Chayei Sarah opens with sadness, but ends with joy. After the burial arrangements for Sarah are concluded, Abraham realizes it’s time to find Yitzchak a wife. Wanting to marry within the family, (that was a thing back then, just go with it), he deputizes his servant Eliezer to go seek a bride among his relatives in Haran. This is worthy of note. Eliezer is the first named matchmaker in history! And his job is so important and tricky he has to pray to God for a miracle to make sure he succeeds. Which reminds me of the book I literally just read – Heidi Shertok’s Match Me If You Can.
Heidi Shertok narrators tend to be delightful goofballs, which might make you wonder how I’m pairing this book to the parsha, but hear me out. The heroine, Ashira, is a matchmaker whose business is now on the rocks thanks to a disgruntled former client. In order to save her reputation, she’s trying to match the most desirable, yet un-matchable, single she knows – her brothers best friend. Her task seems insurmountable, as did Eliezer’s. Frankly, every successful is a miracle from God, no matter who is involved. Two people are finding each other amongst so many others and committing to spend their lives together. A little prayer is more than understandable given the circumstances.
Since Match Me if You Can is a romance novel, it will not be a spoiler to let you know that Ashira begins to have feelings of her own for her tricky client. They are pictured on the cover together. However, you may be surprised to know that Eliezer too had other designs for his client. When he asks Abraham to absolve him of the responsibility in case he fails, Rashi comments that he was secretly hoping to suggest his own daughter as a match rather than importing a bride from Haran. Also not a spoiler to say that this plan never stood a chance since Rivkah was revealed via the miracle of the water rising, her kindness in offering to water the animals, and her courage in telling her family she would indeed go with Eliezer when they try and convince her to stay a little longer.
More beautiful though? The realization that love can help us work through grief. We end the Parsha on Yitzchak finally being comforted over the death of his mother. Through his marriage, he finds some peace. Ashira is struggling with the passing of her mother, and one of the best signs that this is the man for her is his consistent ability to motivate her to address her own health. Love is a healing process. And it’s a joy to end a book or a parsha on it.