When Rochel out of frustration complained to Yaakov about not having children, Yaakov got angry with her. The mefarshim say, based on a medrash, that Yaakov was punished for getting angry at Rochel and telling her that she needs to daven to Hashem and not complain to him. Rav Moshe Shmuel Shapiro in his sefer Zahav Mishva points out that Yaakov was defending Kavod Shamayim and was correct that Rochel’s complaints were unjustified. His mistake was that he addressed the words that she spoke and not the pain in her heart. Had he pierced the veil of her soul he would have known that because of her anguish the words escaped her mouth and she was not accountable for them. He should have been slower to defend Kavod Shamayim and faster to understand human suffering.
This he explains was the greatness of Rochel. After Churban Bayis Rishon when Bnei Yisroel went into Galus all the Avos and Imahos came before Hashem with all their great zechusim but were turned away empty handed. All the heroism of the Akeida, Yaakov’s torah, and lives of pure mesiras nefesh to build Klal Yisroel did not impress Hashem in that dark moment of history. The only one who merited Hashem’s attention was Rochel Imeinu. What was her great act that warranted this special treatment? Her giving the the go ahead to her sister (Leah) to help fool Yaakov under the Chuppa? Why did she do this?? because she did not want to embaress her sister Leah in front of the wedding guests. Although heroic indeed, in her mind, she was sabotaging the history of the Jewish nation since she understood that it was her and Yaakov that were destined to build the nation. Nevertheless she chose to give up her own destiny and even Hashem’s grand plan in order to save her sister from a single embarrassing moment.
We can be just like Rochel and think about other people before we do anything?? I mentioned this in Parshas Vayera, Avrohom Avinu the man most famous for Gemilus Chassodim only asked His son Yishmael to fetch “some” water for the guests that appear at His tent. Avraham only asked for “some” water because he felt it would be too much of a burden on Yishmael for him to bring water from the well. In the same way in this week’s Parsha we learn another act of “thinking of others” when Rochel gives up her Matriarch status and allows Leah to be the First wife of Yaakov! She gave up her whole destiny and the destiny of the Jews all because Leah would have been embaressed at the wedding.
There is a story of an old Chassidishe Rebbe who lived around 250 Years ago. He was told by Hashem in a dream that Moshiach was here already and as long as he performed a certain mitzvah He would reveal himself and the Jews would be taken out of golus, however this mitzvah would have been at the expense of someone else and therefore He didn’t perform it and MOshiach still hasn’t Come! Imagine how much our lives would have been different, all the bad things in the world would have stopped, No Holocaust, No World Wars and No Genocide in Darfur! Buit The rebbe gave all of that up to save the embarrassment and extra burden of a fellow Jew!
Only Rochel who had such a deep understanding of another person’s pain and how it carries more weight than the entire Jewish experience can be Hashem’s emissary to bring his children’s pain before Him.
Only tears from Mama Rochel can bring the Geula.
