“Isaac brought her into the tent of his mother Sarah; he took Rebecca, she became his wife, and he loved her, and Isaac was comforted after his mother” (Genesis 24:67). “Isaac brought her into the tent of his mother Sarah”59The word “of” is actually missing in the Hebrew, so that the verse literally means: “Isaac brought her into the tent. Sarah his mother.” – all the days that Sarah was alive, there was a cloud suspended over the entrance to her tent.
When she died, that cloud ceased. When Rebecca came, the cloud returned. All the days that Sarah was alive, the doors were kept wide open [for guests]. When Sarah died, that opening ceased.
When Rebecca came, the opening returned. All the days that Sarah was alive, there was [divine] blessing bestowed upon her dough. When Sarah died, that blessing ceased. When Rebecca came, it returned.
All the days that Sarah was alive, there was a lamp kindled from Shabbat night until Shabbat night. When Sarah died, that lamp ceased. When Rebecca came, it returned. When he saw that she was acting just like his mother, separating ḥalla in purity, and shaping loaves from her dough in purity, immediately, he “brought her into the tent.”60The verse means to say that he brought her into the tent because she was just like Sarah in her righteousness.
Rabbi Yudan said: The Torah teaches you that if an [unmarried] person has adult children, he should see to marrying them off first and then take a wife for himself. From whom do you learn it? From Abraham. First, “Isaac brought her into the tent of his mother Sarah” and then, “Abraham took another wife, and her name was Ketura” (Genesis 25:1).