PARSHAT VAYEITZAY

by Rabbi Sholem Ber Hecht

Want to be a “Pardon-aire”

Genuine Earnings 

Yaakov Avinu follows the advice of his parents and leaves Be'er Sheva to travel to the distant land of Charan, with the intention of finding a suitable wife among his mother's family in Padan Aram.  After receiving the blessings of the A-mighty in his dream on Mt. Moriah, under the ladder, he continues on his way and at the well in Charan he finds his cousins and negotiates with Lavan to live with him, to work for him and, eventually, to marry his daughter, Rochel.  Despite all the precautions that Yaakov makes, Lavan tricks him and works things out so that Yaakov marries Leah before Rochel, and he has to devote another seven years of work for taking the hand of Rochel in marriage one week after he married Leah.

Barren & Jealous

Then the Torah tells us that Leah became pregnant but Rochel was barren.  Leah had a son whom she called Reuven.  She then had a son she called Shimon and another son whom she called Levi.  Then Leah had a fourth son whom she called Yehuda.  Rochel, despite all of her efforts, could not conceive and, therefore, she was jealous of her sister and she said to Yaakov, “If I am not blessed with a child, then life is worthless for me,” and she blamed her barrenness on Yaakov.  Yaakov responded by saying, “I am not in G-d's place and I did not keep you from having a child.” The dialogue between Yaakov and Rochel needs elucidation.

Underneath & Out of Sight

Clearly, when Rochel realized that she was having difficulty conceiving, she probably would have come to Yaakov and, together, they would have discussed the proper approach, which would have been to present their prayers before the A-mighty.  The Kli Yakar explains that when Yaakov said to her, "Hatachat Elokim Anochi ?" what he meant was: We have agreed to pray, and I have presented my prayers before the A-mighty, just as my father, Yitzchok, and my mother, Rivkah, did before me. Their prayers were answered by G-d, then certainly my prayers should also have been answered.  But, "Hatachat Elokim Anochi", it seems that I am not close up, just below G-d's supernal throne of glory and, therefore, something must be separating between my prayers from the A-mighty, for if the A-mighty would hear my prayers, certainly He would have answered and you would have conceived.  Evidentially, there is something that separates my prayers from Hashem.  As the prophet, Yeshaya, says, "your sins separate between you and your L-rd.”  So Yaakov said that clearly there is some sin we have that separates between my prayers and does not allow my prayers to rise up to the A-mighty.  However, since the difficult having children applies only to you and not to me for, after all, my other wife, Leah, did conceive, then probably the shortcoming, or the sin, must be only on your part.

True Introspection – True reward

Rochel very seriously listened to Yaakov's heartfelt words and in serious introspection she realized that, in fact, she had allowed herself to fall into a state which was not becoming to her on her level of holiness and G-dliness.  After all, Rochel had been the one who, out of love for her sister and out of compassion for her sister, not wanting her sister to be shamed, had overcome every bit of jealousy which she had when she saw that her father, Lavan, was in fact leading Leah to the chupah instead of her.  She had devised, together with Yaakov, a set of passwords and codes so that if such an event should occur, Yaakov would know, by the response to his passwords that, in fact, the woman he was betrothing and marrying would be Rochel.  However, when Rochel's sister was lead by her father to the bridal canopy, her love for her sister overcame her jealousy and she revealed to her sister those passwords and codes which she had practiced with Yaakov. 

It is, in fact, the navi, Yirmiyahu, who says, in speaking of the time of the destruction, that Kol B'Ramah Nishman, Rochel Mevakeh Al Boneha, Mini Kolech Mibechi Ki Yesh Sachar Lefuolosaych, Amar Hashem, V'shavu Banim L'gvulam - that when all of the great, righteous tzadikim came before the A-mighty at the time of the destruction, pleading with G-d, it was only Rochel's prayers that were heard by the A-mighty and it was to Rochel that G-d promised that the Jewish people would return to the Holy Land.  Why?  Because she would be rewarded for her actions.  The Midrash explains that this action was the fact that she overcame the jealousy of her sister, which was a natural feeling on her part, she rose to the highest level of self-sacrifice knowing that Yaakov would probably never marry her, nevertheless, she gave over the codes to her sister.