Our eldest daughter had a big
week in terms of her professional career. For the past 5/6 months, she served
as the campaign manager for a woman running for re-election to the Virginia
State legislature. Her candidate won in a landslide. This was the first
political campaign for which she was in charge of the entire campaign. With
that experience, comes the next campaign which inevitably becomes a bigger and
more prestigious campaign. Winning a campaign, as she explained to me, is all
about a narratives. First she needs to tell the candidates life narrative and
the narrative should include events, and experiences that allow the candidate
to connect to the narratives of the voters.
That leads to the second narrative, the candidate needs to listen to the
narratives of the voters’ lives. Her candidate needed to hear about the
struggles, and tsuris that they deal with in order to speak to it and perhaps
even come up with a solution for that pain, tsuris and hardship. The third narrative,
is the integration of these two different narratives into a coherent messages
that allows the candidate and voter to connect.
When I ask her about transmitting the narrative and what is the most
powerful way of transmitting these narratives, it’s not Facebook, Twitter,
digital media, print ads. Certainly all those modes of transmitting a narrative
are helpful but nothing is more helpful than knocking on the door and talking
to people face to face.
This week's Parsha is Chayei Sarah. The Parsha begins with
the recounting the years of Sarah's life, Avraham's mourning for his wife,
purchasing the land for Sarah's burial and then burying her. Avraham then tells
his servant that he does not want his son, Yitzchak, marrying a Canaanite
woman. Instead, the servant must return to Avraham's hometown and look for a
woman from Avraham's family/ tribe. Avraham explains that the girl that returns
with the servant is the right girl. Armed with treasures, camels and plenty of
wealth for a dowry the servant sets off and decides that the best place to find
a girl is by the local well. There the servant decides that the
"right" girl is the girl who would offer him water, as well as offer
water to his camels. Sure enough, Rebecca arrives at the well and fulfills the
servant's standard. The servant returns with Rebecca to her family, convinces
the family to let her go, and Rebecca is asked if she wants to return with the
servant. Rebecca unhesitatingly responds with a yes. Now Rebecca has fulfilled
the servant's requirement as well as Avraham's requirement. Upon her arrival at
her new home, she sees her betrothed, and, not knowing who he was, asked the
servant. The servant told her and she covered herself. Rebecca and Yitzchak are
married. The Parsha concludes with Yitzchak and Ishmael burying their father,
and the genealogy of Ishmael's family.
Three different times and in
three different contexts we read about a father’s desire to find a wife for his
son and then we read about that desire being fulfilled. First, Avraham tells his servant Eliezer to
swear an oath to find a wife for Yitzchak. Then we read about Eliezer actually
finding the future wife for his master’s son, Yitzchak. Finally we read about
Eliezer’s transmitting the first two narratives to the future bride’s family
since they are about to be impacted by both Avraham’s desire for his son to
find a wife and their daughter’s decision to become that wife. Each narrative
contains numerous details and descriptions. Yet the narrative that immediately preceded
this week’s Parsha, the narrative that Jewish tradition points to as the
foundational essence of a people’s relationship to God, the Akedah, and the
Binding of Isaac is scant nineteen verses and numerous details aren’t even
included. In this one long narrative divided into three subsections, we are
told of specific conversations, prayers, jewelry as well as gifts for Rebecca’s
family. Why does the Torah tell the
story of how a couple met in three different ways, the third being a
recapitulation of previous events by the servant. The only other time we read
of a detailed recapitulation of a narrative is when Moshe speaks to B’nai
Yisroel when they are on the eastern bank of the Jordan River and preparing to
enter into Eretz Canaan. The RaDaK (Rabbi David Kimchi- Provence, France
1160-1235) explains that Eliezer’s recapitulation serves to placate Rebecca and
her family. Avraham’s servant speaks candidly and enthusiastically of his
master and his master’s household. Eliezer’s re-capitulation hints at the
Avraham’s character as well as the very unique covenant established between him
and God. Only by transmitting this message, this story in a face to face
manner, Rebecca’s family understands the significance and the necessity of
Rebecca leaving her family of origin for her future with Yitzchak.
Creating a narrative is
important for individuals and for nations. However, it is the way in which that
narrative gets transmitted which allows members of a family, a people, voters,
citizens and members of a specific community to connect to a shared common past
and experience. The means by which a narrative is transmitted will affect the
way in which people connect with each other and its leadership. Just ask our
daughter, she transmits narratives in order for people to serve their constituency
and their community. The real question
becomes how do we transmit the values embodied in the narratives of our lives
and our families and our traditions to the next generation?
Peace,
Rav Yitz
