- What was so special about the thanks that Leah gave?
Leah showed us the need to give thanks for what can be considered an everyday and regular occurrence — having a child. She was thanking Hashem for something that can be taken for granted, for something that is a regular and natural occurrence.
- What’s the halachah if one is in prison in a country overseas, and when he is eventually let out of prison he flies back home. Is he obligated to recite birchas hagomel twice, once for being let out of prison, and once for the journey, or is one birchas hagomal enough?
The Shu”t Mishpatay Tzedek (10) discusses a case of someone who was imprisoned twice, and is now free and he says that he needs to say hagomal twice. He brings a rayah from the halachah (Orach Chaim 7:3): מי שהטיל מים והסיח דעתו מלהטיל מים ואח"כ נמלך והטיל מים פעם אחרת צריך לברך ב’ פעמים אשר יצר – “That if one went to the toilet then took his mind off it, and then went again, he needs to say asher yotzar twice”, we see that one berachah can’t work twice.
On the other hand, the Shu”t Pri HaEretz (7), cited in Be’er Heitev (Orach Chaim 219:1) rules, if one went through the dessert and went down to the sea and got ill on the ship and recovered, and ended up somehow getting arrested and the released, he can say one hagomel for everything, as the nussach of the berachah is the same for all of them.
The Magen Gobborim (Orach Chaim 219) and others asks on the Pri HaEretz from the halachah about asher yotzer, where we see that one berachah doesn’t work for two things?
The Mishnah Berurah (Orach Chaim 7) cites that many poskim argue and hold that one asher yotzar is enough. Presumably the Pri HaEretz holds like these poskim.
Halachah lemaseh in our case the poskim say that he should only recite hagomel once (see Vayishma Moshe, Vol. 2, pg. 83, in the name of R’ Elyashiv, and see Chazon Ovadia, Hilchos Berachos V’Hodaah pg. 352)
- Why didn’t Lavan make a feast for Rochel, like he did for Leah?
The Da’as Zekeinim M’Baalay Tosfos answers, that Lavan was a trickster and he wanted to get Yaakov drunk to ensure that he wouldn’t know the difference between Rochel and Leah. By the chasunah of Rochel there was no need, therefore, he never made a big feast.
The Abarbenel answers that Lavan was scared that Yaakov would divorce Leah, by making a big feast and inviting the whole town it would be more embarrassing to do so, and would make it much harder. By Rochel, however, Lavan knew that Yaakov loved her, and he wasn’t scared that he would divorce her, therefore, he didn’t need to anything to prevent it.
The way of the world is, they go to a simcha to honor the ba’al simcha, if however, he makes two simchas close together, with only a week apart, far less people attend the second one. Since Leah and Rochel got married a week apart, Lavan knew that if he would make another big feast no one will come, therefore he didn’t bother.
- Even if Leah knew the simanim, why wasn’t Yaakov able to recognize that her voice wasn’t that of Rochel?
The Chizkuni answers that Yaakov was so holy that even on his wedding night, he spoke to his new wife so minimally that he was unable to recognize that her voice was different than Rochel's.
The Medrash (Eichah Rabbah Pesicha 24) says that Rochel hid under Yaakov's bed on the night of his marriage to Leah, and when he spoke to her, Leah remained silent and Rochel responded so that Yaakov would not recognize Leah's voice.
The Maharsha (Bava Basra 123a) explains that the fact that Leah knew the secret signs that Yaakov gave Rochel tricked him into assuming that she was Rochel and not correctly identifying her based on her voice, similar to the fact that Yaakov's hairy hands deceived Yitzchok into thinking that he was Eisav despite the difference in their voices (27:23).
The M'rafsin Igri posits that since they were sisters, the voices of Rochel and Leah were so similar that Yaakov was unable to differentiate between them.
- Rochel’s intention in stealing her father’s terafim [idols] was to prevent him from idol-worship (Rashi Bereishis 31:19). Does this mean that if somebody possesses something forbidden it is permissible to steal it from him?
Rav Aharon Leib Shteinman writes that if a person has an item that can only be used for prohibited purposes, it is permissible to take it away from him to prevent him from sinning. However, he notes that this ruling is difficult to reconcile with Yaakov’s statement to Lavan that whoever has the idols should die, which the Meshech Chochmah (31:32) explains is because non-Jews are killed for stealing.
