After the 'Akedah and the burial of Sarah, the Torah describes a decisive scene: Avraham must marry off Yitzchak. He summons « his servant, the elder of his house, who ruled over all that he had » and entrusts him with the mission.

The whole chapter speaks about him, yet the Torah never names him: he is always הָעֶבֶד, « the servant ».

Chazal reveal that Eliezer was not born a slave. He was originally a prince, son of Nimrod, the tyrant king who had thrown Avraham into the fiery furnace.

When Avraham emerged alive by miracle, Nimrod, shaken and impressed, gave him his own son as a gift. This child grew up in Avraham's home and became his closest and most faithful servant.

The Midrash teaches that intimate relations were forbidden in the Ark, because the world was in a state of destruction. Three transgressed: Cham, the dog and the raven.

Each received an immediate punishment: Cham's complexion darkened and the mark became hereditary; the dog became lustful and drooling; the raven's chicks are born white and later turn black, so the mother no longer recognizes them and abandons them — and Hashem Himself feeds them.

This is not yet a spoken curse, but a series of direct divine punishments. The only explicit curse pronounced by Noach is: « Arur Canaan, eved avadim yihyeh le'echav ».

The Midrashim tell that Eliezer had a righteous daughter. Naturally, he would have dreamed of marrying her to Yitzchak. When Avraham entrusts him with the mission, he answers:

« Perhaps the woman will not want to follow me? » Later, when Eliezer retells the story to Lavan, the word אוּלַי reappears written without a vav — אֵלַי — which can be read « elai », « to me ».

Avraham does not say « You are Canaan. » He says: « You come from the root of Cham, marked by fault and humiliation, whereas Yitzchak belongs to the root of berachah. »

Elsewhere the Torah calls him « Dameseq Eliezer ». Chazal explain: doleh umashkeh miTorat rabo — he « draws and gives others to drink » from his master's Torah.

Eliezer comes from an idolatrous, violent, tyrannical house; yet he completely attaches himself to Avraham and becomes the channel through which Avraham's Torah is shared with the world.

The Midrash lists 11 human beings who merited entering Gan Eden with their bodies and souls: Chanoch, Eliyahu HaNavi, Batya bat Par'oh, Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi… and Eliezer, servant of Avraham.

From all this, M. Yéhouda Himi draws a clear message: you can come from a damaged lineage, carry a heavy past, guilt and shame — you are not condemned to remain at the level of your origin.

There are two levels: the covenantal lineage, through Avraham, Yitzchak, Yaakov, Rivka, Rachel and Leah; and personal greatness, open to any human being who sincerely chooses to be an « eved Hashem ».