בראשית

הנה אנכי נצב על עין המים. יש להתעורר בענין פרשה זו שהיא כפולה, ודרז"ל יפה שיחת עבדי אבות לפני הקב"ה מתורתן של בנים שהרי פרשת אליעזר כפולה והרבה גופי תורה נתונים ברמיזה, ואין ספק כי זה מופת ועדות גדולה על מעלת האבות שהם הם המרכבה ובודאי כפל הפרשה לא לחנם כי אם לענינים ובודאי כפל הפרשה לא לחנם כי אם לענינים צריכים מוכרחים כאשר אפרש בפרשה, והתעורר ופקח עיני שכלך כי כל המעשים האלה בהצלחת השליחות על העין היו, והזכיר זה ג' פעמים במלות שונות ז"ש עין המים, ואמר ואבא היום אל העין, ואמר עוד ותרד העינה, ויש לך להתבונן בג' מלות האלה, עין העין העינה:

הנה אנכי נצב על עין המים, ”here I am standing at a fountain of water, etc.” We have to be alert to the fact that this whole paragraph appears to be merely a repetition of what the Torah already told us. Our sages in Bereshit Rabbah 60,8 have explained that this teaches that the small talk of the servants of the patriarchs was dearer to G-d than some of the profound Torah insights of the children of the patriarchs. We can prove this from the fact that the Torah was very expansive in reporting everything the servant did, whereas it was most concise in relating some very basic legislation which applies to the Jewish people throughout the ages. Sometimes, such legislation is merely hinted at in the text so that if it had not been revealed to Moses orally we would never have found it in the written text. The whole matter is further proof that the patriarchs were carriers of G-d’s “chariot,” i.e. that their stature exceeded that of the angels who had preceded them as the carriers. There can be no doubt that the Torah did not repeat this whole report of Eliezer’s prayer and his dialogue with Rivkah without an ulterior motive. I will explain this as we proceed with the text of this entire paragraph. I advise you the reader to keep your eyes open as all these matters were directly related to the success of Eliezer’s mission. For instance: the Torah speaks of the עין המים, the well (fountain) of water three times, each time varying the syntax somewhat. In our verse here the well is simply described as עין המים, “a fountain of water.” In 24,42 the servant is reported as saying: ואבא היום אל העין, “I arrived this day at the well.” in 24,16 the Torah says of Rivkah: ותרד העינה, “she descended to the well.” In other words, the Torah speaks of the same well in three slightly different versions, עין, העין, העינה. We need to understand the precise reason for each of these nuances. [The author leaves it there, but Rabbi Chavell quotes that according to תורת חיים the combination of the word עין (numerical value 70) plus two more times the same word equals an allusion to the name of G-d consisting of 72 letters. The additional letters ה, either at the beginning of the word or at the end, allude to the last letter ה in the Ineffable Name, a reference to G-d’s attribute of חסד. Eliezer invoked this attribute in order to secure for Yitzchak the mate who was appropriate for him.]