Maybe because camels were considered something very rare and expensive? So that’s why it’s emphasized.

That definitely could be. Until a few years ago they accused the Torah of anachronism, because supposedly there were no domesticated camels in Abraham’s time, but then they discovered an inscription from that period that mentions camels. Apparently it was still an expensive animal then. I’m sure M is knowledgeable about this.

As it happens, I have with me a summary of a lesson by Rabbi Daniel Cohen from Bat Ayin, on exactly this topic:

Who is the central figure in the portion Chayei Sarah? You could say it’s the… camels. They are mentioned very many times, and sometimes it seems even unnecessarily so. Even when Isaac was born, Abraham made a great feast “on the day Isaac was weaned”—literally, on the day Isaac became a camel… And that too is not really something we find elsewhere.

Now, you can see that the whole theme of the portion is acts of kindness, and that is Rebecca’s main test. And indeed one should ask what the expression “bestowal of kindness” really means, and what the connection is to a camel. It seems that the perfection of the trait of kindness is to give in such a way that the recipient will no longer need more—in other words, to bring him to a state of “weaning” or independence (it may be that the root g-m-l is related to the root g-m-r, to complete). Therefore, the highest level of charity is to help a person make a living on his own. And the root of this is probably the idea of the bread of shame, etc. The camel expresses this in that it drinks a lot, but afterward it is “weaned” and can manage for a long time without drinking. According to this, we should also understand the verse, “like a weaned child with its mother,” differently from the common understanding: because it does not say, “like a nursing infant with its mother,” which would express total dependence, nor simply “like a child with its mother,” and the like, but specifically “like a weaned child.” That is a state in which the child seemingly no longer needs his mother so much and has a certain independence, yet at the same time is still “with her.” According to this, the proper state of standing before God is דווקא a state in which a person has a certain measure of independence, and precisely from within that he seeks closeness to God. And indeed you can see this in the context of the verses: “O Lord, my heart is not proud, nor are my eyes haughty; neither have I walked in matters too great or too wondrous for me. Surely I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother.” From here it follows that David was in a situation where there was room to think his heart might become proud, etc.—that is, that he had something of his own—and nevertheless he relied on God.

Now, it is well known that Abraham’s trait was kindness, while Isaac’s was strength/restraint. And the idea of strength is to limit kindness in a way that will be good for the recipient. Because someone who has only kindness may go on giving and giving without paying any attention at all to the recipient’s capacity to receive, and that can lead to flooding, or dependency, or harm, and even cruelty. Therefore, the very trait of doing good itself requires self-restraint and limiting kindness. For that reason, Isaac’s theme is “weaning,” and therefore Rebecca was tested through acts of kindness. And in truth this is important for anyone involved in giving—such as education or counseling—and especially for someone in whom giving is a very strong inner tendency: he must control that tendency and limit it in order to give the recipient his own personal space.

See Oren Saeed’s article, “The Domestication of the Camel,” on the blog “Torah and Science,” and the sources cited and linked there. The camel was used as a beast of burden for caravans over great distances even before the time of the Patriarchs, but its breeding in herds by desert nomads began only in the period of the Judges.

Best regards, S”Tz

Among the spoil of Midian in the days of Moses, camels are not mentioned, whereas in the days of Gideon it is described: “and their camels were without number” (Judges 7)