“And the servant ran to meet her…”  (Bereishis 24:17)

Rashi: Because he saw that the waters rose in the well when she approached it (Genesis Rabbah 60:5).

Chazal tell us that when Rivka went to draw the water for Eliezer, the water rose to make her job easier. Eliezer observed this and understood this miracle to be indicating that she is undoubtedly a righteous woman. Harav Baruch Mordechai Ezrachi asks, “So why did Eliezer continue to test Rivka? What additional proof would he need more than Hashem Himself treating her as a ‘tzadekes’?”

I would like to share with you an incident that I once observed. In the olden days, when a person could only pay for a bus with cash or cartisia (multi-ride card), a man realized he didn’t have any way to pay for the bus! Since he was going home, he understood that the other people waiting at the bus stop lived in his neighborhood. He asked, “Can someone please lend me money and I will pay you back as soon as I get home? I unfortunately left my wallet and am stranded without any cash.” A benefactor readily gave him the money and the person asked him for his address so he could repay the loan. The benefactor responded by saying, “If you would have knocked on my door and asked me for a handout, I would have happily given you this amount of money. There is no reason to repay it!” The person was frustrated. He didn’t want to take tzedakah – he wanted a loan!

Let’s stop and think what the response of the benefactor should be when this person says that he wants to pay him back? I think what would have been proper would have been for the benefactor to tell him where he lives so that he could return the money. Yet, the benefactor felt that it is a better and bigger mitzvah to give tzedakah. And indeed, the halacha is that even a rich man who is on the way and does not have any money has the status of a poor man and is permitted to accept tzedakah funds. However, from the person’s point of view, he didn’t want to look like a man in need of charity, but rather wanted to be looked at as a respectable person who just forgot his wallet at home. It is obvious to me that the right thing would have been for the benefactor to give him his address and to do the chesed in a way that makes the recipient feel the most comfortable. After all, we are not doing chesed for our own good. We do chesed in order to help out another Jew.

The mishneh in Pirkeh Avos (2:9) tells us about several middos, but says that the midah of a lev tov (a good heart) is the greatest of all midos. Harav Ezrachi explains that one who has the character trait of a “good heart” will consistently do the right thing, for he has the capacity and empathy to understand what his fellow Jew needs.

Many times we find a person who does chesed and even looks like a Tzadik, but as the Vilna Gaon tells us, a Tzadik is a person who overcomes his evil inclination again and again. However, those who have acquired this character trait of a lev tov will have the “stick-to-it-ness” to remain doers of chesed for their entire lives.

Eliezer wasn’t looking for a wife who just at this phase of her life was a righteous woman (and indeed one could be such a righteous woman to the extent that the water rises to meet her); rather he was looking for someone whose whole way of life was dictated by having a lev tov.

People often have guests, but sometimes those guests do not offer to help at all. They just accept the good service and leave with a smile. There are those hosts who feel offended and abused. Would they invite that guest again? Just imagine that you have a three-year-old girl lifting heavy pails of water for a full-grown man who offers her no assistance whatsoever. Would she respond by saying, “I will give water to your animals, too”? Someone who does so, shows that she has a true lev tov. This was the test that Eliezer used to see if he could expect Rivka to be as big a ba’alas chesed 100 years from now as she was then.

Obviously, it is not pleasant to be tested. Others should appreciate the chesed that we do for them and offer to help us out. However, when we get tested by someone who abuses our beneficial acts, each one of us must make a mental decision: “Do I want to be a real ba’al chesed or not?” (This does not imply that one should allow others to abuse you and take advantage of your hospitality. We’ll explore that another time.)

When we help others, we should do so because we are true ba’alei chesed like our great grandmother Rivka Imeinu.