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Thought for the Day: Making Shiduchim LIke Ishei Tanach

I once received an email at 4:0x AM (on my phone... I wasn't on the computer!) from a colleague at work declining and invitation to a meeting I had called the previous day (that he had already missed, of course).  It was no chidush that I was up and around... it was summer time and I was on my way to the k'vasikin minyan.  I really wondered what he was doing up at that hour, though.  I asked him later that day and he told me he always gets up that early.  There were other co-workers there and they all nodded (with some reverence) that Tom did, indeed, always get up that early.  So... he was getting up early to decline an invitation to a meeting that had already occurred without him, and I was getting up early for an personal appointment with the Creator of the world.  Talk about "any maskimim l'divrei torah"/we get up early for communication with HaShem; "heim maskimim l'd'varim b'teilim"/they get up early for nothingness!

Unfortunately, we are not immune from getting our knickers in a twist of nothingness either, and shiduchim seems to be one of the casualties.  A neighbor of mine was looking into a shiduch for his daughter (this was 10 years ago or so) and the boy had asked (it was actually probably the mother that asked on her son's behalf) if his daughter wore a seat belt.  "Of course", he replied.  "Oh... that's not tznius; not the kind of girl for our family."  Darn right, we agreed.  His daughter was definitely not right for a family of nuts.

How did Ishei Tanach find their b'shert?  How about we start with Aaron, looking for a shidduch for his son Elezar.  Granted, he was not yet Aaron haCohein, but he was a navi and the brother of Moshe Rabeinu.  Aaron chose a girl who was descended from both Yisro and Yosef.  Imagine if Aaron when to a shadchan today to ask about that girl.  "Oh no!  Not for your family!  Her zaidy on one side used to fatten sheep for avoda zara.  The other side is better, but not much.  The zeidy was very fancy and went into business while all the rest of his family stayed in kollel."  (See Rashi to b'midbar, 31:6)

What about Y'hoshua?  He married Rachav.  The shadchan today would just stammer with embarrassment.  "Oh no!  She used to be a ... well... ahem... maybe you better just ask your rabbi."

And what was the result of these "reckless" shiduchim?  Elazar and his wife produced a Pinchus -- the only person other than Aaron to have the k'huna personally conferred by HaShem Himself.  Y'hoshua and Rachav produced a Yermiyahu; the navi who helps us till today endure galus and keep our hope alive for the rebuilding of the beis ha'mikdash, may it be soon and in our days.

Seems like Ishei Tanach were more interested in ba'alei aliyah with a proven track record of growth in Torah and avodas HaShem than in how many generations back the bubbies used the mikvah.  Not that I have anything against m'yuchasim, of course!  Some of my best friends are m'yuchasim.  You just have to be more thorough when you investigate them, that's all.
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