Shabbat Parshat Vayetze - 5763
Sisters and Mothers

Parshat Vayetze tells the story of the founding of the Family of Israel. The births of eleven of the twelve sons of Yaakov are recorded in this Parshah: six from Leah, two each from Bilhah and Zilpah, handmaidens of Rachel and Leah, respectively, and one (as yet) from Rachel. When Rachel becomes a mother, that event is a signal to Yaakov to return from the House of Lavan to the House of his father, Yitzchak, in Eretz Yisrael.

The Talmud in Berachot 16a tells us that only four of those women who bore children to our forefathers are considered “Imahot,” Matriarchs, of the Jewish People; namely, Sarah, Rivkah, Rachel and Leah. Of these, two, Leah and Rachel, were sisters. And although the Torah will later, in VaYikra 18:18, forbid a man from marrying two sisters, they were permitted to Yaakov at this time, before the Giving of the Torah.

Possibly because an overarching principle of the Torah is “tzniut,” modesty in the spirit of “Kol Kevudah Bat Melech Penimah,” “The King’s daughter is all-glorious within,” (Psalms 45:14) men occupy the outward stage of events in the Bible more than women. Although behind the scenes, within their tents, indeed at crucial moments in Bereshit, the Imahot do assert themselves directly, even on the stage. But, with Leah and Rachel (and, to a lesser extent, with the Daughters of Tzelophchad, who struggled in BaMidbar 27:1-5 for their rightful place in the inheritance of Eretz Yisrael), the Torah examines here for the only time two sisters, interacting under the stress of marriage to the same man.

After describing the initial meeting of Yaakov and Rachel (Bereshit 29:9-12), which may be the unique case in the Bible of “love at first sight,” the Torah introduces us to both sisters (Bereshit 29:16-17). “And Lavan had two daughters; the name of the older one was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel. Leah’s eyes were weak, but Rachel was beautiful in face and form.” Having stated this brief physical description, the Torah leaves it to the young women to reveal their characters by their actions.

But the Midrash is not willing to let the Torah’s description be misunderstood. “Leah was as beautiful as Rachel.” (Midrash Tanchuma 2; VaYetze 12) The Tanchuma continues, “At the same time as Rivkah gave birth to Yaakov and Esav, there were born to Lavan two daughters (also twins [probably identical – pf]), Leah and Rachel. They exchanged letters and agreed that Esav would marry Leah and Yaakov would marry Rachel. Leah wept continually about this wedding arrangement that linked her with “Esav HaRasha,” Esav the wicked, until ‘her eyes became weak’ (Bereshit 29:17).” (M.T. 2; Vayetze 12)

Yaakov contracted with Lavan that he would work for him for seven years, in exchange for the hand of Rachel in marriage. For fear of deceit on the part of Lavan, Yaakov gave Rachel signs so that he could distinguish her from Leah. But on that fateful night, as we learn in the Talmud (Bava Batra 123a), Rachel thought, “I know my father will give Leah in marriage instead of me. Now my sister will be humiliated.” So she told Leah the signs.

Because of her exceptional “tzniut,” the Talmud in Megilah 13b tells us that Rachel had the merit that Shaul, the first king of Israel, who according to I Samuel 10:22, was “hidden among the vessels,” when Shmuel came to anoint him as king, descended from her.

But Leah excelled as well, in the characteristic of “mercy.” (Talmud; Bava Batra 123a) And in Berachot 7b, the Talmud teaches “No human being had expressed gratitude to HaShem until Leah did, at the birth of Yehudah, when she said ‘Now I will thank the L-rd.’ (Bereshit 29:35)”

Although we will see later in Shemot that as the example of ideal brothers, neither Aharon nor Moshe was ever jealous of the other, perhaps motherhood evokes deeper emotions, as we see in Bereshit 30:1, “And when Rachel saw that she bore Yaakov no children, Rachel envied her sister; and she said to Yaakov, ‘Give me sons, or else I will die.’ ” And we feel the sense of infinite relief when Yoseph is born (Bereshit 28:23), “And she conceived and bore a son, and she said, ‘G-d has taken away my humiliation.’ ”

For their eternal reward, it seems almost as if Leah and Rachel exchange places. Leah, who “went outside” to demand her conjugal rights (Bereshit 30:16), was rewarded with burial in the Meorat HaMachpelah, next to Yaakov. And Rachel, who had been a “tzenuah,” and like Yaakov a “yoshevet ohalim,” a dweller of tents” was rewarded by having her voice heard aloud by the “captives of Zion,” as they walked mournfully along the road to Babylon, and by HaShem, accompanying them into Exile, Whose Mercy would be aroused by her tears, as it says (Yirmiyahu 31:14-16):

“Thus says the L-rd, ‘A voice was heard in Rama, lamentation and bitter weeping; Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be comforted for her children, because they are not.’ ”

“Thus says the L-rd, ‘Keep your voice from weeping, and your eyes from tears, for your work shall be rewarded,’ says the L-rd; ‘and they shall come back again from the land of the enemy.’ ”

“And there is hope for your future,” says the L-rd, “and they shall come back again to their border.”

Rabbi Pinchas Frankel

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