Chayai Sara
The passuk says, “and I (Eliezer) said to my master אלי לא תלך האשה אחרי.” Rashi explains it is written as אלי without a ו. Eliezer had a daughter whom he wanted Yitzchak to marry. Avraham said “my son Yitzchok is boruch, and you are arur. An arur does not mix with a boruch.”
The Gra asks: how did Rashi know that Eliezer had personal interests? He certainly needed to know what to do in case the girl wouldn’t want to come with him. The Gra explains there are two ways of saying something as a doubt. One is פן and one is אולי. פן is used when one doesn’t want that possibility to come about; “hopefully not.” This is used in the passukפן יהיה דבר עם לבבך בליעל and פן יפתה לבבכם. The outcome of listening to one’s heart is not wanted. אולי is used when the outcome is wanted, as in אולי יש חמשים צדיקים-, as hopefully yes, הלואי. When Eliezer spoke he said אולי, to express “maybe, hopefully, she won’t want to come.” This was because Eliezer had a daughter and wanted her to marry Yitzchok.
The parsha uses the word אולי two times, one time with a ו and one time without. First when speaking to Avraham the passuk says אולי with a ו; afterwards when Eliezer said the story over to Besuel the passuk leaves out the ו. Since Eliezer wanted the shidduch from the beginning why doesn’t the passuk leave out the ו the first time to teach this point that Rashi brings?
I heard an answer from Rav Shimon Levi b’shem the Slonimer Rebbe that in truth Eliezer wanted his daughter to marry Yitzchak from the beginning. Therefore he asks, “Maybe she won’t want to come;” hoping no one would come and then his daughter could marry Yitzchok. However, he didn’t realize this until later. After looking back he realized he had his own self interests in the matter. The Torah is teaching us he was blinded by his own interest and wasn’t ready to let his daughter miss this opportunity. Often a person thinks to himself that he is looking to fulfill Hashem’s interest, not realizing that he is actually seeking his own benefit.
May Hashem help us have a לב טהור to think proper thoughts and successfully fulfill the will of Hashem without getting lost with our own personal interests.
