avakesh

Rachel and Leah

Rachel and Leah are the two mothers who together built the Hose of Israel. Yet they are different - in personality, spiritual characteristics, and effect on the generations to come.

A deeper perspective on Rachel and Leah needs to take into account and explain one Kabbalistic fact. Surprisingly, in Kabbalah, Leah is higher and superior to Rachel. The partzuf of Zeir Anpin is composed of a higher part, Isroel Sabba and below it Yacov. Wrapped around them is Leah above and Rachel below. Leah is generally facing Isroel Sabbah's back whereas Rachel is sometimes front to back and sometimes front to front  to Yakov (see Shaar Hakkavonos, Krias Shema). Without getting sidetracked by these intricate ideas, one thing is clear - Leah is higher than Rachel. That is not the perception we get from the Chumash, where Rachel seems to be more valued than Leah. Ruth Rabbah 7:13 points out that even descendents of Leah, Boaz and men of Bethlehem mention Rachel before Leah.

Michtav M'Eliahu suggests that Yakov and Isroel represents Jacob as he functioned in the lower and higher realities respectively."Also Rachel and Leah correspond to two particulars in Divine Service.. Rachel. "the beautiful of form and beautiful of visage" (in the words of the Zohar - the revealed reality) is the revelation of God's Glory in this lower world. Leah stands aside (the eyes of Leah are weak - the world of the hidden) - her portion is what is revealed in the sense of the higher world, the hidden one (2:218)". The Artscroll Chumash adds derives from this an appealing idea. When Yakov saw Rachel, he immediately knew that she was his partner in this world. The same was not the case with Leah. She was his partner in spirit but at that stage of his growth, he did not yet see it. He would only see it later in his life. Rachel was she whom he needed at the time, but Leah was his destiny for eternity. It is she who produced Yehudah and Royalty and Levi and the Priesthood.

So often we see only with eyes of the flesh. Rachel was right for him as he was, Leah was destined for him as he was going to be. So often we rail and complain against Divine injustice in not giving us something that we want, forgetting that God, in His kindness, may be instead giving us what we need.

It's a great segula for Sholom Bayis to remember that the wife that Hashem may have given you may not be the one that you wanted but she is the one that is good for you. A Jewish wife is not a wife who will make you feel great and cater to your every whim and behind your back does G-d knows what. A Jewish wife is supposed to challenge you. She will challenge you, stretch you, shine light on your deficiencies, make you GROW!

I often think of R. Yisroel Salanter. Here is a man who by all contemporary standards was a failure. His career as a Rosh Yeshiva ended with having to go into exile. He spent most of his life in Western Europe, and making very little difference. It is almost an afterthought, a few students who he taught his Mussar doctrine, who created in his name a revolution in the Jewish world. Sometimes it is the insignificant actions that we completely overlook and do not value that may earn us Eternity.

The Lubavitcher Rebbe (quoted in the Gutnick Chumash) had a different approach. He saw Rachel as representing tsaddikim gemurim, hence her beauty of appearance and stature. Leah, on the other hand, represents Baalei Teshuva. That is why she cried a lot. It is for this reason that, as Rashi points out, everyone thought that she was an appropriate wife for Eisav. Like Eisav, Lea went out, a trait that "came out" in her daughter Dinah. That is a trait of Baalei Teshuva who actively seek to cause others to become Baalei Teshuvah. Underlying this approach maybe is the Kabbalistic tradition that Leah is higher than Rachel and the statement (Brochos 34) that in the place in which Baalei Teshuvah stand, tsaddikim gemurim cannot stand.

A deeper perspective on Rachel and Leah needs to take into account and explain one Kabbalistic fact. Surprisingly, in Kabbalah, Leah is higher and superior to Rachel. The partzuf of Zeir Anpin is composed of a higher part, Isroel Sabba and below it Yacov. Wrapped around them is Leah above and Rachel below. Leah is generally facing Isroel Sabbah's back whereas Rachel is sometimes front to back and sometimes front to front  to Yakov (see Shaar Hakkavonos, Krias Shema). Without getting sidetracked by these intricate ideas, one thing is clear - Leah is higher than Rachel. That is not the perception we get from the Chumash, where Rachel seems to be more valued than Leah. Ruth Rabbah 7:13 points out that even descendents of Leah, Boaz and men of Bethlehem mention Rachel before Leah.

Michtav M'Eliahu suggests that Yakov and Isroel represents Jacob as he functioned in the lower and higher realities respectively."Also Rachel and Leah correspond to two particulars in Divine Service.. Rachel. "the beautiful of form and beautiful of visage" (in the words of the Zohar - the revealed reality) is the revelation of God's Glory in this lower world. Leah stands aside (the eyes of Leah are weak - the world of the hidden) - her portion is what is revealed in the sense of the higher world, the hidden one (2:218)". The Artscroll Chumash adds derives from this an appealing idea. When Yakov saw Rachel, he immediately knew that she was his partner in this world. The same was not the case with Leah. She was his partner in spirit but at that stage of his growth, he did not yet see it. He would only see it later in his life. Rachel was she whom he needed at the time, but Leah was his destiny for eternity. It is she who produced Yehudah and Royalty and Levi and the Priesthood.

So often we see only with eyes of the flesh. Rachel was right for him as he was, Leah was destined for him as he was going to be. So often we rail and complain against Divine injustice in not giving us something that we want, forgetting that God, in His kindness, may be instead giving us what we need.

It's a great segula for Sholom Bayis to remember that the wife that Hashem may have given you may not be the one that you wanted but she is the one that is good for you. A Jewish wife is not a wife who will make you feel great and cater to your every whim and behind your back does G-d knows what. A Jewish wife is supposed to challenge you. She will challenge you, stretch you, shine light on your deficiencies, make you GROW!

I often think of R. Yisroel Salanter. Here is a man who by all contemporary standards was a failure. His career as a Rosh Yeshiva ended with having to go into exile. He spent most of his life in Western Europe, and making very little difference. It is almost an afterthought, a few students who he taught his Mussar doctrine, who created in his name a revolution in the Jewish world. Sometimes it is the insignificant actions that we completely overlook and do not value that may earn us Eternity.

The Lubavitcher Rebbe (quoted in the Gutnick Chumash) had a different approach. He saw Rachel as representing tsaddikim gemurim, hence her beauty of appearance and stature. Leah, on the other hand, represents Baalei Teshuva. That is why she cried a lot. It is for this reason that, as Rashi points out, everyone thought that she was an appropriate wife for Eisav. Like Eisav, Lea went out, a trait that "came out" in her daughter Dinah. That is a trait of Baalei Teshuva who actively seek to cause others to become Baalei Teshuvah. Underlying this approach maybe is the Kabbalistic tradition that Leah is higher than Rachel and the statement (Brochos 34) that in the place in which Baalei Teshuvah stand, tsaddikim gemurim cannot stand.

A deeper perspective on Rachel and Leah needs to take into account and explain one Kabbalistic fact. Surprisingly, in Kabbalah, Leah is higher and superior to Rachel. The partzuf of Zeir Anpin is composed of a higher part, Isroel Sabba and below it Yacov. Wrapped around them is Leah above and Rachel below. Leah is generally facing Isroel Sabbah's back whereas Rachel is sometimes front to back and sometimes front to front  to Yakov (see Shaar Hakkavonos, Krias Shema). Without getting sidetracked by these intricate ideas, one thing is clear - Leah is higher than Rachel. That is not the perception we get from the Chumash, where Rachel seems to be more valued than Leah. Ruth Rabbah 7:13 points out that even descendents of Leah, Boaz and men of Bethlehem mention Rachel before Leah.

Michtav M'Eliahu suggests that Yakov and Isroel represents Jacob as he functioned in the lower and higher realities respectively."Also Rachel and Leah correspond to two particulars in Divine Service.. Rachel. "the beautiful of form and beautiful of visage" (in the words of the Zohar - the revealed reality) is the revelation of God's Glory in this lower world. Leah stands aside (the eyes of Leah are weak - the world of the hidden) - her portion is what is revealed in the sense of the higher world, the hidden one (2:218)". The Artscroll Chumash adds derives from this an appealing idea. When Yakov saw Rachel, he immediately knew that she was his partner in this world. The same was not the case with Leah. She was his partner in spirit but at that stage of his growth, he did not yet see it. He would only see it later in his life. Rachel was she whom he needed at the time, but Leah was his destiny for eternity. It is she who produced Yehudah and Royalty and Levi and the Priesthood.

So often we see only with eyes of the flesh. Rachel was right for him as he was, Leah was destined for him as he was going to be. So often we rail and complain against Divine injustice in not giving us something that we want, forgetting that God, in His kindness, may be instead giving us what we need.

It's a great segula for Sholom Bayis to remember that the wife that Hashem may have given you may not be the one that you wanted but she is the one that is good for you. A Jewish wife is not a wife who will make you feel great and cater to your every whim and behind your back does G-d knows what. A Jewish wife is supposed to challenge you. She will challenge you, stretch you, shine light on your deficiencies, make you GROW!

I often think of R. Yisroel Salanter. Here is a man who by all contemporary standards was a failure. His career as a Rosh Yeshiva ended with having to go into exile. He spent most of his life in Western Europe, and making very little difference. It is almost an afterthought, a few students who he taught his Mussar doctrine, who created in his name a revolution in the Jewish world. Sometimes it is the insignificant actions that we completely overlook and do not value that may earn us Eternity.

The Lubavitcher Rebbe (quoted in the Gutnick Chumash) had a different approach. He saw Rachel as representing tsaddikim gemurim, hence her beauty of appearance and stature. Leah, on the other hand, represents Baalei Teshuva. That is why she cried a lot. It is for this reason that, as Rashi points out, everyone thought that she was an appropriate wife for Eisav. Like Eisav, Lea went out, a trait that "came out" in her daughter Dinah. That is a trait of Baalei Teshuva who actively seek to cause others to become Baalei Teshuvah. Underlying this approach maybe is the Kabbalistic tradition that Leah is higher than Rachel and the statement (Brochos 34) that in the place in which Baalei Teshuvah stand, tsaddikim gemurim cannot stand.