Rachel/0
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Rachel
Religiosity
Unique Traits
Possible Sins
"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:
- Radak and R. Avraham b. HaRambam1 explain that Yaakov was justifiably angry that Rachel turned to him rather than Hashem, as her words betrayed that she did not recognize that the matter was in Hashem's hands and not his. Had she instead asked him to pray for her, he would not have e=been upset.
- Ramban,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.
