פירוש על בראשית 29:30

עוד שבע שנים אחרות YET SEVEN OTHER YEARS — Scripture adds the apparently redundant word אחרות another seven years, for the purpose of comparing them to the preceding seven years. — Even as he had worked faithfully during the earlier period (not anticipating any deception on Laban’s part), so he worked faithfully during the latter period, although he (Laban) had practised this deception on him (Genesis Rabbah 70:20).

AND HE LOVED RACHEL MORE THAN LEAH. The reason why Scripture mentions that he also loved Rachel more than Leah is that it is natural for a man to have more love for the woman with whom he first had relations, just as the Sages have mentioned with reference to women:⁹⁴Sanhedrin 22b. “And she makes a firm commitment only to he who marries her first.” Thus Jacob’s loving Rachel more than Leah was unnatural. This is the sense of the word gam: [and he loved ‘gam’ Rachel than Leah].

ויאהב גם את רחל, he not only slept also with her, but also loved her more than he loved Leah. On most occasions in Scripture when the word גם appears in an inverted fashion, such as here, the meaning is similar. In Exodus 12,32 when Pharaoh said to Moses וברכתם גם אותי, the meaning is: “also bless me.” In Numbers 22,33 when the angel said to Bileam: גם אותך הרגתי, he meant: “I would also have killed you, seeing that I first squeezed your foot and you are already lame. Now I would have killed you if not for your ass lying down.”