פירוש על בראשית 24:64

ותרא את יצחק AND SHE SAW ISAAC — She saw his lordly appearance and gazed at him in astonishment (Genesis Rabbah 60:15).

AND SHE SAW ISAAC. Rashi comments: “She saw his lordly appearance and felt abashed¹³⁹“Abashed.” In our Rashi: “and she gazed at him in astonishment.” of him.” And Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra explained that the latter verse, [namely, Verse 65, And she said unto the servant, What man is this], preceded Verse 64. Thus the expression, And she said unto the servant, means “And she had already said to the servant.” In Ibn Ezra’s opinion there are many such verses in the Torah.
This is truly so, but here it is not correct, for in this case you would have to mix the verses and transpose their parts as follows: And Rebekah lifted up her eyes, and she saw Isaac [Verse 64] — and she said unto the servant: What man is this that walketh in the field to meet us? And the servant said: It is my master [Verse 65] — and she alighted from the camel [Verse 64] — and she took her veil, and covered herself [Verse 65].
In my opinion [we need not mix the verses, but the sense thereof is as follows]: When Rebekah saw a man walking in the field towards her, hastening on the road and walking in the field towards them, she knew that he had come to see them and greet them or to bring them into his house for lodging, and so she did as was ethically proper for women, and she stood modestly.

ותפול מעל הגמל, a description of her chastity, seeing she had been riding astride the camel just like a man, not side-saddle. (according to Pessachim 3 the former mode of riding, especially on a high animal, affords a better chance to hold on with both hands and feet against falling)

ותפול מעל הגמל, she inclined her head while remaining on the camel in honour of Yitzchok. We have a similar expression meaning the same in Kings II 5,21 ויפול מעל המרכבה where there is no reason to understand this as Naamon, the general, “falling” off his chariot, but the verse describes a deferential behaviour by Naamon.

ותפול מעל הגמל, when she saw him and Eliezer told her that this was Yitzchok, she lowered herself from the camel, fell on the ground, covered her face with her veil and remounted and rode on. This story teaches us that when a woman has achieved the status of being betrothed it befits her to cover her face until such time as she is a properly married woman.

"And Rivka raised her eyes, etc. and saw Yitzhak"--as he still stood and prayed, and he was then like an angel of God, awesome.

ותרא את יצחק ותפול מעל הגמל, “when she saw Yitzchok she fell from the camel.” Rashi, in common with Onkelos, understands this not as a “fall,” but that Rivkah slid down to the ground from her saddle in order to greet her husband to be not from a position above him, but by observing good manners.

She saw that he was majestic and was astonished at his sight. Otherwise, how did she know it was [someone important like] Yitzchok, so that she let herself down from the camel?

Unzweifelhaft hat Elieser es sich angelegen sein lassen, auf der ganzen Reise ihr von Jizchak zu erzählen; es lag dies ja ganz in der Natur der Sache, so dass sie ihn sogleich erkannte, und braucht daher nicht an eine "Ahnung" gedacht zu werden. Sie konnte auch schon das Ackerfeld nach der Beschreibung erkannt, und aus der Art und Weise, wie Jizchak durch dasselbe so gerade ihnen entgegenging, geschlossen haben, dass er der Eigentümer sei. —

ותרא את יצחק ותפול מעל הגמל, “when she saw Yitzchok she fell from the camel.” When she had her first glance of a handsome tall man walking across a field that had not been trampled by previous pedestrians crossing it, she, being a mere three year old, became frightened because she thought that he was a rapist or an armed robber. She fell from fear. Another exegesis of this line: the sequence here has been distorted. After seeing a figure approaching, she asked about the identity of that person. When told by Eliezer that “this is my master,” (actually his master’s son) she hastily descended from the camel and covered her face with a veil, as a sign of her chastity. Her descent from the camel was totally voluntary, just as when someone prostrates himself in prayer, it is described as ויפול על פניו, meaning: “he deliberately bowed his face to the ground.”

ותפל SHE ALIGHTED (literally, she fell) — She let herself slide towards the ground; as the Targum renders it וארכינת —she inclined herself towards the earth, but did not actually reach the ground. Similarly in (Genesis 24:14) “let down thy pitcher, I pray thee”, the word הטי let down, Onkelos translates by ארכיני “incline”, and (Psalm 18:10) “He bowed (ויט) the heavens” he translates by וארכין which means “He bent them towards the ground”. A similar idea is (Psalms 37:24) “Though he fall (יפול) he shall not be utterly cast down” which is as much as to say, “though he bends himself towards the earth yet he shall not touch the ground (i. e. shall not fall entirely)” (Genesis Rabbah 60:15).

The expression השמיטה used by Rashi means that she did not actually descend to the ground prostrating herself, but that she dutifully inclined her head in greeting. One of the parallel uses of the word quoted by Rashi is ויט שמים, “He inclined the heavens,” also translated by Onkelos with the same expression אתרכינת that he uses for the word ותפול in our verse here. Nachmanides disagrees with this approach by Rashi to the word הרכין used by Onkelos to describe what Rivkah did. He thinks, that just as elsewhere, that word merely means that she adjusted her posture so as to be able to face Yitzchok in a manner she deemed appropriate. In his view the word השמיטה would mean falling or sliding all the way to the ground. Rivkah avoided facing Yitzchok directly and turned somewhat sideways.

She leaned towards the ground but did not reach the ground. [Rashi knows this] because it is written ותפול מעל הגמל, rather than מהגמל ותפול or ותפול לארץ. Consequently, it implies that she let herself down from the camel’s back, but not to the ground.

AND SHE ALIGHTED (‘VATIPOL’) FROM THE CAMEL. Rashi comments: “She let herself slide towards the ground, as the Targum renders it, ‘She inclined herself [towards the earth but did not actually reach the ground]. Similarly, Let down thy pitcher¹⁴⁰Above, Verse 14. was translated by Onkelos to mean ‘incline.’ And He bowed down the heavens¹⁴¹Psalms 18:10. — the Targum translates: ‘and He bent.’ A similar case is the verse, Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down,¹⁴²Ibid., 37:24. which means though he bends himself towards the earth, yet he shall not touch the ground.”
But Onkelos’ opinion is not that she let herself slide off the camel to the earth, for if so, she actually fell off the camel and did not just incline herself. Similarly, all expressions of “inclining” merely mean a bending towards one side. Onkelos’ opinion, however, is that on the camel upon which she was riding she bent herself towards one side in order to turn her face away from him. A similar case, in my opinion, is the verse: And when Naaman saw one running after him, ‘vayipol’ from upon the chariot to meet him, and said, Is all well?¹⁴³II Kings 5:21. The word vayipol here only means that he bent himself in the chariot towards the runner who was on the ground to ask of him whether all is well. And so indeed it is said there, When the man turned back from his chariot to meet thee.¹⁴⁴Ibid., Verse 26. It is possible that as far as Onkelos is concerned, the expression, from on the camel, is like “on the camel,” [the letter mem in the word mei’al (from on) being redundant]. A similar case is the verse, For great ‘mei’al’ the heavens is Thy mercy,¹⁴⁵Psalms 108:5. [which means “for great on the heavens is Thy mercy,” and not “from on the heavens”]. A redundant letter mem like this is also found in these verses: There shall be no more ‘misham’ an infant of days, nor an old man,¹⁴⁶Isaiah 65:20. [which means “there shall be no more there,” and not “from there”]; Ye waters that are ‘mei’al’ the heavens,¹⁴⁷Psalms 148:4. [which means “ye waters that are on the heavens,” and not “from on the heavens”].
In line with the plain meaning [of Scripture, however, the letter mem in the word mei’al is not redundant, but instead] it is like the mem in the verse, And, behold, there came many people ‘miderech’ (from a way) round-about.¹⁴⁸II Samuel 13:34. [And thus in the verse before us, mei’al hagamal would mean that she alighted “from on the camel.”] There are many similar verses.

ותפול, ein freiwilliges, rasches Hinablassen vom Kamele, wie bei Naaman ויפל מעל המרכבה לקראתו (Kön. II. 5, 21) aus Achtung vor Elischa, ja vor dessen Diener. Ganz so wäre auch hier das Gefühl zu verstehen, mit welchem Rebekka dem Isaak nicht entgegenreiten will. Auch dieses ist wieder charakteristisch. Eine eitle Dame würde gewiss etwas darin gefunden haben, stattlich an der Spitze eines großen Gefolges ent gegenzutraben, herablassend sich von ihrem künftigen Gemahle galant herunterheben zu lassen. Zumal da Isaak nicht ritt, sondern ging, passte es nicht, dass sie dem gehenden Isaak entgegenreiten sollte. Ferner scheint ja Reiten ein Zeichen der Vornehmheit gewesen zu sein, Rebekka wollte Isaak nicht als Herrin entgegentreten. Alles dies war aber nicht in Folge einer Berechnung — (sonst wäre diese Bescheidenheit wenig vom Stolze zu unterscheiden gewesen) — sondern ותפול, es geschah ganz von selbst, unwillkürlich, ohne Berechnung, war augenblickliche Eingebung eines richtigen Gefühles.

Similarly, כי יפול לא יוטל... Even though he falls he will not be cast to the ground, as Rashi goes on to explain: “He will not reach the ground.”