The Blessing of the Attribute of Justice

And they (Rebecca’s family) blessed Rebecca and said to her, "Our sister, may you become thousands of myriads, and may your seed inherit the cities of their enemies (son’av)."                  Genesis 24:60

            Interestingly, Jewish tradition is to recite the blessing given to Rebecca by her family when the groom covers his bride’s face with a veil, prior to the ḥuppa.

            Rabbi Yissachar Shlomo Teichtal [Mishne Sachir, Parashat Ḥayye Sarah] wonders:

Why our tradition chose to accompany a bride to her with the blessing of the evil Laban, rather than with the (similar) blessing of God’s angel. (Following the binding of Isaac, God sent an angel to convey His blessing to Abraham: “I will surely bless you, and I will greatly multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens and as the sand that is on the seashore and your descendants will inherit the cities of their enemies (oyvav).” [Genesis 24:17])

            Rabbi Teichtal’s answer is based upon a comment of Alshikh on the verse in Psalms [67:2] “God will be gracious to us and bless us; He will cause His countenance to shine with us forever.” Alshikh writes that a blessing which originates from the Attribute of Mercy will not necessarily be permanent, since by definition, such a blessing is a function of grace and benevolence. Therefore, the Attribute of Justice can argue for nullification of such a blessing and invalidate it. On the other hand, a blessing is given “with the consent of the Attribute of Justice,” is guaranteed to be permanent.

            Rabbi Teichtal suggests that Laban represents the Attribute of Justice (since we never find him demonstrating mercy towards his family). Therefore, the blessing which Laban gave his sister Rebecca originates from the Attribute of Justice and will be permanent. In contrast, the blessing which Abraham and Isaac received on Mount Moriah (Rashi [22:17] comments that the repetitive language of the angel’s words “I will surely bless you” [the Hebrew repeats the verb “barech”] intends “One [blessing] for the father, one for the son.”) originated with the Attribute of Mercy (the blessing was delivered by an angel of God [the Hebrew uses the Tetragrammaton, which connotes the Attribute of Mercy]). Therefore, Laban’s blessing, which is guaranteed to be permanent, is preferred to the angel’s blessing.

            Rabbi Teichtal wrote these words in 1942, in the midst of the Holocaust and concluded his comments with a prayer:

As Laban blessed Rebecca “May your seed inherit the cities of their enemies,” and the Attribute of Justice agreed with this, so may this blessing be fulfilled in our days, and may it be God’s will that this blessing be realized and that we merit inheriting our enemies’ cities, speedily in our days.