When the camels had finished drinking, the man took a gold nose-ring weighing a half-shekel, and two gold bands for her arms, ten shekels in weight. (Bereishis 24:22)

The gemora tells us something very peculiar. A talmid chacham has an obligation to take revenge on others. One would have thought that the last person in the world with an obligation to take revenge would be a talmid chacham! Why is it demanded of him to have this quality?

Chazal tell us about King Shaul, who had mercy on Agag the King of Amalek and did not slay him as previously commanded. We all know that this was misplaced mercy, and we are still suffering from that mercy today: Amalek still exists, and we still have the command to eradicate him. This is even mentioned in the piyyut on Purim that Haman, the descendent of Amalek, did not repay the favor of Shaul who had compassion on his grandfather.

We also see that Chazal tell us the effect of the misplaced compassion of Shaul was that kohanim tzaddikim were killed in the city of Nov, and the phrase was coined, “He who is compassionate to the cruel will ultimately become cruel to the compassionate”. In short, even the best of middos must be in the right measure. But the question is: If good middos are sometimes bad and bad middos are sometimes good, how do we decide what that the measure is?!

We find in this week’s parsha that Rivka had a sterling character, even though she was brought up in a lawless community, surrounded by houses of idol worship, and family members who were thieves and murderers. When Eliezer met her, he gifted her with two gold bands (“Tzemidim”). Rashi quotes the Medrash Rabah telling us that the two were symbolic of the two tablets given on Mount Sinai which were “tzamud” – adjoining each other.

I saw it explained that Eliezer was giving Rivka a message: Though you may have sterling characteristics and you may go very far with them, they are not independent of the ideals of the Torah, even in the aspect of between Man and G-d. Hence, he hinted to her the two tablets – the first one which tells us of our obligations to G-d, and the second which refers to our obligations to our fellow man – must be interlocking. This is a message that is needed for a person who naturally has good character traits, to know how to reach perfection. The way to perfect oneself is by utilizing one’s trait with the direction of the Torah.

I once was told by a friend of mine that as he was standing next to a Rabbi. The Rabbi was asked a question by a layman about a gemora which seems to require an amora do an action which is a chilul Hashem.  (This was regarding an amora who ripped off the clothing of an immodestly dressed lady who he thought was Jewish, though she turned out to be gentile). The Rabbi said that the determination of what is a kiddush Hashem or chillul Hashem is decided by the Torah and not by human emotions.

In fact, throughout history we have seen people who have wonderful middos, which have brought them to do the greatest of sins. An example in modern times is euthanasia, in which someone does a “favor” for someone who is “suffering” by permanently putting an end to them. Such a person will consider themselves to be “righteous” for this act of “mercy killing”. However, the Torah considers this murder, plain and simple. In fact, the medrash tells us that this philosophy actually existed in Sodom, where a person who was a burden on society was deserving of death.

The average person, who takes revenge, is borne out of his own personal self-righteousness. This is indeed despicable. But this is not the case with the talmid chacham, who is in theory the embodiment of Torah thought, and he is expressing G-d’s desire when he takes revenge. The verse says about Hashem, (Nahum 1:2) קֵ֣ל קַנֹּ֤וא וְנֹקֵם֙. A G-d who is passionate and avenging.

As we learn the actions of the Patriarchs, we understand that it is all done through the vision of the Torah. That whether it means to sacrifice one’s child or to run to help another human being instead of serving G-d, our directives are always taken from the Torah. When one takes revenge as a fulfillment of the verse “and you shall walk in His ways”, one is being G-dly.