Chaya Soro 2012

Raboyseyee and Raboyseyettes

Nu, it’s a week later and the Oisvorfer is still without power at home, still finds himself, along with the eishes chayil and the mishpocho, living with the shver and shvigrr (in-laws). Miraculously, everyone’s getting along ober how long can it last?

For those living in the affected areas, times are taka (indeed)  a shtikel tough but avada nothing compared to the nisyoinois (tests) the RBSO put some of the central character in Sefer Bereishis through. Were we ever told to sacrifice our own son? To marry a three year old? To place our hands under someone’s thigh (groin area) and swear? Did you do that anyway you disgusting minuvil? Or did you let your rebbe convince you that he’s merely reenacting Parshas Chaya Soro and a few others where this mamish took place? Nu, stop bitching  and let’s all thank the RBSO for our health; just about everything else can be replaced.

And for those who want or need a few more words of encouragement, I urge you to read the recent uplifting words found in  emails sent out  by Rabbi Billet  who leads one of the largest orthodox congregations in the world, one that was severely affected by Sandy, that bitch.

So that you get a taste of how  a professional Rabbi and overall good guy uplifts his people, each of Rabbi Billet’s emails is being sent under separate cover, to the entire worldwide and chosohovo Oisvorf community.

 

Once again, due to circumstances well beyond his control, the Oisvorfer will be repeating thoughts you may have read but zicher long forgot on Parshas Chaya Soro: enjoy!

 

Many of you are still digesting all the goodies in last week’s parsha, perhaps you even tried serving Avrohom’s menu to your shabbis guests, rachmona litzlon (heaven forbid). Don’t you understand that only the heylige Ovois (our forefathers) could serve butter, milk and meat together and still be loved by the RBSO. As to you  giferliche  oisvorfs, this is strictly verboten?

 

It’s Shabbis Parshas Chaya Soro, a shabbis where thousands ofmen leave their children and the eishes chayil and fly over to Chevroin for a weekend of male bonding (mamish), where they sleep 25 to an apartment, as many to a bed, and shack up with many of their school friends they haven’t shared a bed with since Yeshiva high school, if you chap. It’s a shabbis where people from all over the world connect, do business deals, bond, sing and dance as they commemorate the yurtzeit of Soro Emaynu.

 

 

This week’s parsha has two major stories and one minor one in the epilogue and they are: 1- Soro’s passing and Avrohom’s trials and tribulations in trying to find an adequate burial place. 2- Avrohom’s sharp focus in trying to find a suitable kallah for his favorite son Yitzchok and 3- Avrohom’s new life and family.

 

Chaya Soro is, as you should recall from your youth, the parsha that many view as the ultimate source for utilizing the services of a shadchan (matchmaker) and avada we’ll touch (literally) on that subject very shortly. Lets first recall that with Soro’s passing, Avrohom is now in the real estate market as he seeks to  find a suitable burial place and to negotiate on a piece of land, a skill that we learned just last week, he needed to sharpen.

 

As the Parsha opens, Ephroin the Chitti, seemingly the person in charge of real estate in Chevroin offers Avrohom the land for how much? For free! Yes, Ephroin the Chitti insists that Avrohom take the land and cave for free but what does Avrohom do? He declines the offer several times and insists on paying. After several rounds of very tense negotiations, Avrohom prevails and, as the heylige Toirah tells us, he paid full price: read RETAIL, loi olaynu! Shouldn’t this one act disqualify him from being thought of as the first Yid? Ver veyst.

 

What’s p’shat here? Is saying no to a freebie and insisting on full payment the Jewish way? Which frum Yid would say no to free and handil and handil (negotiate against himself) until he paid full price? Is this the Avrohom that we are to emulate? Perhaps we can posit an answer and suggest that this event happened before matan Toirah on Har Seenai and therefore Avrohom didn’t yet chap (grasp) that handiling (negotiating) is a mitzvas ahsay (positive commandment)  as we discussed several weeks back. Farshtaytzich (logic dictates) that  this would also answer how he was able to serve meat and milk together; see, all loose ends tied up, gishmak mamish. Not so poshit however (not so fast you weisenheimer) as others state that avada Avrohom kept the whole Toirah kula (the entire kit and caboodle), before the big event on the small mountain. How?  Freig nisht (don’t ask), I don’t know and neither does anyone else.

 

This story does not have a happy ending as ultimately, after begging Eproin to take his money, the Goy agrees.  Avrohom does in fact pay full price for Chevroin and as we all know only too well, there hasn’t been a day’s peace ever since. Perhaps had he accepted the land as a gift, there would be no machloikes whatsoever, ver veyst.

 

Veyter (let’s go further) … Avrohom buries his eishes chayil, his beloved wife  that  he twice unsuccessfully tried to get rid of. At 127, Soro, we are taught, passed of natural causes or did she? Can you just imagine the shrek (not the movie, you behaymo- I meant the shock) of hearing that after waiting 90 years for a son, your husband was going to kill and grill him, well done…noch der tzei (to add insult to injury)? Do you really believe that she just said OK, don’t forget the bbq sauce, or was she too frightened that Avrohom would try to get rid of her one more time, perhaps to Ephroin the Chittie this time? Ver veyst? Bottom line: Soro had enough of Avrohom’s shenanigans and checks out. Says Rashi:her neshomo mamish flew out of her body as a result of hearing about the Akaydo, wouldn’t yours?

 

Like any good husband would (should) Avrohom is nebech tzebrochen (broken up) with Soro’s passing but as the Toirah hakidoisho (the holy Tiorah) points out, he wasn’t quite that upset, or maybe not  upset enough. He cried but seemingly not enough, as the word for crying is spelled with a small kaf indicating that perhaps he wasn’t totally broken apart; was he faking?. Es dact zich mir (seemingly) – the Toirah is implying that he could have or should’ve been more distraught. -Nu- what can you do – he was, after all, just a man- and likely thinking ahead, if you chap about a new life, wife and others. Avrohom is now a young 140 year old and mistama a shtikel lonely. What to do?  And how distraught could he have been when just after her passing and the mourning period, Avrohom was already on the move and he quickly married Kitura who turned out to be quite the fertile myrtle and bore him six children …boom boom boom and another few:  Shoin, Zeyde Avrohom was suddenly the tata to six more goyim, yikes!!  Quite impressive too given his slow start and advanced age but hey, he’s Avrohom Oveenu and the RBSO loved him. And let’s not forget that he’s aced every test, all 10 of them.

As you can only imagine, not all the medroshim were happy to hear that Avrohom would marry a woman with a name like Kitura and avada you won’t be surprised to hear that it’s a machloikes among many, as to who this mysterious Kitura really is. Is she or was she Kitura like the Toirah tells us, or was she someone else altogether. And since it was before 9/11, not everyone was required to carry a valid driver’s license or passport and as a result, the medroshim posited different opinions. Nu, who was she? Let’s see.

According to poshit p’shat (basic reading of the text), it would appear that Kitura is Avrohom’s third wife. Avada you recall that he married Soro Emaynu, then with Soro’s blessings (at the time), also Hogor and now, Kitura; Shoin! And so say the Rashbam, Ibn-Ezra, The Radak and the RambaN. Case closed? Not at all!

Who is Kitura? The simplest approach is that she was a local – a shiksa Canaanite woman. Avrohom married a shiksa? 30 years ago, my father was upset that I dated a girl whose parents were American.  Avada some Medroshim could not let this slide by. Says the Yalkut Shimoni (Iyov – 903) ”Abraham married three women: Sarah, the daughter of Shem; Ketura, the daughter of Japheth; Hagar, the daughter of Ham”. And in fact he married them in the order in which the “fathers” appear in the Bible (6:9) – first the daughter of Shem, then the daughter of Ham, and finally the daughter of Japheth. Towards the end of his life, post-Soro, Avrohom fulfills the last piece of the RBSO’s special brocho – through him (Avrohom) the world is blessed and populated. Childless for 99 years, Avrohom becomes the father of a multitude of nations.

To bolster this point of view, says the heylige Toirah about Avrohom- VA’YIOSEF (he added) and VA’YIKACH (he took) a wife, and her name was Kitura. And take her he did, seemingly many times, if you chap, as she bore him Zimran and Yokshan and Medan and Midian and Yishbak and Shuach. Next and immediately thereafter, meaning after fathering six more, we learn that Avrohom bequeathed all his possessions to his favorite son Yitzchok. Efsher he had guilt feelings about binding him like a sheep and trying to slaughter him? Ver veyst. Sounds and feels right by me. In any event, it’s clear that the kinderlach that he fathered from his new eishes chayil got nothing, well almost nothing. The emes is that he gave them each a few parting gifts, much like the losers on Jeopardy. The possik tells us V’LIVNEI HA’PILAGSHM (and for the children of the concubines), Avrohom gave gifts, and then sent them off away from Yitzchok his son while he was still alive, eastward to the land of the East (Bereishis 25:1-6).

Says Reb. Avrohom ben HaRambam (the son of the RambaM) that Avrohom fathered all these children when he was well over 140 years old. And when these kids grew up, he sent them all away eastward, back in the direction of his birthplace. From there they become successful traders in spices, gold and precious stones (Yeshaya 60:6; Yechezkel 27:15, 20, 22).

Says the Medrash (Bereishis Rabbah 61:4) that Kitura was not his third wife but the second coming of his second wife. How lucky was he,  if you chap ? In other words: he married her, then chased her away but with his jealous nagging eishes chayil Soro now gone, Avrohom goes back and marries the shiksa one more time. Of course she had no issues giving birth; seemingly the shiksa girlfriends or pilagshim never do.

Says Reb Yehudah: “This is Hogor”. Said Reb Nechemiah to him: But it says “And he continued” [suggesting an additional wife]! Said he to him, “[VA’YIOSEF means] by Divine inspiration he married her. Said he to him, “But it says, and her name was Kiturah!” Their arguments continued, each holding strong to his position. Rav Yehudah argues tenaciously that Hagar, newly named, returned to Avrohom after the death of Soroh. Says Rashi empathically that Kitura was Hogor. Ay… (but) what about all the cogent and logical arguments put forth by Reb Nechemnia? And what’s the bottom line with these two going back and forth? Ver veyst?

Moreover, asks the Gur Aryeh): the text tells us that Avrohom married Kitura but we get no background on her. Where was her shidduch resume? Who were her parents? Where was she from? Would Avrohom marry just anyone and especially after setting the bar so very high in this week’s parsha when he instructs Eliezer to find a suitable wife for his son Yitzchok? What’s pshat here? Therefore, he concludes that Kitura is not introduced because she previously was: she’s Hogor! Ginig shoin (enough already)! Luz up (leave it alone please)!

And why would Avrohom remarry the wife he once chased out of the house? Say the Zoihar, Chizkuni, Kli Yakar and others azoy: Hogor, was chapped in by one of the early ballas tshuva movements for wayward shiksa concubines thrown out by the boyfriend’s/husband’s wife, got herself back on the right path, gave herself a shtikel name change, cleaned up her Google (at www.yourinternetdefender.com) and presto: good to go, and come. Ok, avada they didn’t mention Google but you chap, yes? Avrohom saw her in a new light and remarried her. Givaldig!

What do we learn here? Seemingly, once he had that shiksa experience it was zicher (of course) hard for Avrahom to stay focused on Soroh, despite her beauty – even at her advance age. One medrish suggests that she, Hogor, had taken on the name Kitura because she was closed to other traffic (men) ever since she had experienced Avrohom. Di emes is the gantza sugya is shver tzu farsthein (the entire subject is hard to understand) but azoy shtiyt (this is what’s stated) in the Toirah and who am I to argue with the Toirah. It’s avada klur (clear) why Avrohom would think about and miss the shiksa Hogor but farkert?

Ober, says the Radak (R. David Kimchi) that Avrohom taka married Kitura, as he had married Hogor earlier, as a full-fledged wife. However, the children of the concubines mentioned here at the end of our parsha, refer to other unnamed children from other unnamed women Avrohom took as concubines. Well, blow me down! Are we talking about the same Avrohom Oveenu? We must look at him with a whole new set of eyes and admiration; a man mamish! And if you’re now dizzy and wondering how many kinderlach Avrohom had in total, you’re not alone. In fact, some say he also had a daughter and her name was Bakol. And how do we know this? Says the heylige Toirah that Avrohom got old and the RBSO blessed him Bakol (meaning everything) and from this text, several medroshim concluded that Bakol was his daughter. Shoin! What happened to her? Seemingly she nebech died, much earlier. Avrohom didn’t feel the pain for this lost daughter so much until he lost Sarah as well.

Let’s chazir: exactly how many wives he had, we don’t know for sure. Nor do we know with certitude how many kids and concubines he had. What we do know is that he seemingly enjoyed the last 35 years of his life and why not? Er hut a sach mitgimacht (he was tested plenty). He was, as I said earlier, Avrohom Oveenu, need we say more?

And now let’s look in on Yitzchok and his new eishes chayil Rivka, a true love story. A bachelor until 40, he finally meets his bashert after his father gets involved in the shidduch process, sends Eliezer his house boy, to find him a wife and boy does Eliezer deliver. The Toirah tells us that Rivka was also quite beautiful.

How did all this unfold? Let’s chazir with a shtikel overview. Like any father who sees his son unmarried in his 30’s, Avrohom realizes he must get involved. Without consulting Yitzchok, he instructs his house servant whom the Medrish (Bereshis Rabba 59:5) identifies as Eliezer and makes him swear that he’ll bring back a suitable match. So far so good, but Avrohom wants Eliezer to swear; no big deal….until – that is until he hears details of the swearing process and this is how it went down. Want more details? Hold on….and that’s exactly what Eliezer is told to do.

Said Avrohom: Place your hand under my thigh. And I make you swear by Hashem, G-d of the heavens and G-d of the earth, that you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, in whose midst I dwell (Bereishis 24:2-3). Eliezer placed his hand under his master Avrohom’s thigh, and swore to uphold his promise.

Says Rashi: the thigh is a euphemism for the Mila (Penis). Circumcision was the first mitzvah for him, and it came to him through pain, and it was beloved to him. Not much has changed; most men still love their mila and chap it regularly. And, says Rashi, there is indeed a connection between placing the hand under the thigh and  swearing. In fact, the heylige Gemoro quotes the incident in our parsha as the source for the ruling that a person swearing must hold onto an item of mitzvah (nekitat chefetz). Toisfes advises that up to this point, Avrohom had not yet been commanded to fulfill any mitzvah other than circumcision.

Says the heylige Gemoro (Shavuos 38b) azoy: that one must hold an object of inherent mitzvah, such as a Torah scroll when swearing, and since this incident pre-dated Matan Toirah and there were but limited mitzvois to hold onto, grabbing the place under the thigh – or the Mila was an accepted method of holding onto an item of mitzvah to do the swearing. Grada I can chap that as I did back in high school (and beyond) and it’s quite logical because if someone grabbed your mila, certainly you’d be swearing, quite loudly.

So he took what and placed it where and held what? Raboyseyee, I believe that we just read that Rashi says that Avrohom made Eliezer hold onto his mila (penis) in order to validate the oath. Raboyseyee: in Tanach we find a number of citations for ways one can demonstrate a commitment, including the removal of a shoe and a handshake, but holding onto the member? Another such exciting Mila grabbing incident takes place later in Parshas Vayichi when Yankif makes his son Yoisef swear and also by grabbing his Mila but let’s not jump ahead. Placing his hand under Avrohom’s thigh isn’t exactly a modest gesture. Even you disgusting minuuvullim wouldn’t stoop so low, would you? The bottom line: thank the RBSO for delivering the Toirah and other ways of swearing.

Ok, Ershtens (first of all) – let’s look at the words of the possuk and translate, next we’ll do the same for Rashi, zicher your favorite commentator you chazir- Let’s learn the Toirah inside- follow with your finger.  Says the heylige Toirah:

 

And Abraham said to his servant, the elder of his house, who ruled over all that was his, “Please place your hand under my thigh.”

ב. וַיֹּאמֶר אַבְרָהָם אֶל עַבְדּוֹ זְקַן בֵּיתוֹ הַמֹּשֵׁל בְּכָל אֲשֶׁר לוֹ שִׂים נָא יָדְךָ תַּחַת יְרֵכִ

And now let’s learn Rashi who quotes the heylige Gemorrah in Maseches (tractate) Shevuois (daf 38b) azoy:

 

under my thigh:  Since one who swears must take with his hand an article related to a mitzvah such as a Torah scroll or Tefillin, and circumcision was his first mitzvah, and he had fulfilled it with pain, it was dear to him; so he took it.

תחת ירכי: לפי שהנשבע צריך שיטול בידו חפץ של מצוה, כגון ספר תורה או תפילין, והמילה היתה מצוה ראשונה לו ובאה לו על ידי צער והיתה חביבה עליו ונטלה:

So he took what and placed it where and held what??  Noch a mul (one more time).  Raboyseyee, I believe that we just read that Rashi says that Avrohom made Eliezer hold onto his mila (penis) in order to validate the oath. Eliezer swore this oath by placing his hand on the place of Avrohom’s circumcision. Gevald! A himmel gishraei mamish (OMG)!! Isn’t this the way the rebbe would make us swear that we would learn and be good bochurim, or that we wouldn’t tell our parents? Elizer only had to swear once, why the Rebbe insisted that we swear a few times daily, I mamish fail to understand.

Raboyseyee: let’s please not judge because the heylige Toirah knows all and is the emes (truth). Avada there is an answer:  Lets chazir what we learned. 1) The heylige gemorrah paskins (rules) that one must hold an object (nekitas chefetz) of inherent mitzvah, such as a Toirah or Tifilin, when swearing.  2) the Gemorah quotes this particular pussik (verse)  as the source for this requirement. So why didn’t Eliezer hold onto any of those objects?

Says the Ibn Ezra  that  this practice continues in India ad hayom hazeh (until today). It so happens that this tradition also continues daily in your own house but what you didn’t know is that the next time the eishes chayil asks you why your hands are always in your hoizen (pants) – you can always respond by telling her that you are about to swear and in order for it to be valid, you’re holding on to the milah, and that you are but following in the ways of your forefathers. Shoin:  and  isn’t that what your parents always wanted of  you? Givaldick mamish, if you chap.

As expected, a big machlokes erupted as to whether this issue of grabbing onto something of a mitzvah to validate an oath is a Toirah requirement (d’oiraysa) or was this added as a rabbinic decree which uses our verse, not as a source, but as support (asmachta)?

Toisfis, the Rema and others including Choishen Mishpat seem to be of the opinion that holding the object in your hand is d’Oraisa: The Rosh and Rambam hold that its but a a Rabbinic requirement instituted by the Rebbiem in order to have a valid defense 35 years later when one surviving bochur brings an action in court. In any event, whether you hold the penis or some other mitzvah, you’re in good hands, so to speak. Got that? Good- let’s move on as I’m mamish disgusted spending so much time in this region.

Back to the shadchan: Eliezer arrives to his destination and here comes Rivka. The Toirah states that she was very beautiful (seemingly a requirement of all the Ovois when selecting a mate) and specifically states that she was a virgin and moreover, that she was not known to any man. What’s p’shat here? Why the double language? Avada if she wasn’t know to a man, she was a virgin and even farkert, so why the double loshon (language)? Nu- let’s see what the Toirah says and again let’s follow along…you oisvorfs will surely be pleased with p’shat.

a virgin: from the place of her virginity. — [Gen. Rabbah 60:5]		בתולה: ממקום בתולים:
and no man had been intimate with her: in an unnatural way. Since the daughters of the gentiles would preserve their virginity but were promiscuous in unnatural ways, Scripture attests that she was completely innocent. — [Gen. Rabbah ad loc.]		ואיש לא ידעה: שלא כדרכה, לפי שבנות הגוים היו משמרות מקום בתוליהן ומפקירות עצמן ממקום אחר, העיד על זו שנקיה מכל:

Rashi, and who knew more or better, tells us that the local girls had strange sexual practices that enabled sexual activity without the surrender of one’s maidenhood. (He really does say that, by the way- see the box above you chazir.) Seems that Rashi knew his way around and is suggesting that unlike other women of the time who patchkeed (experimented)  maybe with their bff-s, Rivka was pure, I would certainly hope so given that according to our  mesoro, she was all of three years old at the time. Was she?

Avada you’re thinking three years old, where in the Toriah does it say that? The answer is nowhere. The midrashim deduced that Rivka was three years old when she was discovered by Eliezer and brought into Yitzchok’s tent for consummation of their marital relationship. How can this be? Was Yitzchok some kind of pervert? Ver veyst? Are we to believe that at three she was schlepping jugs of water, feeding ten camels and making decisions about her future? Ver veyst: I certainly hope not and at least one Toisfes in Yevomos (61b) suggests that she was 14;  nu, the concept  of a 14 year old, is avada easier to chap, especially in Thailand, where at 14, a few are  considered over the hill.

What is the bottom line? Our history is colorful, our Ovois were stricken by outward beauty and the Toirah, and you got to love it.

A gitten shabbis-

The Oisvorfer

Yitz Grossman

 

 

 

 

Ok, Ershtens (first of all) – let’s look at the words of the possuk and translate, next we’ll do the same for Rashi, zicher your favorite commentator you chazir- Let’s learn the Toirah inside- follow with your finger.  Says the heylige Toirah:

 

And Abraham said to his servant, the elder of his house, who ruled over all that was his, “Please place your hand under my thigh.”

ב. וַיֹּאמֶר אַבְרָהָם אֶל עַבְדּוֹ זְקַן בֵּיתוֹ הַמֹּשֵׁל בְּכָל אֲשֶׁר לוֹ שִׂים נָא יָדְךָ תַּחַת יְרֵכִ

And now let’s learn Rashi who quotes the heylige Gemorrah in Maseches (tractate) Shevuois (daf 38b) azoy:

 

under my thigh:  Since one who swears must take with his hand an article related to a mitzvah such as a Torah scroll or Tefillin, and circumcision was his first mitzvah, and he had fulfilled it with pain, it was dear to him; so he took it.

תחת ירכי: לפי שהנשבע צריך שיטול בידו חפץ של מצוה, כגון ספר תורה או תפילין, והמילה היתה מצוה ראשונה לו ובאה לו על ידי צער והיתה חביבה עליו ונטלה:

 

So he took what and placed it where and held what??  Noch a mul (one more time).  Raboyseyee, I believe that we just read that Rashi says that Avrohom made Eliezer hold onto his mila (penis) in order to validate the oath. Eliezer swore this oath by placing his hand on the place of Avrohom’s circumcision. Gevald! A himmel gishraei mamish (OMG)!! Isn’t this the way the rebbe would make us swear that we would learn and be good bochurim, or that we wouldn’t tell our parents? Elizer only had to swear once, why the Rebbe insisted that we swear a few times daily, I mamish fail to understand.

Raboyseyee: let’s please not judge because the heylige Toirah knows all and is the emes (truth). Avada there is an answer:  Lets chazir what we learned. 1) The heylige gemorrah paskins (rules) that one must hold an object (nekitas chefetz) of inherent mitzvah, such as a Toirah or Tifilin, when swearing.  2) the Gemorah quotes this particular pussik (verse)  as the source for this requirement. So why didn’t Eliezer hold onto any of those objects?

Says the Ibn Ezra  that  this practice continues in India ad hayom hazeh (until today). It so happens that this tradition also continues daily in your own house but what you didn’t know is that the next time the eishes chayil asks you why your hands are always in your hoizen (pants) – you can always respond by telling her that you are about to swear and in order for it to be valid, you’re holding on to the milah, and that you are but following in the ways of your forefathers. Shoin:  and  isn’t that what your parents always wanted of  you? Givaldick mamish, if you chap.

As expected, a big machlokes erupted as to whether this issue of grabbing onto something of a mitzvah to validate an oath is a Toirah requirement (d’oiraysa) or was this added as a rabbinic decree which uses our verse, not as a source, but as support (asmachta)?

Toisfis, the Rema and others including Choishen Mishpat seem to be of the opinion that holding the object in your hand is d’Oraisa: The Rosh and Rambam hold that its but a a Rabbinic requirement instituted by the Rebbiem in order to have a valid defense 35 years later when one surviving bochur brings an action in court. In any event, whether you hold the penis or some other mitzvah, you’re in good hands, so to speak. Got that? Good- let’s move on as I’m mamish disgusted spending so much time in this region.

Back to the shadchan: Eliezer arrives to his destination and here comes Rivka. The Toirah states that she was very beautiful (seemingly a requirement of all the Ovois when selecting a mate) and specifically states that she was a virgin and moreover, that she was not known to any man. What’s p’shat here? Why the double language? Avada if she wasn’t know to a man, she was a virgin and even farkert, so why the double loshon (language)? Nu- let’s see what the Toirah says and again let’s follow along…you osivorfs will surely be pleased with p’shat.

 

a virgin: from the place of her virginity. — [Gen. Rabbah 60:5]		בתולה: ממקום בתולים:
and no man had been intimate with her: in an unnatural way. Since the daughters of the gentiles would preserve their virginity but were promiscuous in unnatural ways, Scripture attests that she was completely innocent. — [Gen. Rabbah ad loc.]		ואיש לא ידעה: שלא כדרכה, לפי שבנות הגוים היו משמרות מקום בתוליהן ומפקירות עצמן ממקום אחר, העיד על זו שנקיה מכל:

Rashi, and who knew more or better, tells us that the local girls had strange sexual practices that enabled sexual activity without the surrender of one’s maidenhood. (He really does say that, by the way- see the box above you chazir.) Seems that Rashi knew his way around and is suggesting that unlike other women of the time who patchkeed (experimented)  maybe with their bff-s, Rivka was pure, I would certainly hope so given that according to our  mesoro, she was all of three years old at the time. Was she?

Avada you’re thinking three years old, where in the Toriah does it say that? The answer is nowhere. The midrashim deduced that Rivka was three years old when she was discovered by Eliezer and brought into Yitzchok’s tent for consummation of their marital relationship. How can this be? Was Yitzchok some kind of pervert? Ver veyst? Are we to believe that at three she was schlepping jugs of water, feeding ten camels and making decisions about her future? Ver veyst: I certainly hope not and at least one Toisfes in Yevomos (61b) suggests that she was 14;  nu, the concept  of a 14 year old, is avada easier to chap, especially in Thailand, where at 14, a few are  considered over the hill.

 

What is the bottom line? Our history is colorful, our Ovois were stricken by outward beauty and the Toirah, and you got to love it.