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Parashas Chaya SaraGenesis 24:17 "And the servant ran towards her and he said 'Let me sip, please, a little water from your jug.' " RASHI And the servant ran towards her: Rashi: Because he saw that the waters rose up towards her. This is certainly a drash and not p'shat, since no mention of this miracle is made in the text of the Torah itself. yet Rashi found the need to comment cite this midrash. Why? What do think brought him to write this? Your answer: What Is Bothering Rashi? An Answer: In fact the commentators offer several; suggestions of what may have prompted Rashi here. But to my mind the most reasonable idea is that of the Ramban. He himself suggests what may be behind this drash. He says that if we look at other verses in this story, which refer to drawing water from the well, we see something unusual. See verse 24:13 where it says: And the daughters of the city come out to draw water..." And verse 24:20 where it says: And she ran again unto the well to draw water..." In both cases they "drew water" from the well, that is they went down to draw the water up to them. But in our verse it does not say that Rivka "drew water" thus Rashi concludes that there was no need to draw the water up "because the waters rose up towards her." A drash which has its basis in some strange phrasing in the Torah. This is typical of Rashi he will use drash to answer problematic ("bothersome") phrasings in the Torah. Shabbat Shalom. Back to this week's Parsha | Previous Issues
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