Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Abnormal: good or bad?
Today in class, we were talking about Rifka and her famous story about how she gives water to Eliezer and all his camels without being asked. We can take from this that she is kind, generous, ready to go above the call of duty, and more. But another idea that was expressed a lot was the fact that this was just plain weird. In satiating all ELiezer's camel's thirst, she must have ended up carrying around 200 gallons of water. Even if you are a very nice person, 200 gallons is, well, a ton of water. It is very hard to see how it is in any way normal to offer to carry 200 gallons of water for camels. There is just something strange about this whole picture. Then, Mrs. Perl hinted at something that stuck with me: perhaps that's the point. Rifka is one of the mothers of our nation, so obviously there is something to learn from her behavior. Maybe we are supposed to be very different from everyone else. Then I realized just how true this is. Jewish girls wear skirts in public to show that we are different. Boys wear kippot and tzitzit. We look differently, act differently, live differently, talk differently, and there is no doubting that we stand out. Instead of being self conscious, maybe the lesson to take from this is that we should embrace this difference. Show the world that we are different and proud of it, and perhaps the world will look back and appreciate it. Maybe, like Rifka, we need to be different enough that people will notice, and then we will be able to influence and change the world.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I like Emma's point. In my blog I try to make sense of Rivka's actions, but as Emma points out, her actions are abnormal-but abnormal enough for them to influence Jews for centuries. Rivka is probably the only person who would spend that much time and energy on a good deed (a good deed, that might I add, was not expected or necessary). Her actions made her the perfect role model for the Jewish people, just because she did something most (or all) would not do.
ReplyDeleteThis is just another way we can compare Rivka to Avraham. What she did was so out of the ordinary that it made her an influencial role model for the Jews. Avraham also did many extraordinary things that made him a role model for us. He rose above his surroundings and believed in one G-d without proof (even when he threatened by Nimrod--Kivshon HaAish) and listened to G-d when He told him to kill Yitzchak.