Our portion deals with a number of important issues. I would like to start with a seemingly secondary issue: the birth of Benjamin. When Rachel is dying in childbirth, the midwife tells her "Fear not; for this also is a son for thee" (Genesis 35:17). How were these words meant to comfort someone while she was dying in agony? In a parallel story, at the death of Eli the priest, the woman giving birth ignores the words of the midwife: "And about the time of her death the women that stood by her said unto her: 'Fear not; for thou hast brought forth a son.' But she answered not, neither did she regard it" (1 Samuel 4:20). However, here it seems that Rachel actually takes comfort from the words, as if to say: I may be dying, but everything is worthwhile for another son. How should we understand this?
I will add two other questions about Rachel and Leah.
A. Regarding the first, why is she known as our ultimate mother? After all, she gave birth to only two sons (like Zilpah and Bilhah, who are not counted among our mothers at all, for some reason). Furthermore, we Jews come mainly from Judah (to which Shimon assimilated early) and Levi (the Levites and priests). Both biologically and spiritually we are much more related to Judah and the Jews [and Jerusalem] than to the Joseph-Ephraim kingdom, which fell apart in 722 BC. Leah is the mother of Moses and Aaron, David and Solomon; not Rachel.
Rachel's motherhood is also related to Rachel's burial place and Jeremiah's longing for the lost kingdom of Ephraim. But does this justify the perception of "Mother Rachel" to this day?
B. Why is she the one who was buried with Jacob in Hebron, when everyone knows that Rachel was his favorite?
To answer that, we must understand that we are often remembered not because of our external circumstances, but because of what we worked hard for.
Genealogically, Leah is our mother. But her yearning during her life was about couplehood, not parenting. She calls her sons after her anguish from the relationship and her hopes that it will be fully fulfilled. Therefore she is the ultimate partner, and as such deserves to be buried next to Jacob.
With Rachel, it's the exact opposite. She tells Jacob that she has no life without motherhood. Unlike Elkanah, Jacob does not respond that he is like ten sons for her, because he knows that it is absolutely not true. Rachel is happy to "let" Jacob in order to receive duda'im (mandrake), which are supposed to encourage fertility. The name of her eldest son is a request that she will give birth to another son. In the end, we are remembered for what we sacrificed everything else for. Rachel is our spiritual mother.
However, there is an even deeper layer. In Kabbalah, Leah is known as "Alma D'itkasya" (the hidden world). She and her children are busy inside their homes, in the here and now, looking inward. Leah cares about her relationship. She married immediately and secretly. The same is true of the impulsive Reuven, who was "unstable as water": in what happened with Bilhah in our portion; in the idea of the pit as salvation for Joseph; in his offer as guarantee to Benjamin to kill his two sons; And when his tribe asks for an estate prematurely. Shimon and Levi are also impulsive in our portion, in the indiscriminate massacre following the rape of their sister (relevant questions for us today...) and indeed sages consider the priests, descendants of Levi, "quick".
Rachel is less involved in her immediate situation, she married last, and she looks outward to future generations, as part of the "Alma D'itgalya" (the revealed world). Even Joseph is "that sold to all the people of the land" (Genesis 42:6). Joseph's kingdom was cosmopolitan. Also "Rachel of the Sages", wife of Akiva (Ya'akov-Jacob in Aramaic), sacrifices 24 years of marriage for the benefit of future generations.
We of course need both sides for "Tikkun Olam". "Tikkun Chatzot" includes both Rachel's tikkun and Leah's tikkun.
On the one hand, we must look within ourselves. I must build my own identity, as a Jew. On the plane, first I wear a mask, and then I help my children. And I cannot give what I do not have myself. Charity begins at home.
But by no means does it end there! We must also look out to the future, to others, to the nations! Only caring for the different, for the stranger, for the other, for the resident and the immigrant - will fix the world in the kingdom of God.
Shabbat Shalom!
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Rabbi Jesse Burke is yeshivas graduate and has a rabbinic ordination, an MA graduate from the Hebrew University, a human rights activist, and in recent years has also worked as a tour guide.
I will add two other questions about Rachel and Leah.
A. Regarding the first, why is she known as our ultimate mother? After all, she gave birth to only two sons (like Zilpah and Bilhah, who are not counted among our mothers at all, for some reason). Furthermore, we Jews come mainly from Judah (to which Shimon assimilated early) and Levi (the Levites and priests). Both biologically and spiritually we are much more related to Judah and the Jews [and Jerusalem] than to the Joseph-Ephraim kingdom, which fell apart in 722 BC. Leah is the mother of Moses and Aaron, David and Solomon; not Rachel.
Rachel's motherhood is also related to Rachel's burial place and Jeremiah's longing for the lost kingdom of Ephraim. But does this justify the perception of "Mother Rachel" to this day?
B. Why is she the one who was buried with Jacob in Hebron, when everyone knows that Rachel was his favorite?
To answer that, we must understand that we are often remembered not because of our external circumstances, but because of what we worked hard for.
Genealogically, Leah is our mother. But her yearning during her life was about couplehood, not parenting. She calls her sons after her anguish from the relationship and her hopes that it will be fully fulfilled. Therefore she is the ultimate partner, and as such deserves to be buried next to Jacob.
With Rachel, it's the exact opposite. She tells Jacob that she has no life without motherhood. Unlike Elkanah, Jacob does not respond that he is like ten sons for her, because he knows that it is absolutely not true. Rachel is happy to "let" Jacob in order to receive duda'im (mandrake), which are supposed to encourage fertility. The name of her eldest son is a request that she will give birth to another son. In the end, we are remembered for what we sacrificed everything else for. Rachel is our spiritual mother.
However, there is an even deeper layer. In Kabbalah, Leah is known as "Alma D'itkasya" (the hidden world). She and her children are busy inside their homes, in the here and now, looking inward. Leah cares about her relationship. She married immediately and secretly. The same is true of the impulsive Reuven, who was "unstable as water": in what happened with Bilhah in our portion; in the idea of the pit as salvation for Joseph; in his offer as guarantee to Benjamin to kill his two sons; And when his tribe asks for an estate prematurely. Shimon and Levi are also impulsive in our portion, in the indiscriminate massacre following the rape of their sister (relevant questions for us today...) and indeed sages consider the priests, descendants of Levi, "quick".
Rachel is less involved in her immediate situation, she married last, and she looks outward to future generations, as part of the "Alma D'itgalya" (the revealed world). Even Joseph is "that sold to all the people of the land" (Genesis 42:6). Joseph's kingdom was cosmopolitan. Also "Rachel of the Sages", wife of Akiva (Ya'akov-Jacob in Aramaic), sacrifices 24 years of marriage for the benefit of future generations.
We of course need both sides for "Tikkun Olam". "Tikkun Chatzot" includes both Rachel's tikkun and Leah's tikkun.
On the one hand, we must look within ourselves. I must build my own identity, as a Jew. On the plane, first I wear a mask, and then I help my children. And I cannot give what I do not have myself. Charity begins at home.
But by no means does it end there! We must also look out to the future, to others, to the nations! Only caring for the different, for the stranger, for the other, for the resident and the immigrant - will fix the world in the kingdom of God.
Shabbat Shalom!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rabbi Jesse Burke is yeshivas graduate and has a rabbinic ordination, an MA graduate from the Hebrew University, a human rights activist, and in recent years has also worked as a tour guide.