Parshat Chayei Sarah D’var Torah- The Incredible Power of Appreciation

The following of our Torah is based on the Drashtavid. So in this 6 Pasha, Pashat Chayesara, we have the story of Eliezer. He was Avram's slave and so the story is that Eliezer is sent to Charan to find a suitable wife for Yitzchak and on his journey there Hashem does a lot of miracles for him. The first one, he makes Eliezer's journey very short so instead of the whole long journey to Charan, Hashem makes it a very short journey so he travels faster and also just as Eliezer is arriving at Charan, he gives a prayer to Hashem asking him to help him find the perfect wife for Yitzchak and just as that moment Rivka walks forward and Rivka was the perfect girl, she had all the right-me-dots and made all the signs and everything and so at that moment Eliezer bows down to Hashem, he says some thank yous and then he goes on to meet Lavan and Betua and so we see the whole story was Mamash who was driven by Hashem. So what's interesting about the story is that after it we hear the whole story, the Torah again recounts Eliezer repeating the entire story over to Betua and Lavan. The Torah says that just as like Eliezer was about to come and sit down for dinner with Eliezer, Betua and Lavan and the whole family, Eliezer says that he's not going to eat until he tells the whole story of how you found Rivka and how he came there. So when we look at the Torah, there's literally like almost three pages of the Torah just dealing with the story and half of it is literally just Eliezer saying over the story. So what's so special, why do we have to go into such detail about the story? Why do we have to repeat it twice especially just Eliezer saying it over, what's so special about that? And on top of that we have a very cryptic Midrash, the Midrash tells us on this spot that by Eliezer retelling the story, it was considered a greater act than the Torah of the Jewish descendants. When the Jews received the Torah later on and they observed the Torah and even nowadays we keep the Torah, the Midrash tells us that by Eliezer retelling the story, that was considered a greater act, it had more significance than our Torah that we have nowadays, our observing of the Torah. So now we're left with another question. How could the mere retelling of this miraculous journey that Eliezer had, how could it be more important than the observance of the Torah? So to answer we have to understand something about Eliezer. We have to understand that Eliezer was not a simple person, he was a very great person, he merited to be Abraham's closest assistant. And so that's why he merited all the miracles and the direct answers of his prayers in the story. However the Midrash also further tells us something else, that when Levan and Betuel saw all the jewelry and riches that Eliezer brought to bring for Rivka, Betuel and Levan would plot to kill Eliezer and take all the riches for themselves and how do they want to do that? They were going to do it by poisoning his food. They were going to have the dinner with Eliezer, poison his food and take all the stuff for themselves. However, the Midrash tells us that Eliezer, he recognized his food was poisoned and therefore he said he's not going to eat his food until he recounts the miraculous, until he says over the crazy journey he had and the miracles that Shem did for him. So while he was telling that story, the Midrash explains that an angel came and switched his food with Betuel and Betuel ended up dying that night and had Eliezer. This leads us to another question, okay Eliezer was a very great man and he did a lot of good things. However, why did Eliezer think that saying over the story would save him from the poison in his food? He sees the poison in his food and says okay I'm not going to eat until I say over my story how I got here and then we could eat. So what was his plan? Did he think an angel was going to save him or what did he think was going to happen by saying over the story? So to answer guys, we have to understand the incredible lesson that Eliezer is showing us here. Take a deeper look at the story, Eliezer's life was in danger and he realized he needed some Zakhut to save him. He was about to die. His food was poisoned right in front of him. He needed some Zakhut but not just any small Mitzvah, no, no, no. He looked back and all the amazing miracles Hashem performed to him on that day, right? He made his journey shorter, he answered his prayers, he sent him to Ravka and he realized oh my God he did not thank Hashem enough for all the amazing things he did for him. Looking back, only then he realized all the amazing things he did but in the moment, he thanked Hashem of course, but he realized he didn't appreciate enough in the moment. So now Eliezer at that moment realizes wow I have to thank Hashem and he realized it wasn't enough his thinking from before that he did in private. He has to do it in front of other people, right? The Pasuk and Talim says you have to exalt Hashem among a big crowd of people. You have to spread Hashem's kindness, spread Hashem's greatness and the mercy and the kindness that he does for us. You have to spread it out to people. So therefore what did Eliezer do? He told the whole story in front of the whole family and then Eliezer realized something else that it wasn't enough to just say oh yeah guys Hashem saved me, no, no, no. He has to go into every detail, every detail of the story, every small thing that Hashem did for him, every small act of grace Eliezer realized that he has to say it over and that was the biggest huytah that he realized he had to do and that's why the Torah gave him a whole another page of Eliezer going into to show that Eliezer, he realized he had to first say it over to so many people and go into all the details and so therefore he was going to merit to save himself and so now we can understand why Eliezer, how his retelling of the story is greater than the Torah of the Jewish people. It's not saying that the story is a greater mitzvah or like there's anything more important about the story but it's coming to tell us that there's something special and there's a unique quality in Eliezer's act that's not found in other mitzvahs and so the Torah here is teaching us that having gratitude to Hashem is not a simple task. It's not something we should consider like a, just like a stom, you know, just say thank you, no, no, no. It's here to show us that when we appreciate Hashem's kindness and all the things he's done for us it's an incredible mitzvah to go into every detail, to spread it to everyone from the sea, to show Hashem we really, really, really appreciate all the amazing things he did for us every single day, right, that he watched us over us, he guides us, he helps us to show that Mamosh could save us from so many bad things and just as Eliezer realized that this moment, his life was Mamosh in danger, he realized I need some big zakhut and I realized I did not appreciate Hashem enough so I'm going to do it now and that's how I'm not going to eat until I say over the story and so therefore we see a big lesson, guys, to always appreciate everything Hashem does for us and so through that we'll be saved from many misfortunes and many chasvekhu, there's so many troubles and sicknesses and with Hashem through this we'll I'll speedily bring them a shayach and rebuild the beta in cash, amen shabbat shalom avarach.