Eliezer's Prayer: You Began, Now Complete

1The Midrash (Bereishis Rabbah 60:2) says: “‘A wise servant shall rule over a son who shames’ (Mishlei 17:2). ‘A wise servant’: this is Eliezer, and so on. ‘Shall rule over a son who shames’: this is Yitzchak, who put all the nations of the world to shame when he was bound on the altar. ‘And among brothers he shall share an inheritance’: among Israel. Just as they invoke the merit of the Avos, he too invokes the merit of the Avos: ‘Hashem, God of my master Avraham... do kindness with my master Avraham’ (Bereishis 24:12). You began: complete! R' Chaggai said in the name of R' Yitzchak¹: Everyone needs kindness. Even Avraham, for whose sake kindness rolls through the world, needed kindness, as it says, ‘and do kindness with my master Avraham.’ You began: complete!”

2aWhat does the Midrash mean by “You began: complete”? It rests on another Midrash (Bereishis Rabbah 59:8)², which Rashi cites in slightly different words (on Bereishis 24:7): “‘Hashem, God of the heavens’: he did not say ‘and God of the earth,’ though above he said, ‘I will make you swear by Hashem, God of the heavens and God of the earth’ (Bereishis 24:3). He told Eliezer: Now He is God of the heavens and God of the earth, for I have made Him familiar in people's mouths. But when He took me from my father's house, He was God of the heavens and not God of the earth, for the people of the world did not recognize Him, and His Name was not familiar on earth.” Seemingly, why did Avraham not say “and God of the earth” now as well, instead of “who took me from my father's house”?

2bThe answer is that Avraham Avinu lived with the sense that “I am but dust and ashes” (Bereishis 18:27). He did not count it as an achievement or a merit of his own that he had made Hashem known and recognized in this world. He knew with a felt, almost physical certainty, at every moment, that “everything is from You, and from Your hand we have given You” (Divrei HaYamim I 29:14). His intellect, his understanding and his very life all came from Hashem. Who gave him the knowledge and the intelligence to recognize good and tell it apart from bad? Was it not Hashem, “who took me from my father's house”? It was He who took me from my father's house with His great power. He grants me understanding and life, and it is by His power and His wisdom that I make Him familiar in people's mouths. From my own side I have done nothing. If so, what merit of mine is there to mention now, when I need to find a wife for my son, a fitting match from whom the seed of Israel will come? So he did not want to crown himself with the merit of having made Hashem familiar in people's mouths, since that came not from his own power but only from Hashem's.

2cWith the oath above, though, the point was that it had by now become plain that Hashem is God of the earth as well. Avraham wanted to impress the awe of the oath on Eliezer, in the way the Mishnah describes (Shevuos 39a): “They tell him: Know that the whole world trembled when the Holy One, blessed be He, said, ‘You shall not take the Name of Hashem your God in vain.’” So he told him to Whom he was swearing: the God of the heavens and the God of the earth. But he did not hold this as a merit of his own, as explained above. Avraham Avinu felt in his soul that from his own side he had not yet done anything. He was still just as he had been when Hashem took him from his father's house. He had done nothing yet and was still at the beginning. Indeed, every person of understanding should know that he is still at the beginning. The whole beginning comes from Hashem, “who graces man with knowledge,” and he himself has done nothing. He should constantly ask the Master of mercy for mercy, that He complete it for him for the good, as it says, “Hashem will complete it for me. Hashem, Your kindness is forever; do not forsake the work of Your hands” (Tehillim 138:8).

2dThis is why, at the start of our tefillah, we too mention the merit of the Avos. They brought us in under the wings of the Shechinah, while we from our own side have not yet done anything. So we ask the good Hashem to complete what He began: to bring us into holiness, goodness and blessing, to grant us knowledge, to bring us back in complete teshuvah, and to heal us in soul and body. Avraham Avinu understood well that Hashem is the One who begins everything, at every time and every hour. So he did not seek any merit of his own, only Hashem's: “Just as He began to do good to me, took me from my father's house, blessed me and gave me a son, so may He complete it for me for the good,” and provide my son with a fitting match, to bring forth the generations of Israel.

2eEliezer, “Dammesek, of his house” (Bereishis 15:2), who “drew and gave others to drink” of his master's Torah (Yoma 28b), learned this trait and this awareness from Avraham Avinu. He always knew that Hashem is the One who begins, that from his own side he has done nothing, and that he always needs Hashem's kindness to complete things for him. He knew well how deeply, truly and wholeheartedly his master Avraham was aware that he still stood at the beginning that Hashem had begun. So Eliezer always remembered that his own beginning came from Hashem. But who brought him in under the wings of the Shechinah? His master, Avraham Avinu. That is why he always invoked the merit of the Avos, which is the merit of his teacher, the one called “My father, my father, the chariot of Israel” (Melachim II 2:12). And so he said, “Hashem, God of my master Avraham,” for only in Avraham's merit had he been granted the beginning.

3This is also hinted in the verse “with all the good of his master in his hand” (Bereishis 24:10). Eliezer regarded himself this way: all the good and all the good traits in him were from his master, and that is what was “in his hand.” From his own side there was nothing in his hand. The verse also hints that the good that was in his master Avraham, who knew and understood with all his mind that everything is from Hashem, was a trait that Eliezer too held “in his hand.” He too knew and understood that no strength is his own, and that it comes only from Hashem, through his master Avraham Avinu. So he asked Hashem, “You began: complete!” Complete this errand for me, for the good. And the whole mission I was sent to carry out in this world, complete it in Your abundant kindness.

4“And do kindness with my master Avraham.” R' Chaggai said in the name of R' Yitzchak: Everyone needs kindness. Even Avraham, through whom all kindness rolls into the world, needs kindness, as it says, “and do kindness with my master Avraham.” You began: complete! This too was Eliezer's prayer. My master Avraham does not acknowledge his own virtues and his acts of kindness. He regards himself as nothing at all, as one who has done nothing, and his eyes look to Hashem's kindness, that He have mercy on him and redeem him with kindness, not according to his own merits. Eliezer knew very well the traits, virtues and holiness of his master Avraham Avinu, and yet Avraham felt himself to be nothing at all. So Eliezer prayed: in this merit, have mercy on him and “do kindness with him.” Just as You began to do him free kindness without any arousal from below, before he had done anything to earn it, so complete Your kindness forever.

5aIn line with what we have said, this may be what the Midrash intends (Bereishis Rabbah 59)³: “Avraham would bless everyone, and so on. Who blessed Avraham? The Holy One, blessed be He, as it says, ‘And Hashem blessed Avraham’ (Bereishis 24:1). Moshe performed all the miracles for Israel, and so on. Who is Moshe's nes, his banner and his miracle? The Holy One, blessed be He, as it says, ‘He called its name Hashem Nissi’ (Shemos 17:15). David was the shepherd of Israel. Who is David's shepherd? The Holy One, blessed be He, as it says, ‘Hashem is my shepherd’ (Tehillim 23:1).”

5bThe explanation follows Chazal's saying that “the Shechinah speaks from within Moshe's throat.” Moshe was so completely nullified that he did not feel himself at all, only that the power speaking through him was the power of the Shechinah, as if he were no intermediary at all. So too with the miracles done through him: he did not attribute them in any way to himself or to his agency. Hashem performed all the miracles, almost without Moshe as a go-between. Likewise Avraham Avinu blessed everyone, but did not feel in his soul that he was the one blessing. He was utterly nullified in his own eyes and attributed all the blessings to Hashem, for He is the One who blesses. And David returned all the power of shepherding, feeding and sustaining to Hashem, for He alone is the Shepherd who guards and rescues them. David attributed nothing to himself. David is “the small one” (Shmuel I 17:14), and like the moon⁴, he “has nothing of his own” [cf. Zohar I:249b].

6So must every person be who enters the gateway of avodah. He should constantly contemplate the greatness of Hashem and the life-force that flows into him at every moment. He should know that he always stands at the entrance of the gate, at the beginning, and constantly ask the Master of mercy to complete things for him for the good. On Shabbos, this awareness comes to every Jew, as it says, “to know that I am Hashem who sanctifies you” (Shemos 31:13). Then each one of us can feel and recognize that all the holiness in him comes only from Hashem's side and not from ours. This is why Shabbos is called “the first of the holy convocations”: on it we grasp that, with Hashem's help and power, we have made the beginning and no more. And we ask Hashem to gladden us with a complete building, that He complete the building. In the light of Your face, in His abundant mercy, may He shine upon us. Amen, may it be His will.