Chasidut su Genesi 30:22
וַיִּזְכֹּ֥ר אֱלֹהִ֖ים אֶת־רָחֵ֑ל וַיִּשְׁמַ֤ע אֵלֶ֙יהָ֙ אֱלֹהִ֔ים וַיִּפְתַּ֖ח אֶת־רַחְמָֽהּ׃
Iddio poi si mostrò memore di Rachele, l’esaudì, e la rese feconda.
Kedushat Levi
An alternate interpretation of this somewhat obscurely worded verse above. When concentrating on the section ויאהב גם את רחל מלאה, “he also loved Rachel better than Leah;” we must examine the meaning of the word: גם in this verse. We are used to find this word when comparisons are being made to something that preceded it; here, however, there is no question that Yaakov’s love for Rachel had preceded his love for Leah as we know already from Genesis 29,18.
The wording of our verse throws light on Rashi’s explanation on Genesis 30,22 “G’d remembered Rachel;” according to Rashi, G’d remembered not only that Rachel had given her sister Leah the secret code that was designed to alert Yaakov in the event Lavan were to trick him, but also that Rachel was most unhappy at the prospect that once her sister had become the wife of Yaakov it would now be her lot to become the wife of Esau, a terrible prospect, especially as she feared that Yaakov would divorce her seeing that she had not born any children for him. Looking at this commentary, it appears that according to Rashi, G’d had two separate reasons for “remembering” Rachel at that time. Actually, this is not so; how can one imagine that Yaakov would divorce Rachel because she had no children, when he himself had already been blessed with numerous children both from Leah and from the servant maids?
According to Bereshit Rabbah 70,16 the reason why the Torah in 29,17 reveals that Leah had “weak” eyes, is to alert us to her having wept excessively at the prospect of her having to become the wife of a wicked person, her cousin Esau. At least, this is what she had heard about her father’s plans for her, something that was common gossip in Charan. At the time when Rachel had handed Leah the secret code between Yaakov and her, it was not clear yet that Yaakov would also marry Rachel so that she need not have worried. It was therefore an even greater act of self sacrifice on the part of Rachel to have revealed the secret code to her sister at the time, as not only would she most likely lose the chance to become Yaakov’s wife, but would wind up with a husband who was a wicked person. Rashi meant that G’d now remembered not only that Rachel had acted altruistically at the time when she revealed the code to her sister, but she had in addition had reason to believe that she had thereby condemned herself to becoming the wife of Esau. When Yaakov, after also marrying Rachel, instead of harbouring anger at her for revealing their secret, became aware of her true motives, he also loved her for her piety. In other words, his original love for Rachel is considered by the Torah as a given; Yaakov in the meantime had found out to what length of self-sacrifice Rachel had gone in order to save her sister Leah embarrassment. He therefore loved her doubly. If we translate the word מלאה, “on account of Leah,” instead of as “more than Leah,” the verse does not present any problems at all.
The wording of our verse throws light on Rashi’s explanation on Genesis 30,22 “G’d remembered Rachel;” according to Rashi, G’d remembered not only that Rachel had given her sister Leah the secret code that was designed to alert Yaakov in the event Lavan were to trick him, but also that Rachel was most unhappy at the prospect that once her sister had become the wife of Yaakov it would now be her lot to become the wife of Esau, a terrible prospect, especially as she feared that Yaakov would divorce her seeing that she had not born any children for him. Looking at this commentary, it appears that according to Rashi, G’d had two separate reasons for “remembering” Rachel at that time. Actually, this is not so; how can one imagine that Yaakov would divorce Rachel because she had no children, when he himself had already been blessed with numerous children both from Leah and from the servant maids?
According to Bereshit Rabbah 70,16 the reason why the Torah in 29,17 reveals that Leah had “weak” eyes, is to alert us to her having wept excessively at the prospect of her having to become the wife of a wicked person, her cousin Esau. At least, this is what she had heard about her father’s plans for her, something that was common gossip in Charan. At the time when Rachel had handed Leah the secret code between Yaakov and her, it was not clear yet that Yaakov would also marry Rachel so that she need not have worried. It was therefore an even greater act of self sacrifice on the part of Rachel to have revealed the secret code to her sister at the time, as not only would she most likely lose the chance to become Yaakov’s wife, but would wind up with a husband who was a wicked person. Rashi meant that G’d now remembered not only that Rachel had acted altruistically at the time when she revealed the code to her sister, but she had in addition had reason to believe that she had thereby condemned herself to becoming the wife of Esau. When Yaakov, after also marrying Rachel, instead of harbouring anger at her for revealing their secret, became aware of her true motives, he also loved her for her piety. In other words, his original love for Rachel is considered by the Torah as a given; Yaakov in the meantime had found out to what length of self-sacrifice Rachel had gone in order to save her sister Leah embarrassment. He therefore loved her doubly. If we translate the word מלאה, “on account of Leah,” instead of as “more than Leah,” the verse does not present any problems at all.
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