Rachel/0

Rachel

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Possible Flaws

"Give me Children"

In Bereshit 30:1 Rachel beseeches Yaakov, "Give me children; if not, I am dead!" Yaakov responds harshly, getting angry at her and saying, "Am I in place of God who has kept from you fruit of the womb?"  What did Yaakov find problematic about Rachel's words that he grows so angry?  Was Rachel's lament somehow misplaced? 

• Rachel erred – Many commentators assume that Yaakov's anger was justified and that Rachel had erred:
• RadakBereshit 30:2About R. David Kimchi and R. Avraham b. HaRambamBereshit 30:2About R. Avraham Maimonides¹ explain that Yaakov was justifiably angry that Rachel –
• RambanBereshit 30:1-2About R. Moshe b. Nachman,² instead, assumes that Rachel had in fact asked that Yaakov pray to Hashem, but her mistake was is in viewing Yaakov's prayer as some type of automatic magical remedy. Yaakov taught her that even the prayers of the righteous are not always answered.³
• Finally, Akeidat Yitzchak views Yaakov as upset that Rachel did not realize that her primary purpose in life was not simply to bear children, but to fill her life "בדברי שכל וחסידות". Her barrenness was not a reason to think her life was not worth living.
• Yaakov Erred –
• Misunderstanding – R"Y Bekhor Shor asserts that Yaakov misunderstood his wife, assuming that she was expecting him to somehow do what Hashem had not, when Rachel had meant only that he should take her maidservant and sire children from her so that Rachel could be their surrogate mother.

Taking the Terafim

Family

Barreness

Rivalry with Leah

Love of Yaakov

¹ See also RalbagBereshit Beur HaParashah 30:1About R. Levi b. Gershom.

² See R. Hirsch and R. D" Z Hoffmann.

³