True Chessed & Lechem Hapanim – Chayei Sarah
In this week’s parsha Chayei Sarah we read about Eliezer, Avraham’s faithful servant going to Charan to find a wife for Yitzchak. Eliezer reaches the town of Avraham’s family and he makes for himself a sign (we will not talk about whether this was “menachesh” or not – that’s another shiur). He says “If the girl offers me to drink and also my camels, then she is a wife fit for Yitzchak.” Eliezer wants to see if Rivka is a ba’alat chessed or not.
That is a really extreme condition! If Rivka saw Eliezer, a stranger and offered him use of her water jar, is that not chessed? If she offered him to drink, is not that chessed too? Remember this is the hometown of Lavan we are talking about, a place of degenerates (with the exception of Rivka of course). Either of the above two offers would be way beyond the call of duty in such a place. But no, Eliezer is looking for someone who will go much further than that, by offering to give all his camels to drink as well. If a camel on average consumes 80 liters of water in one “shlook” and Eliezer had 10 camels ….. do the math how much water Rivka would have to draw from the well. What was Eliezer really looking for here?
In Avot DeRebi Natan, (7,1) he analyses the Mishna in Pirkei Avot (7,1) –
“יהי ביתך פתוח לרוחה ויהיו עניים בני ביתך”
by comparing between Avraham and Iyov. Iyov was a rich man who owned a big mansion. He specially had 5 entrances made in this huge house for hachnasat orchim, so that guests would not have to make the long detour round the house to the front entrance. If someone came from the north, there was an entrance on the north, if someone came from the east, there was an entrance in the east and so on. Whenever a guest came visiting Iyov would ask the person “What would you like to eat and drink?” If the answer was steak and chips with diet Coke, he got it. If the person wanted Schnitzel in a pita with malt beer, he got it. No dish was too big or small for Iyov, whatever the person asked for he got.
Later when Iyov began to suffer all his tribulations he asked Hashem, “Why do I deserve this, wasn’t I an Ish Chessed?” Hashem replies to him – “You think you were an Ish Chessed, let me tell you about Avraham!”
When a guest came to Avraham he also asked them what they would like to eat. If the person replied “Schnitzel in a pita with malt beer”, Avraham would say “Forget about Schnitzel in a pita – you can eat that at your son’s bar mitzvah. How’s about some calf tongue in mustard sauce?, it is really delicious.” The guest didn’t even know what mustard sauce was! Avraham continued. “While you are waiting for that, what would like for the first course? Have you ever tried liver patee in flaky pastry?” The guest who had never eaten more than a once course meal in his life was at a loss for words. “And to drink I recommend the Cabernet Sauvignon made from grapes all the way from from Gerar, it was a particularly good vintage last year!” Avraham would pile on the food and drink, left, right and center and personally wait on his guest and at the end he gave him the biggest surprise – the food was FREE, just say birkat hamazon to thank Hashem and you don’t have to pay a penny!.
The guest went home and told his wife “Guess what I had for lunch? calf tongue in mustard sauce !!! and he slaughtered the whole calf for me, just for the tongue, with a dash of mustard sauce on top and a spread of mayonnaise below, on a bed of greens. And to drink I had the most exquisite wine (whose name he couldn’t pronounce since he didn’t speak Gerarian).
When there were no people visiting Iyov on any particular day, he would just close up the office and resume the following day. When nobody came to Avraham, it caused him severe grief. He sent Eliezer out looking for guests!
Picture a gemach that gives interest free loans/grants, if nobody applies that day, they simply close shop and resume the following morning. How many gemachim have you seen that they go out on the street to passers-by and say, “Would you like an interest free loan? No rush to pay it back!” when the person refuses they keep at it, “But even if you don’t need it now, take it anyway and put it in savings, you never know what might happen next month, we could have a Corona epidemic or something! No hurry, pay it back whenever you are able and if not then not!” If you know of such a gemach, tell me because I’d like to get to know them! The only people actively soliciting loans are the banks and credit card companies who demand 15+% interest on the loan and payable within 10 months!!! I regularly get at least two calls a day like that.
Eliezer returned saying - sorry he couldn’t find anyone, it was 60 degrees C in the shade and there was nobody about. Avraham didn’t believe him. He went out himself to look and when he couldn’t see anyone he was in such dire straits that Hashem had mercy on him and sent him 3 angels as guests!
The chessed that Iyov did is probably the kind of chessed that most of us do. It is chessed done out of pity/empathy and somewhere in the back of our minds we are always thinking “Cast your bread upon the water ……” like when Yankel knocks on my door at midnight and asks me for help with jumper cables to start his car. No problem! If I ever need to jumpstart my car at 4:00am in the morning I know who to call on … Somewhere along the line there is most likely some kind of payback.
Avraham’s chessed was not like that. It was like a lactating cow that gives milk. As long as the cow is feeding her calf, all is well, but if the calf does not want to feed? The cow accumulates the milk and if not used it causes great physical distress. It is therefore permitted to milk a cow on Shabbat (you have to dispose of the milk) because of tza’ar ba’alei chayim. Avraham’s physical makeup was that he HAD to do chessed, if he wasn’t doing chessed, it caused him severe anguish.
Eliezer, in searching for a wife for Avraham’s son Yitzchak knew that Rivka simply offering use of her water jar or offering him water just wouldn’t do. The standard that was befitting Avraham’s son was that she give all his camels to drink as well, because if she didn’t it would cause her severe anguish! That is the kind of chessed Avraham had and that is the kind of chessed Rivka also had. That is what Eliezer was looking for.
In the Heichal of the Beit Hamikdash there were three keilim, the Mizbach Haketoret, the Menorah and the Shulchan Lechem Hapanim. These three keilim correspond to the Three Avot.
The Mizbach Haketoret corresponds to Yaakov. Yaakov saw in his dream a (straight) ladder stretching from the earth to the heavens. The Ketoret arose in a straight column of smoke. The Ketoret contained 11 spices, intended, amongst other things, as a kapara for Yaakov’s 11 sons sinning against Yosef (see my shiur on the Ketoret on Yom Kippur). Yaakov symbolizes truth, emet. The wordאמת hints at what real truth is. Real truth is not on the two extremes, not on the א side and not on theת side, it is somewhere in the middle (מ is in the middle of the alphabet). The Mizbach Haketoret was located in the middle of the Heichal, not on the left side and not on the right.
The Menorah corresponds to Yitzchak. Yitzchak established tefilat mincha, בין הערביים, the time of the lighting of the Menorah (according to the Rambam). Yitzchak was a עולה תמימה in the akeida. The Menorah had to be lit from שמן זית זך. According to chazal when Yitzchak was on the altar he saw the heavenly light and as a result וַתִּכְהֶיןָ עֵינָיו מֵרְאֹת. Yitzchak symbolizes גבורה. The direction of gevurah is from down here upwards. It is not spreading the light of HKB”H from up there to down here, it is lighting lights down here and directing them upwards, like the Menorah.
The Shulchan Lechem Hapanim corresponds to Avraham. Avraham is closely associated with bread. There are more references to bread in connection with Avraham than with any of the other Avot. When the three angels visit Avraham he tells Sarah to prepare Uggot (Breishit 18,6). Onkelos’ translation of “uggot” – גריצן. In the passuk that speaks about the “challot” Lechem Hapanim (Vayikra 24,5). Onkelos’ translation of “challot” – גריצן. Like Avraham’s rounded matzot, the Lechem Hapanim was a “rounded” bread that was a matza (no chametz). Malkitzedek met Avraham after the battle with the 5 kings and gave him Lechem Hapanim and Yayin Nesech, (Midrash). Avraham symbolizes chessed. Avraham was always giving free food to his guests and asking them to say birkat hamazon afterward as hakarat hatov to HKB”H.
If the three keilim in the heichal represent the three Avot, they also represent the middot of the Avot, which are essentially middot of HKB”H. So how does the Lechem Hapanim represent chessed?
The Shulchan and the Lechem Hapanim were a conduit for the שפע העליון, Hashem’s heavenly abundance to this earth הזן את העולם כולו בטובו בחן בחסד וברחמים. The Korban Lechem Hapanim epitomizes two principles – הכרת הטוב and איזהו עשיר השמח בחלקו. The Shulchan symbolizes wealth and a truly wealthy man is someone who shows hakarat hatov and is happy with his lot. One of the miracles with the Lechem Hapanim is when they distributed the Lechem Hapanim the following Shabbat between the Kohanim, each Kohen only got a small kezayit, but it filled them as if they had eaten an entire meal. It was a miracle, but could only occur if the Kohen eating the Lechem Hapanim was שמח בחלקו. If he was not emotionally satisfied with that kezayit, it would not have filled him up physically.
When Avraham cast Hagar and Yishmael out, he sent with them bread and a flask of water (Breishit 21, 4). In the next passuk it says that the water in the flask ran out, but what about the bread, did the bread also run out? Why did Sarah demand Avraham cast out Hagar and Yishmael - because she caught Yishmael מצחק which, depending on the perush, means doing avodah zara or giluy arayot. At the time Yishmael was approximately 17 years old. Hagar was the daughter of Pharaoh and grew up in a home of avodah zara. However while she was in Avraham’s household she did not practice avodah zara, but rather abided by the laws of the Torah. However, family genetics – Yishmael inherited a tendency for avodah zarah from his mother. When they left Avraham’s house, the Torah no longer accompanied them, the water (a synonym for Torah) ran out. It says ותלך ותתע במדבר באר שבע, Hagar returned to her avodah zara ways. But the bread didn’t run out, only the water! How is it the bread did not run out? Because the bread Avraham sent with Hagar was Lechem Hapanim and even if you eat a kezayit it fills you up, so it lasted longer than the water! Yishmael was no tzaddik, but one thing you have to say about Yishmael is that he was sameach bechelko. When he was cast out he was 17-years-old, almost an adult! When the water ran out, who complained? Hagar complained. Yishmael didn’t complain, he was sameach bechelko, that is why the miracle of the Lechem Hapanim happened to him and the bread did not run out. At the end of his life, Yishmael did teshuva.
The Lechem Hapanim is a korban of true chessed. The main components of the korban are the Shulchan and the Lechem Hapanim, but there was another component – the Levonah. The Lechem Hapanim was eaten in its entirety by the Kohanim, it was a chessed, HKB”H’s blessing of shefa in this world, but there also has to be hakarat hatov from us. The Levonah is the hakarat hatov. Before the Lehem Hapanim can be eaten the Levonah must be offered on the Mizbeach to Hashem. The Levonah is me’akev the bread and vise versa, only when both exist and are intact is the korban valid. The Levonah is a tikkun for lack of hakarat hatov. When the moon (levanah) complained in the Creation that there should not be two main luminaries, it was diminished. This was a lack of hakarat hatov, which is remedied by the Levonah.
True chessed typified Avraham (not Iyov). It is a chessed that does not emanate from pity, but rather from a compelling need to give. It is a chessed that does not expect anything in return. Hashem’s chessed to us is this kind of chessed, it is a one way chessed – to us, a chessed shel emet..All we have to do is express hakarat hatov in return, like Avraham taught his guests to say birkat hamazon. That is the essence of the Korban Lechem Hapanim - spiritually modeled after Avraham Avinu.
Shabbat Shalom
Eliezer Meir Saidel
Showbread Institute
www.showbreadinstitute.com
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