Eliezer and Samuel's Surprising Connection

Parshat Chayei Sarah tells the tale of Abraham’s servant (presumably Eliezer) and his search for a wife for Isaac – but hidden within this account is a series of words and phrases whose echoes we find, almost word for word, elsewhere in the Torah.

At face value, this 'other' story seems to have little to do with the story of Eliezer finding Rebekah by the well: It’s about the selection of one of Israel’s national leaders, not about finding a wife.

But in this video, Rabbi Fohrman suggests that the two stories have quite a lot in common indeed – and that the Torah is showing us the common thread that links Isaac and Rebekah's marriage with the idea of kingship. This video pushes beyond the obvious answers and offers a novel idea about what makes nations rise and fall, and what makes marriages succeed or fail.