Comentario sobre Génesis 29:34

הפעם ילוה אישי THIS TIME WILL MY HUSBAND BECOME ATTACHED TO ME — Because the Matriarchs were prophetesses and knew that twelve tribes would issue from Jacob and that he would have four wives, she said, “From now he will have no fault to find with me, for I have assumed my full share in giving him children” (Midrash Tanchuma, Vayetzei 9).

על כן קרא שמו לוי, one may assume that it was Yaakov who gave the boy this name. (compare Kimchi)

הפעם ילוה, I have by now acquired a tendency, a justified presumption, חזקה, of producing numerous children. Our sages in Yevamot 64 consider an occurrence thrice repeated as establishing such a presumption.

ותהר...ילוה אישי אלי, he will be more inclined to respond to my love than to that of my sister.
כי ילדתי שלשה בנים, seeing that what the righteous expect from their wives is that they bear sons for them.

.על כן קרא שמו לוי, “this is why He called his name Levi.” The word “He” refers to G’d. This is why the Torah does not write קראה, “she called,” as it had done with the first two sons of Leah. Seeing that this son belonged to G’d as the “tithe” Yaakov had vowed to give of all G’d would give him, it was up to G’d to name what belonged to Him. We had mentioned that the matriarchs had a prophetic inspiration that Yaakov would have 12 sons from four wives. Having given birth to a third son, Leah had received her fair share of sons. When Leah said after giving birth to her third son על כן ילוה אישי אלי, she was not merely referring to the attachment between Yaakov and her; rather, she used the word איש as an acronym for א=כתר, י=חכמה ש,=בינה, as indicated in the Sefer Habahir. (compare the comment in that book on Exodus 15,3 ה' איש מלחמה). Leah meant that the three emanations represented by these letters in the word איש are really part and parcel of a larger concept. This is why the descendants of Levi became teachers of Torah and wisdom in Israel as we know from Moses’ blessing in Deut. 33,10 יורו משפטיך ליעקב , “they will teach Your ordinances to Yaakov."
When she gave birth to her fourth son, Yehudah, she gave thanks to the emanation בינה, the emanation from which children originate. As a result of all this we find that all the important elements were represented in the first four sons of Leah. Reuven and Shimon were allusions to G’d (His attribute with the six extremities), Levi and Yehudah being allusions to the three topmost emanations

Since the Matriarchs were prophetesses... You might ask: [If so,] why does Megillah 14a mention only seven prophetesses — Sarah, Miriam, Devorah, Chan-nah, Avigayil, Chuldah and Ester? The answer is: Scripture testifies about Sarah [that she prophesized], as it is written (21:12): “Regarding all that Sarah tells you, listen to her,” teaching that Avraham was inferior to Sarah in prophecy. And so [Scripture testifies about] all of them. But we do not find [it written unequivocally] that the [other] Matriarchs prophesied, as our verse could follow to its simple meaning. Maharshal answers that the Matriarchs prophesied only on matters pertaining to themselves: they knew what the future held for them but not for others. Therefore, they were not counted with the other prophetesses.

ילוה אישי אלי, “my husband will be more firmly connected to me.” She meant that up until now she would take her two children one with each hand, and did not need to call on her husband’s support. Now she needed to call on his support as she could not take three children by her two hands.

על כן THEREFORE — Wherever in the case of the names given to Jacob’s sons the word “therefore” is used, that tribe had a numerous population (Genesis Rabbah 71:4), Levi forming an exception, because the Ark decimated them.

על כן קרא שמו, Yaakov gave the boy this name because, as Leah had predicted, that he was so overjoyed at Levi’s birth. It is also possible that Yaakov had seen with a prophetic eye that the sons of Levi would be outstanding servants of the Lord and teachers of His Torah, and that they would constantly keep company with G’d, i.e. strive to fulfill His will. He therefore named this son both because of what his wife had proclaimed when he had been born, and because of the prophetic insight he had received regarding the descendants of this son. If we needed proof for this approach it is the fact that he was the only one of Yaakov’s sons who had been named by his father. The naming of Binyamin, respectively, renaming him, was due to a different consideration altogether. We will discuss this in due course.

With the exception of Leivi, because the Ark decimated them. I.e., the tribe of Leivi would carry the holy Ark and could not handle it with sufficient caution. Thus, many of them died.

על כן קרא שמו לוי, “this is why he named him Levi, companion. [All the other eleven children of Yaakov were named by their mothers, Yaakov, adding a second name to the youngest whom Rachel had named ben Oni. Ed.] There is some debate about the name of Zevulun; (30,20) some commentators assume that Yaakov did not agree with Leah’s implying that he would now make his permanent residence in Leah’s tent.

קרא שמו לוי [THEREFORE] WAS HIS NAME CALLED LEVI (literally, he called his name) — Of all of them (the sons) it is written “And she called”, but of this one Scripture writes “he called!” There is a Midrashic statement in Deuteronomy Rabbah that the Holy One, blessed be He, sent Gabriel who brought him (Levi) into His presence. He called him by this name and gave him the twenty-four perquisites with which the priesthood was favoured, and because He gave him these perquisites as an accompaniment (לוהו) He called him Levi (accompanied).