Rabbi Rael Blumenthal

Living through these historic times, I’ve found myself responding to questions about Mashiach on a regular basis. This week, some of my students wondered what exactly we would all be doing with our lives when Mashiach comes.

It’s a good question, and one that is challenging to answer, since there are a plethora of opinions in Chazal as to when and how Geulah will occur. And the Rambam tells us, we won’t know exactly how it all happens until it happens.

But, notwithstanding, everyone seems to agree that at some point in the future, we will live in some kind of utopian society, without the necessities of going to college, getting a job and building a career.

It all sounded wonderful to a group of high school students, until the moment they realized that life would be pretty boring... “But Rebbe, what are we going to do all day?”

Addressing this question sheds light on two truths that we don’t often like to think about.

Firstly, it’s a tentative admission that most of our academic and career pursuits are little more than complicated ways to ensure we have financial security. In a world where that was somehow taken for granted – for everyone – we might struggle to find inherent meaning in those endeavors.

Secondly, even if we did find meaning in such a life, is that the best way to find meaning and purpose? Or perhaps there are better ways available.

Before suggesting an approach to this question, let’s take a detour to our Parsha:

With the death of Sarah, Avraham knows that his and her legacy must continue beyond their lifetime. Avraham slowly, tragically comes to terms with his own mortality. And the reality that the task of bringing the entirety of humanity to a recognition of Hashem is bigger than one lifetime.

And so his goal, and the goal of every Jewish parent since, is to perpetuate this truth by cheating death – by having children.

For Avraham, the stakes are incredibly high. If Yitzchak fails, then the world fails. In no uncertain terms, humanity depends on Yitzchak finding a Shidduch that will partner with him in this mission.

And so the Torah describes how Eliezer, the faithful servant of Avraham journeys to find a wife for Yitzchak. He travels to Avraham’s homeland to find this bashert. Arriving at the well, Eliezer devises a test, and asks from Hashem:

The girl who I will ask to give me water and she offers water for myself and for my camels will be the girl for Yitzchak.

Indeed, Rivka presents herself as such a girl; giving water to the camels and Eliezer.

Rashi (כ”ד:י”ז) famously quotes the Medrash:

וירץ העבד לקראתה – לפי שראה שעלו המים לקראתה - He ran towards her because he saw that the waters rose in the well when she approached it (Bereishis Rabbah 60:5).

Wow! Eliezer must have been duly impressed. She must be an incredibly special person – the water rose miraculously to meet her!

The Divrei Yisrael of Mozhitz challenges this story: If Eliezer saw that she was such a tzadekes, such a בעלת מופת – a miracle worker – why did he need to go through with his test?! Right then and there he should have known that Rivka was the right shidduch for Yitzchak!

He explains: There is a world of difference between being a בעל מופת and a בעל מידות. Eliezer was not looking for a miracle. Miracles tell you how great Hashem is. Middos tell you how great a person is.

This insight is good advice for finding a soul mate and excellent advice for working on ourselves but it also raises some questions. What then was the point of the miracle? Moreover, it appears that this miracle did not continue for Rivka – it stopped short of being truly helpful to her that day.

The Ramban makes this point when questioning how (כ”ד:י”ז) Chazal knew that the water rose to meet Rivka. He notes that, at first, the pasuk omits the fact the she “drew water” for herself when arriving at the well, rather it tells us that “she filled her pitcher, and came up”. Later however, the Torah does tell us that she “drew water” for the camels of Eliezer. Thus, concludes the Ramban, Chazal understood that as she arrived at the well the water rose to meet her.

But this also clearly teaches us that Rivka’s miraculous water drawing stopped, leaving her to tend to camels of Eliezer herself, without Divine intervention.

This bothered the Kedushas Levi, leading to a piercing insight:

ולהכי בפעם ראשונה דבדעתה היה לשאוב המים לצורכה גלל כן עלו המים לקראתה שלא תטריח עצמה, כיון שכוונתה היה לשאוב לצרכה, מה שאין כן בפעם שניה שכוונתה היה לגמול חסד להשקות הגמלים של אליעזר עבד אברהם לא עלו המים לקראתה, שכשאדם עושה מצוה יותר נחשב לעשות פעולה שבעשותו פעולה לשם מצוה נחשב לו יותר למצוה והבן:

The first time when Rivkah filled the jug to satisfy her ‎own needs, the water rose to assist her as she was a righteous ‎person. The second time, when what she did was an act of ‎kindness to others, Hashem withheld His ‎assistance in order for her to expend greater effort. For the greater the act, the greater the mitzvah.

Now things might begins to make a little more sense. Chazal are educating us that the ideal life for a Jew is not devoid of hard work. Our best life is enjoyed in such a way where our personal needs are taken care of, so that our effort can be directed to more elevated tasks.

There are two ways to grow. Personal growth can come from overcoming personal challenges, but it can also come from spending our time, expertise and creative energy in performing Mitzvos, Talmud Torah, Tefillah and Chessed.

That’s the Geulah we’re aiming for, and I dare say that the way to prepare for it is to demonstrate to Hashem and to ourselves how we would prefer to grow. We are living in a generation of unprecedented opportunities to develop ourselves and our middos through creativity and altruism.

Choosing that path was the legacy of Rivka Imeinu. The one who was unafraid to spend her life working on her middos and helping others. It’s the great Tefillah asking Hashem “please take care of me, so that I can take care of Your world – that’s how I want to grow!” Eliezer saw that play out in front of him and knew that Rivka would carry the Jewish people into the future, since that middah is a taste of the world of Mashiach.