Commentaire de citation sur La Genèse 29:22

One often unexamined aspect of Lavan’s switching Leah for Rachel (Bereshit 29:22–26) is the role of Leah herself in her father’s plot. Some commentators, however, do raise the issue of whether Leah was justified in going along with it.¹⁰See Ramban on Bereshit 29:30, Rabbi S.R. Hirsch, ibid. and Daat Zkenim on Bereshit 29:25. Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch suggests that she had no choice, yet if this were truly the case it is hard to imagine that Leah would not have revealed her identity once she was alone with Yaakov – unless she was a willing party to the deception. Rabbinic tradition suggests just such a scenario, telling us that Leah acquired a secret code known only to Yaakov and Rachel specifically in order to conceal her identity until after the marriage was consummated (Megillah 13b). Granted, the sages are more interested in Rachel’s behavior in this passage, wherein Leah’s motivation seems to come from wanting to avoid personal embarrassment, but the clear implication remains that Leah wants to avoid detection by Yaakov. According to this tradition, then, not only did Leah not resist being a party to her father’s scheme, she was an active accomplice to it.