Vayeitzei: 5786 - "And she said to her, Is it a small matter that you have taken my husband, that you would also take my son's dudaim?" How could Leah say such a thing, when Rachel had given…

00:01 Speaker 1 A traveler arrives in a Jewish town. He doesn’t know anyone. He’s hungry and tired. Well, there’s a place here for guests. A wealthy Jew had built a guesthouse where they give people food, drink, and a place to sleep. So he goes there. He stays a day, two days, three days. Now, the owner, who was a wealthy and kind man, would sit and eat together with the guests. This traveler didn’t know that; he didn’t know anyone there. A few days pass. The man sitting next to him is the owner, but he has no idea. He asks him, “Tell me, I’ve been here for a few days already. How long can a person stay? Is there a time limit?” The man, who is actually the owner, tells him, “Listen, I’ve been here a long time. No one has said anything to me. Make yourself at home. You can stay—make yourself at home and relax.” The traveler calms down and puts his worries aside. What does this have to do with the weekly parsha? The Torah tells us in this week’s parsha: “Reuven went out in the days of the wheat harvest and found mandrakes in the field.” Rashi explains that even though it was wheat-harvest time, he did not take anything that belonged to someone else. Instead, he picked only mandrakes in the field and brought them to his mother, Leah. Now, mandrakes have a special property associated with having children. They say the root of a mandrake actually has the shape of a baby; you can really see a baby’s form in it. It has a special property. He brings them to his mother, Leah. Rachel says to Leah, “Please give me some of your son’s mandrakes.” Leah, who had something in her heart against Rachel, says to her, “Is it a small thing that you have taken my husband, that you would take my son’s mandrakes too?” And here

02:19 Speaker 1 a question arises that cries out to heaven. First of all, even if she weren’t her sister, when someone asks you for a favor, asks you for something—why wouldn’t you give it to her? Even if she were a stranger. All the more so when she’s her sister. But more than that, Yaakov’s whole intention in marrying was to marry Rachel. And Rachel did Leah a kindness: she gave her the signs so that Leah would not be embarrassed. How can Leah say, “Is it a small thing that you have taken my husband?” It’s a question that cries out: how could she say such a thing? The answer is that when Rachel did this kindness, she did it in such a way that Leah didn’t even know Yaakov had wanted to marry Rachel and that Rachel had given her the signs. She did it so naturally that Leah was certain Yaakov had wanted to marry her from the outset. Even when Rachel gave her the signs, she told Leah about them as though it were just in passing, not as though she were giving her something. Leah didn’t feel that she was receiving anything. So her understanding was that Yaakov had wanted to marry her from the outset, and that is why she says, “Is it a small thing that you have taken my husband?” This is kindness on the highest level. As the Rambam says, there are eight levels of tzedakah. This is kindness, an act of kindness, where the giver doesn’t know whom he is giving to and the recipient doesn’t know whom he received from. That was Rachel’s level of kindness—ah, Leah’s—ah, Rachel’s. Rachel did a kindness, but she did it in such a way that Leah didn’t feel she was receiving anything at all. She felt at home; she felt that this had been the plan all along. This was what Yaakov wanted. So that is the idea of kindness. May Hakadosh Boruch Hu grant us a good Shabbos and good news.

04:16 Speaker 2 Amen.