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Shabbath Vayetse

A parasha thought from Rabbi Fhima:

In this week Paracha we see again one of our "Imaot", Rachel, pleading wholeheartedly for a child. Indeed, it is only after Lea had 6 boys and one daughter that Hachem remembered Rachel which subsequently gave birth to Yossef.
In the parasha we notice that Rachel's first plea came after Lea had four boys. She went to Yaakov and cried "Give me children if not I am dead!". Rashi explains that Rachel was upset Yaakov had not prayed for her like his father, Yitshak, did for his wife Rivka. Yaakov answered that Yitshak's prayer was effective because he was childless at the time whereas he already had 4. Rachel then claimed that Avraham prayed for Sarah to have Yitshak but Yaakov replied that it was only when Sarah brought Hagar into her home that she then merited to have a son of her own.
One might point out that Rachel had already let Leah into her home by giving her the simanim that she had agreed with Yaakov. This was a tremendous act of generosity to save her sister from shame. The rabbis however teach that the total mesirut nefesh (selflessness) Sarah displayed when she decided to give her servant Hagar to her husband in order to perform the mitsva of Peru U'revu ("procreation"), thus giving up on her dream of maternity, was even more powerful.
Rachel realized this and subsequently gave her servant Bilha to Yaakov. Only then she merited to have children.

Shabbat Shalom
 

Shabbath

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