Chasidut sobre Gênesis 30:14
וַיֵּ֨לֶךְ רְאוּבֵ֜ן בִּימֵ֣י קְצִיר־חִטִּ֗ים וַיִּמְצָ֤א דֽוּדָאִים֙ בַּשָּׂדֶ֔ה וַיָּבֵ֣א אֹתָ֔ם אֶל־לֵאָ֖ה אִמּ֑וֹ וַתֹּ֤אמֶר רָחֵל֙ אֶל־לֵאָ֔ה תְּנִי־נָ֣א לִ֔י מִדּוּדָאֵ֖י בְּנֵֽךְ׃
Ora, saiu Rúben nos dias da ceifa do trigo e achou <span class="x" onmousemove="Show('perush','Heb.: “Dudá” ou “dudái”. Árabe: “lafaĥ”. Nome científico: Mandragora officinalis. Planta muito encontrada na Terra de Israel, cujas flores são violetas, e cujos frutos são amarelados ao estarem maduros. Atribui-se a esta fruta propriedades afrodisíacas e procriativas. Esta é a razão pela qual Raquel dera tanta importância aos frutos: via neles um meio medicinal para sua dificuldade de engravidar.');" onmouseout="Hide('perush');">mandrágoras</span> no campo, e as trouxe a Léia, sua mãe. Então disse Raquel a Léia: Dá-me, peço, das mandrágoras de teu filho.
Kedushat Levi
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.