When the Women Went Shopping, There Were No Men in the Street

The Daily Strengthening from The Rav, the holy gaon and Tzaddik Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a — “Rivkah Was the Only Modest One Among Millions of Girls”

“And the young woman was very beautiful, a virgin, and no man had known her; and she went down to the spring, filled her jug, and came up” (Bereishis 24:16)

“And behold, Rivkah came out, with her jug on her shoulder; and she went down to the spring and drew water; and I said to her, ‘Please give me a little to drink’” (ibid. 24:45)

“And the servant took ten camels from the camels of his master and went, with all the goodness of his master in his hand; and he arose and went to Aram Naharayim, to the city of Nachor” (ibid. 24:10)

“And he made the camels kneel outside the city, by the well of water, toward evening, at the time when the women who draw water go out” (ibid. 24:11)

“And she hurried and emptied” (ibid. 24:20)

Friday, 24 Av 5783 — “If someone asks you for one cup to drink, you should immediately bring him two cups”

These are his holy words:

“And the young woman was very beautiful” (Bereishis 24:16). Rashi says: “a virgin”—because Rivkah was unique, one in the entire region, among millions of girls.

“And the young woman was very beautiful, a virgin, and no man had known her; and she went down to the spring” (ibid. 24:45). It is written here (Bereishis chapter 24) nine times: “her jug, her jug, her jug.”

“And she hurried and emptied” (ibid. 24:20). Eliezer, Avraham’s servant, said: I am asking only for water—just a drop of water. If I start telling Rivkah to also give the camels and the donkeys to drink—after all, I have ten camels with me—it will take thirty hours to water them. You can’t quickly water ten camels.

Now it is before sunset—this is “toward evening” (ibid. 24:11)—because they go out only “toward evening,” and then it is forbidden for boys to be in the streets. When women walk in the street, boys must not be there. That is how it was in Yemen: men were forbidden to go out at the time when the women went shopping. They had two hours when they went shopping, and no man was allowed to remain in the street during that time. And if his wife was sick and she could not go out, he would go at a different time—but not when the women were going.

There is no such thing as going out when women are walking in the streets—it is absolutely forbidden. Now it is “toward evening”; the Zohar says that not a single boy was in the street.

Eliezer, who went to Charan, was the only one in the street, and he asked Rivkah, “Give me a little water.” She begins telling him: I will also give the camels to drink—not only you. If someone asks you for one cup to drink, you should immediately bring him two cups. A person asks, “Bring me a cup to drink”—bring him two. Maybe he hasn’t drunk all day? On such a hot day—50 degrees of heat.

HaMe’or HaAfeilah on Parshas Chayei Sarah (by Rabbeinu Netanel ben Yeshayah zt"l, one of the great sages of Yemen in the 14th century; the Midrash Nur al-Salam from about 700 years ago on the Five Books of the Torah) says that Rivkah’s jug “jumped” (that is the wording in the source) by itself. After all, no person—no man—can water ten camels; it would take him exactly ten hours.

The jug jumped by itself and was drawing water. Rivkah stood by the spring and the water kept rising continuously. Because if she would have had to go down and come up in order to draw water, she would not have managed to water them. Rather, Rivkah stood at the edge of the spring and the water rose on its own—the jug jumped by itself.