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Jewish Texts

Age of Rebecca at Marriage

Question: Where is the Rashi that says that Rivka (Rebecca) was 3 years old when she married Yitzchak? This commentary does not sit very well with me. How can a girl of 3 years old have poured out all those heavy jugs of water for those camels and Eliezer?

Answer: The Rashi is found in Genesis 25:20. This is the Midrash; there are other opinions on how old she was. In the simple reading she would have been considerably older. People married very young in those days, but not that young… But the Midrash treats her as someone with extraordinary abilities, which of course she was.

Best wishes,
Michoel Reach

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