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Parshat Vayeytze
2004
Rachel and Leah: From Sisters to Enemies
This week's portion, Vayeytze, tells the dramatic story of two sisters, Rachel and Leah, who become involved in an embittered battle over procreation and love. Jacob and Rachel are enamored with one another and wish to marry. While Laban, Leah and Rachel's father, first agrees to this marriage, when the actual wedding night arrives he tricks Jacob into marrying Leah instead. On that fateful wedding night, Laban switches the sisters and the unknowing Jacob marries and consummates his marriage to Leah. Jacob eventually marries Rachel as well, but the sisters' relationship continues to be scarred by this manipulation. A vicious competition ensues between the women. Through their own childbearing and that of their handmaids, Bilhah and Zilpah, they play out their bitterness as they race to create progeny for Jacob in an effort to win his affection. The result of this competition is 12 boys, the heads of the 12 tribes of Israel, and one girl, Dinah.
If the source of Rachel and Leah's pain is their own father and the object of their misery their shared husband, why are they embroiled in a fight with one another?
We could ask the same question about women today. Our culture pits women against one another. From an early age, girls learn to hold themselves to an often unreachable and unrealistic ideal through the images and subtle messages they encounter in popular culture. Likewise in our story, we learn immediately that "Leah's eyes were weak but Rachel was beautiful and well-favored," shaping the readers' opinions of each woman. As their battle begins, we watch as two sisters with a shared destiny begin to look at one another with loathing and envy. They play a game in which the winner is she who secures Jacob's affection. The self-worth of each sister is at stake in this competition. Perhaps out of fear or powerlessness, they seem unable to direct their pain towards the true source of their pain, their father. The result is that they turn on one another.
Two midrashim point to a rabbinic discomfort with these two women being rivals. In one, Rachel foresees the trick Laban will play on her and Jacob and tells Jacob about the switch. Jacob gives Rachel tokens by which to identify herself on the wedding night so he will know if he is marrying the right daughter. But when the wedding night comes, Rachel says to herself, "No, my sister will be humiliated." So she turns the tokens over to Leah. Thus, Jacob remains ignorant until morning that he has married the wrong sister.
The second midrash from Bereshit Rabbah explicates a later episode in the story, namely, when Rachel is having trouble conceiving. Jacob prays for his barren, beloved wife. But according to this midrash, it is the household of women, Bilhah, Zilpah, and even Leah, who come together to pray, beseeching God to remove the curse of barrenness. It is only then that God remembers Rachel and she conceives a child.
Perhaps our forefathers' only concern was that two of our four matriarchs should not be archenemies. But we can take away a different message from these two stories. Women need not turn on one another in times of pain and turmoil. We might find strength and understanding within communities of women when we acknowledge our common pains and obstacles. Then may we see one another not as enemies, but rather, as the second midrash suggests, the key to our own salvation.
Prepared by Rabbi Mychal Copeland, Campus Rabbi, Stanford Hillel.
Learn More
Additional commentaries and text studies on Parshat Vayeytze at MyJewishLearning.com.
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