Rivka, a Woman with a History

[for LRH, as thanks for pointing out that we should all aspire to be Ba'alei Teshuva]

Rivka, the sister of Lavan the Liar, was the first Ba'alat Teshuva1. In the whole of the Torah, there is only one sentence of dialouge between her and Yitzchak recorded

My life is a misery because of the daughters of Chet [that Eisav married]. If Ya'akov marries a woman from the daughter of Chet like these........... What reason will I have to live?! [breishit 26:46]

and it's a deception. Rivka is not worried about her son, Ya'akov, marrying some strange woman, she's saving one son from being murdered and the other from becoming a murderer.

Why is one son trying to kill the other? because she compelled Ya'akov to decieve his father and take the brachot. another deception.

Why Ya'akov? because when she was pregnant, she went, not to her husband, Yitzchak, the greatest man of his generation, not to her father-in-law, Avraham, the first and founder of the Jewish people, but to Shem and Ever and found out that

there are two nations............. and the elder will serve the younger

Rivka came to Avraham's family with a history, a very heavy history, her father was a would-be murderer and her brother, in his very blessing

You should have thousands, myriads of children,......just like us [Lavan]

forced her to struggle for ten years to overcome and still she had an Eisav.

but she replaced Sarah, anyway, because, she ran to do the ordinary kindnesses, just like her father-in-law and gave some strange man a drink.

and then she took all the decitfullness, all the lies, and the deception that she learnt in her father's house and used it the right way.

Rivka the girl who ran to water a thirsty animal,
is the same Rivka who defied her family and announced that she was going to Yitzchak, with or without consent,
is the same Rivka who went to 'inquire from G-d' about the children in her womb,
is the same Rivka who loved her son Ya'akov unconditionally
is the same Rivka who saw that her other son had gone a long way from the path of supporter and protector that his father chose for him.
is the same Rivka who took on even the very real threat of Yitzchak's curse to insure that Ya'akov got both blessings that he would need.
is the same Rivka who confronted with a choice between her two sons, sends away the one she loves, the one who is the embodiment of the ideals that she persued her entire life and keeps at home the one, so like her brother, that traps with his mouth in hopes of somehow, someway redeeming him.

is the same Rivka, sister of Lavan the Arami.

is the same Rivka in the blessing whispered over our daughters heads, every shabbat night.

1 In our modern usage of someone who returns later in life, the one who actually described as the first ba'al teshuva is Yehuda, the father of all kings, which is an interesting thougt for another time