motivated by the jewelry which he saw that Eli‘ezer had given Rivqa (cf. Rashi on v. 29). This did not escape Eli‘ezer, either, and he now found himself in a quandary. Tzaddiq that he was, he honestly reported Avraham’s charge to him, but it is interesting to note which details he left out.
First, he reported that he had come to Charan because Avraham did not want a Kna‘ani daughter-in-law, but someone from his own family (vv. 37-38). Next, he reported his question concerning what to do if the girl would not follow him, but left out the detail concerning whether or not Yitzchaq might move to Charan. Let Lavan hope as he would.
At this point, however, he let slip his own ambitions: Lavan, he was saying, don’t drive too hard a bargain; don’t ask too high a price for this transaction. I, Eli‘ezer, might declare it uneconomical, and propose my own daughter.
And Lavan could clearly see, from Eli‘ezer’s bearing, deportment, and cultivated conver-sation, שאליעזר הי' ת"ח וצדיק גדול המושל בתורת רבו (‘that Eli‘ezer was a Torah scholar and great tzaddiq, with mastery over his master’s Torah”), to use the Maskil l’David’s words. He believed Eli ‘ezer’s implied threat possible, and came to an equitable agreement for Rivqa’s hand.
D.
We see in this further evidence of the greatness of Avraham our father, reflected in the intense loyalty and high quality of his adherents and servants, both those whom he and Sara had “made in Charan” (XII, 5), and those whom they attracted afterwards.
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