Why are the connotations of ?Vayevi?hah ha?Ohelah Sarah Imo??
Rashi: It means that Rivkah was the exact replica of his mother Sarah, inasmuch as the three constant miracles that occurred in the tent when his mother was alive and which ceased when she died, returned when Rivkah arrived 1 - the Shabbos lamp burned the entire week, there was Berachah in the dough, and a cloud of protection hovered over the tent. 2
Ramban: When Sarah died, [Avraham and Yitzchak], out of the high esteem in which they held her, declined to pitch her tent, so that no other woman should enter her tent. However, when Rivkah arrived, Yitzchak was comforted after his mother, and he allowed her to replace her. 3
Ramban (citing Targum Onkelos): He brought Rivkah to his tent and she was Sarah his mother - to teach us that he loved her due to her righteousness and good deeds, via which he was comforted after his mother. 4
Malbim: He did not marry her until he took her into Sarah's tent to see how she would conduct herself there, and saw that she was righteous like Sarah.
Ohr Yechezkel (Midos, p. 178): Through her Midah of Chesed, she merited Shleimus.
Corresponding to the three Mitzvos pertaining especially to women - Ner Shabbos, Chalah and Nidah, respectively (See Sifsei Chachamim).
Why does the Torah find it necessary to tell us that Yitzchak loved his wife?
Rashi: This teaches us that, as long as a man's mother is alive, he is bound to her, and that when she dies, he is comforted by his wife.
Ramban: The Torah is informing us that he loved his wife and was comforted after his mother, to convey the deep pain he felt at the death of his mother, 1 a pain that left him only after he married Rivkah.
Targum Yonasan: Because his love for her stemmed from the fact that her deeds resembled those of his mother, 2 as the Pasuk goes on to intimate. 3
Oznayim la'Torah: To teach us that love comes after marriage, and not the other way around. 4
Why does the Torah insert the (otherwise superfluous) phrase ?Va'yikach es Rivkah??
Refer to 24:67:1:4.
Ha'amek Davar: To inform us that Yitzchak was Mekadesh her again, because mi?d'Oraisa, Eliezer's Kidushin was invalid ? since an Eved cannot be a Shali'ach for Kidushin. 1
Ha?amek Davar: What he did sufficed only to designate her for Yitzchak, which was sufficient to render B?nei Noach Chayav Misah for commiting adultery with her.
What are the connotations of ?Va'yinachem Yitzchak Acharei Imo?
Rashi: It teaches us that as long as a man?s mother is alive, he is bound to her, and when she dies, he finds consolation in his wife.
Seforno: Due the importance of Sarah, when she died he could not find solace until now (he married Rivkah).
QUESTIONS ON RASHI
Rashi writes: "'To the tent, Sarah his mother' (ha'Ohelah, Sarah Imo) - He brought her to the tent, and she was just like Sarah." Why explain this way?
Gur Aryeh: "Ha'Ohelah," with the definite article, means the tent that we know of already; it is unnecessary to add "Sarah Imo." Therefore, Rashi splits the two phrases - 'He brought her into the tent; and behold! She was just like Sarah.'
Rashi writes: "As long as Sarah was alive, there was a lit lamp the entire week... a blessing in the dough, and a cloud above the tent." Why did Sarah merit these three miracles?
Gur Aryeh: The blessing in the dough corresponds to Mitzvah of Chalah; the lamp that remained lit all week to the Mitzvah of lighting Ner [Shabbos]; and the cloud represents the holiness and purity of observing the Mitzvah of Nidah. 1
These are the three Mitzvos that Jewish women are charged with especially (see Mishnah Shabbos 2:6). See Maharal (Ohr Chadash, Introduction, p. 55). (EK)
Rashi writes: " As long as Sarah was alive, there was a lit lamp..., a blessing in the dough, and a cloud above the tent." The Midrash (Bereishis Rabah 60, 16) adds a fourth aspect - 'As long as Sarah was alive, her house was wide-open.' What do these four aspects represent?
Gur Aryeh #1: Sarah's blessings encompassed the blessings of all three of the Avos. The cloud over the tent [i.e. the Shechinah's presence] corresponded to Avraham. The blessing in the dough corresponds with Yitzchak (see Rashi to 12:2 - ''And I shall bless you' - as we say in the Amidah, 'G-d of Yitzchak')." The wide-open house corresponds to Yaakov's blessings. The lit lamp is a fourth, distinct matter. 1
Gur Aryeh #2: Avraham was blessed with four blessings - so long as Sarah was alive, he merited these blessings together with her. a) "I shall make you a great nation" (12:2). HaSh-m specified His Name as 'G-d of Avraham;' Avraham was not an individual but represented the great nation that would stem from him. 2 This is represented by the cloud of the Shechinah over the tent. b) "I shall bless you," therefore, there was a blessing in the dough. c) "I shall make your name great," his doors were wide open and his fame spread throughout the world. d) "And be a blessing" (ibid.) Avraham would bless others, and thus would himself become a never-ending blessing. This is symbolized by the lamp that never was extinguished.
We may explain as follows. a) Avraham brought the Shechinah back down to the earth (refer to 12:1:1:3). b) Yitzchak personified Din, which brings about blessing - one who wants to grow rich should turn north (when praying - Bava Basra 25b), and the north (i.e. left) side represents Din .c) Yaakov was blessed with an inheritance without borders (Shabbos 118b). d) The lit lamp represents the Davidic dynasty, as we recite in the blessings over the Haftarah, "may his lamp never be extinguished." See the comments of Rabbi Yehoshua Hartman, in the Mechon Yerushalayim edition of Gur Aryeh. (EK)
See Gur Aryeh to 12:2; refer to 12:2:2.1:1.
