Rachel's Stealing of the Terafim/2

Rachel's Stealing of the Terafim

Exegetical Approaches

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Survival

Rachel stole the teraphim so that her father could not use them to divine where the family had fled to.

Sources:TanchumaVayetze 12About the Tanchuma, RashbamBereshit 31:19About R. Shemuel b. Meir, Ibn EzraBereshit 31:19About R. Avraham ibn Ezra, R. Yosef Bekhor ShorBereshit 31:19About R. Yosef Bekhor Shor, RadakBereshit 31:19Bereshit 31:30About R. David Kimchi, RambanBereshit 31:19About R. Moshe b. Nachman, ShadalBereshit 31:19About R. Shemuel David Luzzatto

What are teraphim?

לָמָּה גָנַבְתָּ אֶת אֱלֹהָי

Sitting on them

Belief in magic and divination

Evaluation of Rachel's actions

Religiosity of the forefathers

Religious Motivations

Preventative

Sources:Bereshit Rabbah74:5About Bereshit Rabbah, Rashi,

Personal

Hoil MosheBereshit 31About R. Moshe Yitzchak Ashkenazi

Economic Advantage

Sources:Modern scholars