In this week’s parsha, Chayai Sarah, we find out what it takes to make it into Abraham’s family.
What would it take to make it into YOUR family? What traits define your family and what are you looking for in any new future members? Eliezer, Abraham’s servant, who is on a mission to find Issac a wife, has an idea as to what quality this woman must possess. Do you know what it is? What kind of woman would fit perfectly into Abraham’s family?
He says that the woman from whom he requests water to drink – but who gives not only him but also his animals to drink, she’s the one!
Why? What would this prove to him? How does this reflect Abraham and his mission?
Hospitality and kindness! That’s Abraham’s trademark!
Go around the table and share what “random act of kindness” you did today and what kindness you may have received from someone else.
What can you give someone besides food and water? (compliments, support, love)
Rebecca not only showed such kindness to this traveling stranger, but she did so with zeal: the Torah describes her as “hurrying” or “running” three times!
When you do a kindness for someone, how’s your “bedside manner”? You know how it feels when someone does something nice but not with a smile or much enthusiasm. Role play a nice way to give tzedaka and a not-nice way. What’s a nice way to compliment someone and what’s a not-nice way?
We learn from Rebecca not only what kindness is but the importance of the manner in which we do it!
Bracha Krohn is a mom of three living in Israel. She teaches children, teenagers and adults in schools, Batei Midrash and summer camp. “Table Talk” and “Personal Parsha” are based on the ideas she and her husband, also a Torah educator, discuss with their children around their weekly Shabbat table.
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