By Rabbi Dovid Sapirman, Dean, Ani Maamin Foundation
In this week’s parsha, Lavan tricks Yaakov by sending Leah to the chuppah in place of Rachel. Not wanting her sister to be publicly shamed, Rachel gives Leah the passwords previously agreed upon by her and Yaakov. When, a few years later, Leah had given birth to four sons while Rachel still had no children, Rachel asked Yaakov why he did not daven for her as Yitzchak had for Rivka.
Yaakov answered that since he himself already had children via Leah, his tefillah would not be accepted as quickly as Yitzchak’s, who was in need just like Rivka. Rachel went a generation back, pointing out that Avraham davened for Sarah although he already had a son, Yishmael. “My grandmother [had a zechus because] she introduced a rival wife [Hagar] to her home,” Yaakov said. “If that is what holds me back,” Rachel reasoned, “here is my maid, Bilhah.”
What was Sarah’s merit? To share her husband with another woman. But Rachel’s act had been greater: she had given her husband away completely, with no guarantee that she would one day marry him too. When Rachel eventually gave birth to Yosef, the pasuk says, “Hashem remembered Rachel.” Chazal say, “What zechus did He remember? That she gave her password to her sister.” Why didn’t Yaakov and Rachel realize that she had such a great zechus?
Suppose a businessman is on his way to sign a contract that will earn him millions, but if he is late, someone else will get the deal. On a deserted road, he sees another driver stuck in a ditch, in desperate need of medical help. He stops to help, saving a life and forfeiting his great profit. Now, suppose a person tells his neighbor that his house will go into foreclosure if he doesn’t pay $20,0000 to the bank immediately. The neighbor writes out a check for the entire sum. Which of these two did a bigger mitzvah? Most would say the first is greater because he saved a life. But there is a big difference. If the first man has any humanity, he cannot leave another person to die. Yes, he sacrifices a fortune, but he has no choice but to stop and help. In the second scenario, however, even a generous person could have donated $500 and advised the homeowner to collect from the other neighbors. No one was forced to give so much.
When Rachel saw that Leah was going to be led to the chuppah, she knew what she was giving up, but she felt that she had no choice. How could she allow Leah to be so publicly shamed? Therefore, Yaakov and Rachel didn’t even consider this to be a zechus. Offering Bilhah to marry Yaakov, on the other hand, was a voluntary chesed. That was the merit they hoped would make a difference.
But Hashem saw things differently. To do something so noble, to feel another’s pain so that she had no choice but to give over the passwords, was a product of Rachel’s greatness. And it was that zechus that allowed her to have children.
