Even in the stories in Bereisheet, stories about domestic arrangements within a family, the Chumash does not operate like a Western story. For example, there is no such thing as “color,” as in ripe descriptive detail. Nothing is included that is not part of the overall thrust of the story.
When Yaakov dreams about Hashem at the top of the ladder at the beginning of the Parasha, it’s clear that nothing in the story is merely included as “color.” The angels are moving up and then down the ladder to convey that these are not messengers but rather angels of accompaniment. The ladder itself, a Sulam in Hebrew, foreshadows the mountain of Sinai [the two words have the same Gematria], and conveys that the latter should also be seen as a ladder of connection between man and Hashem.
But directly after this encounter, there is a story which does seem to be a literary interlude. What are we to make of the story of Yaakov, Rachel, the shepherds of the area, and the well with a rock on top of it? How does this story add to our understanding of what will take place at the home of Lavan, and what will occur between Rachel and Leah?
I want to focus on a single astounding moment in this story and use it to explain not only what set apart the matriarchs but also what is happening to Yaakov in this long story of exile. That astounding moment is when he steps forward and, all at once, removes the stone from the well.
What is this stone about? It seems that its weight normally requires that all of the many shepherds work together to remove it. In fact, commentators point out that this must have been the area’s only source of water, and the stone was meant to induce all of the households to work together and to share the water. Because it was the only local well, the shepherds would have been left to fight to see which household was first to get there and to use it up. But because the stone is so heavy, the locals were forced to work together.
On this occasion, Yaakov upends this normal order, displaying what seems to be superhuman strength. R’ Eliyahu Dessler, ztz’l, famously described this as a feat that is made possible by Yaakov’s ability to marshall all of his strength into a sharp focus, like a laser. And, like a laser, he is able to accomplish beyond that which is possible with ordinary light. This is all done for Rachel to see, which is a demonstration of the power of unified will. This will be the major theme of what happens in Lavan’s house, but it will not play out in the way that Yaakov would expect. By the time he leaves this house, the role of willpower will be palpable, but it will also be clear how diffuse Hashem wants to spread this power out.
It is well known that none of the matriarchs conceived without suffering. Sara, Rikva and Rachel are all initially barren. The Midrash points out that this shows that Hashem desires the prayers of the righteous. This is another way to say that He requires that they express a longing, a deep yearning, for the children who will grow into the seeds of the tribes of Israel. Commentators have pointed out that Zilpa and Bilha are not counted among the matriarchs, though they conceived and gave birth to children with Yaakov Avinu, because they never struggled. It is the quality of yearning to build a nation, that expression of deep willpower, that makes them matriarchs.
How does this apply to Leah, who also conceived and bore children quickly? Leah has Davened her heart out before she got married. As Rashi points out, her eyes were worn out by the tears she shed in prayer to switch her natural mate from Esav to Yaakov. Moreover, she suffers in her marriage. She experiences her second class status as hatred, and she yearns to be seen as a proper match for Yaakov, a longing that she expresses in the names she gives her first three children.
The spreading of his family over two households is of course a shock to Yaakov. In this, he experiences a common fate with his father: He will have to accept the results of the machinations of others in his family beyond his awareness. He will have to accept Leah as a wife and he will have to accept that she is the primary mother of his children. The first is a result of Lavan’s choices, but it is also a result of Leah and Rachel’s complicity. The second is a result of the deal Rachel makes for the Duda’im, the aphrodisiac.
R’ Yitzhak Twersky has pointed out that after Leah stops having children, and Zilpa and Bilha have given birth to two children each, it could have ended up that Rachel and Leah would have split Yaakov’s children. It could have been six and six, a fact that Rachel calls out when Naftali is born. What changes the picture? In what appears to be an echo of the deal Yaakov made with Esav for the right of the firstborn, Rachel makes a deal for the Duda’im. By paying that price for taking Yaakov into her tent, Leah shows again her yearning. And again she is rewarded, this time with the two children who will guarantee her status as the primary mother of the tribes.
The division of the tribes among many mothers is not what Yaakov had in mind at the well. He also thought that Rachel would be the one whose yearning to be the mother of all of the tribes would single her out. He was of course correct in that it would depend on willpower. He just did not know who would have greater willpower. Yaakov embodies a blend of the characteristics of his father and his grandfather. He will be active like Avraham but he will also have to accept twists in fate that are beyond his control. This is the combination that is the model for Bnei Yisrael onward, until this day.
