Parashat Chayei Sarah: Rivkah’s Flow of Chesed
How Does Water Reflect the Essence of Spiritual Nourishment?
What is Preferable: Filtered Water from the Faucet or Water from the Wellspring?
As she filled her water bottle from our reverse osmosis filter, my Shabbat guest asked if I use water from the Bat Ayin wellspring. When I admitted that I don’t, she smiled and wondered, “Why not?”
Her question lingered with me. Although I’m well aware of the healing properties of pure spring water – and we have several beautiful springs nearby – I rarely find the time to hike twenty minutes uphill and back to fill bottles. Like so many of us, I lead an artificially sedentary life. As I sit here at my computer now, and for endless hours each day, I sometimes long for a more balanced, physically engaged rhythm of life.
I imagine the Hunzas, known for their remarkable vitality and longevity. They live simply in their mountain villages, eating their own organic produce, climbing their hilly terrain daily, engaging in hard physical work, and keeping things simple, close to nature. Their lifestyle perhaps resembles that of our biblical ancestors, who drank freely from natural springs, without added fluoride and bleach. There was no need for reverse osmosis systems in those days; the water of creation was totally pure, flowing straight from the Source.
Water is the most vital of all natural resources – we simply cannot live without it. The Torah mentions it even before the first day of creation:
“וְרוּחַ אֱלֹהִים מְרַחֶפֶת עַל־פְּנֵי הַמָּיִם” – “The spirit of G-d was hovering over the water” (Bereishit 1:2).
Water nourishes everything that lives. Even if I don’t make it to the wellspring often, I still feel its quiet blessing infusing Bat Ayin with Divine serenity and flow. The natural springs here remind me of how Hashem sustains the world continuously and compassionately. Although the biblical, simple ways of life portray a romantic, idyllic lifestyle for many people – myself included – I must admit, I’m deeply grateful for the blessings of modern life – running water, the ability to flush the toilet, daily warm showers, and the simple ease of turning a faucet. When I offer students or visitors a drink, most often they respond, “Just water, please.” How fitting, for water in Torah is the symbol of chesed – lovingkindness.
Avraham’s servant understood this truth well when he prayed for a sign to identify Yitzchak’s destined wife. The test he devised at the well was all about chesed through water: Would the woman not only extend a cup of water to him, but also offer to sustain his ten camels with water? Rivkah’s generous response revealed her pure soul. Like living water that flows naturally from its source, her kindness poured forth effortlessly, nourishing others without calculation or hesitation.
What Was so Extraordinary about Rivkah’s Wellspring of Chesed?
When Avraham’s faithful servant Eliezer arrived at the well outside Charan, his heart overflowed with prayer. He sought a woman whose kindness would reveal her worthiness to carry forward the light of Avraham and Sarah. His prayer was answered through Rivkah, who not only offered him water but also drew water for his ten camels until they had finished drinking.
This act may seem simple, yet the Torah recounts it in great detail – because Rivkah’s chesed was not ordinary kindness. Water, the most vital of all substances, symbolizes life itself. By pouring it freely for a weary traveler and his animals, Rivkah became a channel of Divine flow, mirroring Avraham’s open tent of overflowing hospitality. Just as Avraham offered food and water to the angels, Rivkah’s hands extended nourishment to a stranger, revealing that the spiritual wellspring of chesed continued to flow through the next generation.
Rivkah’s swiftness revealed her diligence, joy, and wholehearted devotion in performing this mitzvah. Rashi comments that Eliezer ran toward her because he saw that the waters rose to greet her – a sign from Heaven of her purity and worthiness (Bereishit Rabbah 60:5, cited by Rashi on Bereishit 24:17).
The Divrei Yisrael teaches that Eliezer’s test was not merely whether the girl would give water, but whether she would do so with joy and enthusiasm. The verse itself hints at this – וְהָיָה הַנַּעֲרָה/Ve’haya hana’arah – “Let it be that the young woman…” Our Sages explain that וְהָיָה/ve’haya always connotes simchah – joy. When you are infused with joy, you act with enthusiasm and alacrity:
ספר בראשית פרק כד פסוק יח וַתֹּאמֶר שְׁתֵה אֲדֹנִי וַתְּמַהֵר וַתֹּרֶד כַּדָּהּ עַל יָדָהּ וַתַּשְׁקֵהוּ:
(כ) וַתְּמַהֵר וַתְּעַר כַּדָּהּ אֶל הַשֹּׁקֶת וַתָּרָץ עוֹד אֶל הַבְּאֵר לִשְׁאֹב וַתִּשְׁאַב לְכָל גְּמַלָּיו:
“She said, ‘Drink, my lord.’ And she quickly lowered her pitcher to her hand, and gave him to drink … She hastened, and she emptied her pitcher into the trough, and she ran again to the well to draw water, and she drew for all his camels.” (Bereishit 24:18, 20).
To appreciate the magnitude of Rivkah’s deed, consider the camels’ immense thirst. A single camel can drink up to 135 liters of water in about thirteen minutes after a long, dehydrating journey (Jonathan Kingdon, East African Mammals: An Atlas of Evolution in Africa). For Rivkah to draw enough water for ten such camels was an almost superhuman feat – yet she ran to and from the well with joy, revealing not only compassion but a strength and generosity that transcended the physical realm. Like the well waters rising toward Rivkah, her soul surged upward with love and faith, transforming a simple act of hospitality into a moment of spiritual elevation.
What Is the Deeper Meaning of the Water Rising Toward Rivkah?
Water has no shape of its own; it humbly takes the form of its container, descending to the lowest place to give life. In the same way, true chesed requires humility – a readiness to bend, to flow toward the other, to meet their need without calculation. Rivkah’s swift and joyful service exemplifies this quality. She didn’t wait to be asked twice or measure what she gave. Her generosity was spontaneous, like a spring that gushes forth naturally.
The upward movement of the well water that rose toward Rivkah symbolizes the feminine energy of ascent – the soul’s yearning to rise from below toward the Divine above. Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev explains that the water rose only when Rivkah drew for herself (Kedushat HaLevi, Parashat Chayei Sarah). As Ramban notes, when the Torah describes her filling her own pitcher, it does not use the verb לִשְׁאֹב /lishov – “to draw” – but simply says that “she went down to the fountain, and filled her pitcher, and came up” (Bereishit 24:16). When she later drew for Eliezer’s camels, however, she needed to exert great physical effort, for the miracle did not repeat itself (Ramban, Bereishit 24:17).
Why did the water not continue to rise before her? Kedushat HaLevi teaches that this was to give her the full reward of the mitzvah, for reward corresponds to effort. Hashem, in His kindness, withheld the miracle so that Rivkah could earn spiritual merit through her labor. Rabbi Chaim ben Attar adds that Rivkah did not immediately offer to water the camels so that Eliezer would not drink less out of concern for her exertion. Only after he had finished drinking did she offer to draw for his camels – revealing her extraordinary sensitivity and selfless love (Ohr HaChayim, Bereishit 24:18).
In the inner language of Kabbalah, water represents the Divine flow of chesed descending from the upper worlds. By drawing water for Eliezer and his camels, Rivkah was not merely quenching thirst – she was opening a spiritual conduit between heaven and earth. Her well became a meeting point between the human and the Divine, where giving itself became an act of worship.
How Can We Mirror Rivkah by Serving Hashem Through the Nourishment of Water?
The Torah describes Rivkah as a young girl “exceedingly good in appearance” (Bereishit 24:16), yet her true beauty shone through her deeds. Physical beauty fades, but the radiance of compassion endures. Every act of kindness draws from an inner well of emunah and love. When we give water – literal or symbolic – we revive not only the body but also the soul.
When we draw water, whether from a faucet or a spring, we touch the same element that Rivkah drew from with such purity of heart. The Torah calls us to do even the simplest acts with mindfulness and sanctity. Rabbi Shlomo Kluger teaches that through netilat yadayim – washing our hands with water – we are protected from the grasp of Esav’s hands. The bracelets that Eliezer gave to Rivkah alluded to this mitzvah, for the verse states that “he placed the bracelets upon her hands” (Bereishit 24:22). The word צְמִידִים/tzemidim – “bracelets” shares the core letters with מצות ידים/mitzvat yadayim – ‘the commandment of the hands’ – missing only ו/vav and ת/tav– hinting that although Esav would descend from her, holiness could overcome impurity through her deeds sanctified through water. Thus, Rivkah’s act of drawing water with her כַּד/kad – “pitcher,” with the numerical value is twenty-four, corresponding to the twenty-four joints in the two hands – became the spiritual root of netilat yadayim. As King Shlomo later ordained this practice to purify the realm of malchut, the feminine sovereignty, water once again became the medium of cleansing, elevation, and connection between heaven and earth.
Through every drop of water we use in service – from Rivkah’s well to our own kitchen faucet – we participate in this same cosmic flow. When we wash our hands, pour a glass of water for a guest, tend our gardens, or nurture others with patience and care, we mirror Rivkah’s mission of redeeming holiness through simple acts of lovingkindness. In doing so, we help release the sparks trapped by Esav and draw the world closer to its final redemption.
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