Commentaire sur La Genèse 30:1

ותקנא רחל באחתה RACHEL ENVIED HER SISTER — She was envious of her because of her good deeds, thinking, “Unless she were more righteous than I am she would not have been privileged to bear children (Genesis Rabbah 71:6).”

GIVE ME CHILDREN. The commentators⁹⁸Rashi and Ibn Ezra. said that this means that Rachel asked Jacob to pray on her behalf. Or else I die — Rashi comments: “For one who is childless may be considered as dead.” This is a Midrash of our Rabbis.⁹⁹Bereshith Rabbah 71:19.
But I wonder. If so, why was Jacob angry with her? And why did he say, Am I in G-d’s stead?¹⁰⁰Verse 2 here. for G-d hearkens to the righteous.¹⁰¹See Psalms 69:34. [I wonder concerning] that which Jacob said [to Rachel, as quoted in Rashi:¹⁰⁰Verse 2 here. “You say that I should do as did my father, who prayed on behalf of Rebekah, but I am not circumstanced as my father was. My] father had no children at all. I, however, have children. It is from you that He had withheld children and not from me.” Do not the righteous pray on behalf of others? There were Elijah¹⁰²I Kings 18:21. and Elisha¹⁰³II Kings 4:33. who prayed on behalf of strange women.
It would appear that on account of Jacob’s answer, our Rabbis took him to task, saying in Bereshith Rabbah:¹⁰⁴71:10. “The Holy One, blessed be He, said to Jacob, ‘Is this the way to answer a woman who is oppressed by her barrenness? By your life! Your children are destined to stand before her son Joseph!’”
In line with the plain meaning of Scripture, Rachel asked of Jacob that he give her children, but her intent was truly to say that he should pray on her behalf and continue indeed to pray until G-d would, in any case, grant her children, and if not, she would mortify herself because of grief. In her envy she spoke improperly, thinking that because Jacob loved her he would fast, put on sackcloth with ashes,¹⁰⁵Esther 4:1. and pray until she would have children, so that she should not die of her grief.

מתה אנכי, in this verse when the word מתה is in the present tense, the stress is on the last syllable, whereas in Genesis 48,7 where the same word occurs in the past tense, the stress is on the first syllable.