Sara – The Seven Year Old Beauty “Vayihiyu Chayei Sara Meiah Shana V’Esrim Shana V’Sheva Shanim.” (Chayei Sara 23:1) Rashi famously quotes the words of Chazal that the Torah writes this language to tell us that Sara was beautiful like a seven year old. Why does the Torah, when summing up the greatness of Sara’s life, refer to Sara’s external beauty as one of the highlights of her character? Furthermore, seven years old is not the peak of a woman’s beauty, which comes only as the woman physically matures.
Rav Zeidel Epstein zt”l, the Mashgiach of Torah Ohr, answers (see L’Sitcha Elyon) that beauty is a great gift from Shamayim, but it is a double edged sword. Beauty is a chief cause of haughtiness if used improperly. “Age twenty,” says Rav Zeidel, “is the year a woman is most susceptible to sensing her own beauty and misusing this gift and corrupting the spirit. A seven year old girl, no matter how beautiful, is more than happy to play in the sand without caring about the effect on her outward appearance.
Despite that Sara was one of the four most beautiful women to ever live (Megila 15a), she always conducted herself like a seven year old, by not paying heed to her own beauty and keeping herself well grounded and modest. This was one, indeed, of the highlights of her great personality!”
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Why Does Avrohom’s Daughter Suddenly Show Up? “V’Avrohom Zakein Ba Bayamim VaHashem Beirach Avrohom Bakol; Avrohom was aging and moving on in years and Hashem blessed him with everything.” (24:1). The medrash says that the word “Bakol” alludes to the fact that Avrohom had a daughter. Why does the Torah tell us this in the Parsha of Yitzchok’s shidduch?
Rav Yehonoson Eibushitz answers that Avrohom was now a widower and needed to remarry. The halacha is that if a father needs to choose between getting married himself or marrying off his son, he should get married first. However, if the father already was Yotzei his mitzva of Pru U’Rivu, then his son comes first. We all know that Avrohom had a son, but we didn’t know that he had a daughter, and, therefore, he should have remarried before dealing with Yitzchok’s Shidduch. Therefore, the Torah tells us that Avrohom already had a daughter, and his first priority was to call Eliezer to go find a shidduch for his son Yitzchok.
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Is Your Daughter’s Shidduchim Making Your Hair Turn White? “V’Avrohom Zakein Ba Bayamim VaHashem Beirach Avrohom Bakol; Avrohom was aging and moving on in years and Hashem blessed him with everything.” (24:1) The Gemara Bava Basra, (15) quotes Rebbi Meir who says that this means he did not have daughters. How does he know this.
The Ksav Sofer answers in a light hearted manner, that the Rambam wrote in a letter to his son, telling him that his hair was getting white from trying find a suitable match for his single daughter. Here, the Torah tells us that Avrohom was aging, because he was reaching an advanced age. Since this aging was a natural process, it was apparent that he did not have any daughters, or else he would have aged long ago, due to the pressures of finding a Shidduch for his daughter.
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Sara Lives For 37 Years “Vayihyu Chayei Sarah.” Why does the the pasuk say, “Vayihyu; And they were the life of Sarah,” – in the plural, the Torah should have said, “Vayihi Chayei Sarah,” – in the singular? Daas Zikainim MiBaalei HaTosfos answers that the numerical value of “Vayihyu” is 37. Since Chazal tell us that one who does not have any children is considered dead, Sarah’s first 90 years of her life were not real living. The Torah is telling us, “Vayihyu Chayei Sarah,” – the life of Sarah was “Vayihyu” – 37 years (from age 90-127) – the number of years she lived after Yitzchok was born.
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Eliezer Is A Sly Shadchan When Avrohom gave Eliezer instructions to find a wife for Yitzchok he says(24:4) “V’Lakachta Isha Livni L’Yitzchok; You should find an appropriate girl for my son Yitzchok.” When Eliezer retells the storyto Lavan and Besuel he says (24:38), “V’Lakachta Isha Livni,” omitting the word Yitzchok. Why did he do this?
The Bais HaLevi explains that this is a phenomenon in Shiduchim. Sometimes a very wealthy man will offer a large dowry for the son of a great talmid chochom from a chosheveh family, for his daughter. If another Shadchan would approach him and tell him that for the same price he has a boy who himself is great in learning and yiras shamayim, the father would balk. Why? The father is machshiv Torah, and he is willing to pay for the aura of Torah. However, he doesn’t want his daughter to live a Kollel lifestyle. He wants his daughter to enjoy life and indulge in the luxuries that may not be consistent with a Kollel lifestyle. He wants his daughter to be the wife of a wealthy businessman.
When Eliezer took one look at Lavan and Besuel he realized that Yitzchok’s Yichus, as the son of one of the world’s wealthiest and most influential people, would be a big draw. However, he was afraid that if he would inform them that Yitzchok himself was a great tzaddik, this might be a turnoff and ruin the shidduch. He, therefore, sold Yitzchok as the son of Avrohom and nothing more.

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1. Name the four couples buried in Kiryat Arba. – Adam and Chava, Avraham and Sara, Yitzchak and Rivka, Yaakov and Leah.
2. What did Sara hear that caused her death? – That Yitzchak was almost slaughtered.
3. What title of honor did the Bnei Chet bestow upon Avraham? – Prince of G-d.
4. Where was Avraham born? – Ur Kasdim.
5. How were Avraham’s camels distinguished? – They were muzzled, so they wouldn’t graze in the fields of others.
6. What is meant by “all the good of his master in his hand” – Eliezer carried a document in which Avraham gave all he owned to Yitzchak so that people would want their daughter to marry him.
7. What special character trait did Eliezer seek when choosing a wife for Yitzchak? – He sought someone who excelled in performing acts of kindness.
8. Why did Avraham’s servant, Eliezer, run toward Rivka? – He saw that the waters of the well rose when she approached.
9. Why did Lavan run to greet Eliezer? – Lavan coveted his money.
10. When Lavan told Eliezer that the house was cleared out, what did he remove? – Idols.
11. Who did Eliezer want Yitzchak to marry? – His own daughter.
12. Aside from Eliezer, to which other people did Rivka offer to give water? – To the men who accompanied Eliezer.
13. Lavan answered Eliezer before his father, Betuel, had a chance. What does this indicate about Lavan’s character? – That he was wicked.

Created By Avrohom Sherman
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