Avi, wait a few minutes while I stay here at the camels' cage.

What's so interesting about camels?

I'm watching this camel drink. Do you see him? He's been drinking water for ten minutes. I want to see how long it takes to quench his thirst.

Mr. Zookeeper, can you answer a question for us?

Sure boys, what would you like to know?

How much water can a camel drink?

Camels have been known to drink up to 40 gallons of water at one time.

Forty gallons! How much is that?

That is as much water as your home's hot water tank holds.

Wow, that's a lot of water.

Boys, that is why camels are excellent desert animals. When they fill up with water, they can travel long distances in the desert without drinking.

Mr. Zookeeper, do you know that our ancestor Rivka drew enough well water to quench the thirst of ten camels!

Did she have an electric pump?

No, she lived in the days before electricity. She drew the water by hand. Our father Abraham sent Eliezer to look for a young woman who was suitable to be a wife for his son, Yitzchak.

What were the criteria for a suitable wife for Yitzchak?

She had to be kindhearted to people in the same way as our father Abraham. When he saw a person in need, he ran to help them. He did much more than was asked for.

What did Rivka do?

Eliezer, his men and ten camels arrived from their journey at the end of the day. They went to the well and Eliezer asked Rivka for a little water to drink. She drew enough water from the well for him, his men, and his ten camels.

Wow! If each camel could drink 40 gallons, that could have been 400 gallons of water! It was quite a feat for one girl to draw all of that water by hand.

Rivka was quite a young woman, overflowing with loving kindness and concern for others.

Look, Avi, the camel has finally stopped drinking. After seeing how much water he drinks, I have a new appreciation for our ancestor Rivka. She helped to build our nation with acts of loving-kindness. I hope that someday I can marry a girl like that.

Chaim, I have no doubt that you will.

Dad asked Yosef to bring him the book of Shemos (Exodus) from his set of the Five Books of Moses. When Yosef took the book off the shelf, he was shocked to find that a bookworm had eaten a hole through the entire book. He took down the other four books of the set (which had been arranged in numerical order from the first volume, Bereshis, to the last, Devarim). He discovered that the worm had eaten from the first page of Bereshis, through to the last page of Devarim. The pagaes of each book were one inch thick, and the covers of each book were each 1/8 of an inch thick. Therefore, each book altogether was 1 and ¼ inches thick. How far did the bookworm eat?