Chasidut su Genesi 35:22
וַיְהִ֗י בִּשְׁכֹּ֤ן יִשְׂרָאֵל֙ בָּאָ֣רֶץ הַהִ֔וא וַיֵּ֣לֶךְ רְאוּבֵ֔ן וַיִּשְׁכַּ֕ב֙ אֶת־בִּלְהָ֖ה֙ פִּילֶ֣גֶשׁ אָבִ֑֔יו וַיִּשְׁמַ֖ע יִשְׂרָאֵֽ֑ל (פ) וַיִּֽהְי֥וּ בְנֵֽי־יַעֲקֹ֖ב שְׁנֵ֥ים עָשָֽׂר׃
Ora, soggiornando Israel in quel paese, Ruben andò e giacque con Bilhà concubina di suo padre, del che Israel ebbe notizia. [Colla nascita di Binjamìn] i figli di Giacobbe furono dodici.
Kedushat Levi
Genesis 30,14. “Reuven went and found mandrakes in the field, etc.;” ותאמר אלי תבא כי שכר שכרתיך בדודאי בני, “Leah said to her husband come to me for I have hired you in exchange for my son’s mandrakes.” After reporting this strange sounding incident, the Torah continues with: וישמע אלוקים אל לאה, “G’d listened to Leah’s prayer” (and gave her another son) as a result of which Leah exclaimed: נתן אלוקים שכרי אשר נתתי שפחתי לאישי ותקרא שמו יששכר, “G’d has given me a reward for having given my maid-servant to my husband; she called her son Issachar.”
It is somewhat puzzling why Leah called this son of hers Issachar, if she saw it as a reward not for having slept with Yaakov as a reward for allowing Reuven to give Rachel the mandrakes, but for having given her maid-servant to Yaakov (previously).
When we look at Rashi’s comment on this verse, (17) he attributes G’d’s listening to Leah’s prayer as reward for her having demonstrated by giving her maid-servant to Yaakov that she wanted him to father more founding fathers of the Jewish people, even if she was not going to be the mother of them. She had proven thereby that when she “hired” Yaakov in exchange for the mandrakes, she had not been motivated by the desire to satisfy her libido.
Our author wonders how we can be sure of this as even assuming that Leah, who at any rate had to share her husband with other women, something that no doubt caused her much heartache, would have been fully justified in wanting more of her husband’s company than she appeared to enjoy. Our author answers that while it is true that ordinary women whose husbands also have another wife do suffer such heartache and jealousy, so that the name for such a wife who has to share her husband is always called צרה, “rival wife,” if Leah had entertained the type of motivation common to other “rival wives,” she most certainly would not have seen in her bearing Issachar a “reward” from G’d, but as fulfillment of her personal desire. This is why Rashi draws our attention to this psychological insight which many a reader might have overlooked otherwise.
It is somewhat puzzling why Leah called this son of hers Issachar, if she saw it as a reward not for having slept with Yaakov as a reward for allowing Reuven to give Rachel the mandrakes, but for having given her maid-servant to Yaakov (previously).
When we look at Rashi’s comment on this verse, (17) he attributes G’d’s listening to Leah’s prayer as reward for her having demonstrated by giving her maid-servant to Yaakov that she wanted him to father more founding fathers of the Jewish people, even if she was not going to be the mother of them. She had proven thereby that when she “hired” Yaakov in exchange for the mandrakes, she had not been motivated by the desire to satisfy her libido.
Our author wonders how we can be sure of this as even assuming that Leah, who at any rate had to share her husband with other women, something that no doubt caused her much heartache, would have been fully justified in wanting more of her husband’s company than she appeared to enjoy. Our author answers that while it is true that ordinary women whose husbands also have another wife do suffer such heartache and jealousy, so that the name for such a wife who has to share her husband is always called צרה, “rival wife,” if Leah had entertained the type of motivation common to other “rival wives,” she most certainly would not have seen in her bearing Issachar a “reward” from G’d, but as fulfillment of her personal desire. This is why Rashi draws our attention to this psychological insight which many a reader might have overlooked otherwise.
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