וַיֶּאֱהַ֥ב יַעֲקֹ֖ב אֶת־רָחֵ֑ל וַיֹּ֗אמֶר אֶֽעֱבָדְךָ֙ שֶׁ֣בַע שָׁנִ֔ים בְּרָחֵ֥ל בִּתְּךָ֖ הַקְּטַנָּֽה׃
At inibig ni Jacob si Raquel, at sinabi niya, “Maglilingkod ako sa iyo nang pitong taon para kay Raquel na iyong nakababatang anak na babae.”
Be'er Mayim Chaim
Also its saying, "Moshe agreed. etc. and he gave his daughter, Tzipporah, etc.," is, in this way, to express our teacher Moshe's great modesty, peace be upon him. As even though Tzipporah ran after him like a bird (tzippor) and he knew clearly that that she was his mate, since she appeared individually to him at the well - nevertheless, he did not request her from [Yitro]; he did not claim his portion with his mouth and did not speak about this at all. Rather he desired to stay with him until things developed from the Heavens, [that] they would automatically give him Tzipporah. And so it was: During the days of his stay, behold Yitro himself 'gave him his daughter, Tzipporah,' to him, without a request from the mouth [of Moshe]. This was not even like our father, Yaakov, peace be upon him - who said, in order to father children (Genesis 29:18), "I will work for you seven years for Rachel, etc." - and that which is similar. But he, due to his great modesty, did not say anything. And that is why Scripture says later...
Kedushat Levi
Genesis 29,11. “Yaakov gave Rachel a kiss, etc;” [note that the Torah does not refer to Rachel’s physical appearance until verse 17 after Yaakov had already worked for him for over a month. Ed.]
Genesis 29,17. “and Rachel was shapely and beautiful.” At first glance it is surprising that the Torah appears to link Yaakov’s falling in love with Rachel in verse 18, ויאהב יעקב את רחל, “Yaakov loved Rachel,” to the description of her physical assets in verse 17. Is it possible that Yaakov, the most highly admired of our patriarchs, was attracted by Rachel’s physical features, and that this is why the Torah reports matters in this sequence? Our sages called our attention to Yaakov’s message to his brother Esau in Genesis 32,4 where he told him עם לבן גרתי, ”I have remained a stranger while with Lavan, etc.” The numerical value of the letters in the word גרתי, equals 613, the number of commandments in the Torah. Yaakov reminded his brother that during the entire period that he spent in Charan he had observed the Torah, and therefore had little to fear. A man who could make such a statement certainly did not marry Rachel because he was smitten by lust to possess her shapely body. Anyone who observes the 613 commandments is well aware of the statement by Solomon in Proverbs 31,30 that שקר החן והבך היופי, that external attributes such as physical beauty or even a graceful walk, etc., are deceptive and offer no clue to the owner’s character.
We must look further for the reason why the Torah made a point of mentioning Rachel’s physical attributes. I have heard from my revered teacher the Maggid of Mezeritch Dov Baer, of sainted memory, that we must understand this as follows. We know that the principal attribute used by Yaakov in serving the Lord is the attribute known as תפארת, harmony, located in the center of diagrams of the 10 emanations, ספירות. Any physical matter on earth, containing a “spark” from this emanation, is spiritually elevated by the presence of this spark, regardless of how secular it is by nature. Through this spark of the attribute of תפארת, its host is brought closer to its roots in the celestial regions, and engages in some degree of service to the Lord.
We must look further for the reason why the Torah made a point of mentioning Rachel’s physical attributes. I have heard from my revered teacher the Maggid of Mezeritch Dov Baer, of sainted memory, that we must understand this as follows. We know that the principal attribute used by Yaakov in serving the Lord is the attribute known as תפארת, harmony, located in the center of diagrams of the 10 emanations, ספירות. Any physical matter on earth, containing a “spark” from this emanation, is spiritually elevated by the presence of this spark, regardless of how secular it is by nature. Through this spark of the attribute of תפארת, its host is brought closer to its roots in the celestial regions, and engages in some degree of service to the Lord.
When the Torah (Genesis 39,13) reports that Joseph וינס ויצא החוצה, “fled and went “outside,” to escape the efforts of Potiphar’s wife to seduce him, he did so because he realized that that woman had used her mode of dress to lure him into a sinful relationship (Yuma 35). She had employed whatever holy spark she possessed in a reverse manner, instead of a means to come closer to her Creator. When Joseph escaped from her presence he took with him this “holy spark” thereby serving his Creator and paving the way for this “spark” that had escaped from the Shechinah to find its way back to its roots.
It is known that Joseph, though, of course also serving the Lord, did not do so by using principally the attribute of harmony as his father was in the habit of doing. However, at this critical juncture, in his fateful seclusion with the wife of his master Potiphar, he resorted to the attribute of תפארת as the means to avoid sinning.
It is also known that every tzaddik who serves the Lord, regardless of which of the attributes in the diagram of the emanations he uses as his primary model, will be granted a vision of the tzaddik who had made that attribute his primary role model in serving the Lord. When the Talmud Sotah 36 relates that at the critical moment before the seduction, Joseph had a vision of his father, it is a vision of the emanation of תפארת that the Talmud refers to as having been seen by Joseph.
Genesis 29,17. “and Rachel was shapely and beautiful.” At first glance it is surprising that the Torah appears to link Yaakov’s falling in love with Rachel in verse 18, ויאהב יעקב את רחל, “Yaakov loved Rachel,” to the description of her physical assets in verse 17. Is it possible that Yaakov, the most highly admired of our patriarchs, was attracted by Rachel’s physical features, and that this is why the Torah reports matters in this sequence? Our sages called our attention to Yaakov’s message to his brother Esau in Genesis 32,4 where he told him עם לבן גרתי, ”I have remained a stranger while with Lavan, etc.” The numerical value of the letters in the word גרתי, equals 613, the number of commandments in the Torah. Yaakov reminded his brother that during the entire period that he spent in Charan he had observed the Torah, and therefore had little to fear. A man who could make such a statement certainly did not marry Rachel because he was smitten by lust to possess her shapely body. Anyone who observes the 613 commandments is well aware of the statement by Solomon in Proverbs 31,30 that שקר החן והבך היופי, that external attributes such as physical beauty or even a graceful walk, etc., are deceptive and offer no clue to the owner’s character.
We must look further for the reason why the Torah made a point of mentioning Rachel’s physical attributes. I have heard from my revered teacher the Maggid of Mezeritch Dov Baer, of sainted memory, that we must understand this as follows. We know that the principal attribute used by Yaakov in serving the Lord is the attribute known as תפארת, harmony, located in the center of diagrams of the 10 emanations, ספירות. Any physical matter on earth, containing a “spark” from this emanation, is spiritually elevated by the presence of this spark, regardless of how secular it is by nature. Through this spark of the attribute of תפארת, its host is brought closer to its roots in the celestial regions, and engages in some degree of service to the Lord.
We must look further for the reason why the Torah made a point of mentioning Rachel’s physical attributes. I have heard from my revered teacher the Maggid of Mezeritch Dov Baer, of sainted memory, that we must understand this as follows. We know that the principal attribute used by Yaakov in serving the Lord is the attribute known as תפארת, harmony, located in the center of diagrams of the 10 emanations, ספירות. Any physical matter on earth, containing a “spark” from this emanation, is spiritually elevated by the presence of this spark, regardless of how secular it is by nature. Through this spark of the attribute of תפארת, its host is brought closer to its roots in the celestial regions, and engages in some degree of service to the Lord.
When the Torah (Genesis 39,13) reports that Joseph וינס ויצא החוצה, “fled and went “outside,” to escape the efforts of Potiphar’s wife to seduce him, he did so because he realized that that woman had used her mode of dress to lure him into a sinful relationship (Yuma 35). She had employed whatever holy spark she possessed in a reverse manner, instead of a means to come closer to her Creator. When Joseph escaped from her presence he took with him this “holy spark” thereby serving his Creator and paving the way for this “spark” that had escaped from the Shechinah to find its way back to its roots.
It is known that Joseph, though, of course also serving the Lord, did not do so by using principally the attribute of harmony as his father was in the habit of doing. However, at this critical juncture, in his fateful seclusion with the wife of his master Potiphar, he resorted to the attribute of תפארת as the means to avoid sinning.
It is also known that every tzaddik who serves the Lord, regardless of which of the attributes in the diagram of the emanations he uses as his primary model, will be granted a vision of the tzaddik who had made that attribute his primary role model in serving the Lord. When the Talmud Sotah 36 relates that at the critical moment before the seduction, Joseph had a vision of his father, it is a vision of the emanation of תפארת that the Talmud refers to as having been seen by Joseph.
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.