“And the man was astonished…” (Bereishes 24:21)
When Eliezer the servant of Avraham was seeking out a Shidduch for Yitzchok, he encountered Rivka at the well. When describing Eliezer’s reaction upon seeing Rivka the pasuk says that Eliezer was astonished. We can understand why Eliezer was elated at the prospect of fulfilling his mission but why did he have such a strong reaction of shock? What did he see that was so suprising?
I heard from Rav Yitzchok Fingerer shlita that the Redak and Seforno explain that Eliezer was shocked when he saw how alacritous and eager Rivka was to perform kindness. The Torah uses the exact same words for “running” and “rushing” when Rivka was serving Eliezer and the camels, as it did for Avraham when he ran and rushed to serve his guests.
For Eliezer to see the exact same behavior from Rivka that he saw in his master’s house was so uncanny that it led him to stand in shock and awe. We can also suggest that it is clear from the fact that the Torah employed the exact same terminology here as it did by Avraham (as the pasuk says: וַתְּמַהֵר – and she hastened וַתָּרָץ – and she ran) that the Shidduch of Rivka was clearly a reward for Avraham’s performance of Chesed (kindness) almost four decades earlier.
The Gematria (numerical value) of Vayaratz וַיָּרָץ (“and he ran”) is 306, the same Gematria as Devash דבש, honey. This is to teach us that one should run to do Chesed and pursue it with sweetness and joy. Chesed is so important for us to do! When you do chesed do it with a smile!
Rav Pam was once approached by a student of his who said that his father was sick in the hospital and wished that the Rosh Yeshiva could visit him (Rav Pam couldn’t visit the man because he was a Kohen). The next day Rav Pam called the sick man and told him to look outside of his hospital window. The man looked outside, and he saw Rav Pam waving to him smiling from ear to ear! Rav Pam went all the way to the hospital – and found the right place to stand aligned with this man’s hospital bed! One can’t imagine how much joy Rav Pam brought to this man.
Another story of Rav Pam’s incredible chessed: One time, one of the men who davened together with Rav Avraham Pam zt”l became very sick and was in the hospital. Rav Pam couldn’t visit the man in the hospital so instead, Rav Pam sent the man a brief letter wishing the man a speedy recovery and his warm wishes. Unfortunately, this man passed away a little while later. When Rav Pam went to be Menachem Avel (consul) the man’s family they told Rav Pam that their father treasured the letter with all his heart and soul. It was this letter that kept their father going in his last few days.
Whenever someone came to visit this man, the man would show them the letter beaming with pride, saying that the Rosh Yeshiva, Rav Pam wrote a letter to him! Rav Pam pointed out that he never imagined that a simple gesture like writing a letter, which only took a few minutes, had lifted the spirits of that sick man. We have no idea of how far our actions can go!
