Vayeitzei: Understanding Leah’s Tearstained Eyes

In her difficult pregnancy, Rivka was told she had two nations inside of her womb. Although we sometimes simplify this as a battle between good and evil, in truth, it began as a conquest for Olam Hazeh and Olam Habah. Eisav was given the strength to acquire Olam Hazeh as his portion and Yaakov, Olam Habah. As soon as Eisav rejected the birthright and spurned what should have been his life’s mission, he gave up his ownership of Olam Hazeh, leaving the two worlds, two blessings and now – two wives – to his brother Yaakov. Let us explore the less understood of the two wives: Leah Imeinu. 

The name Leah, from the Hebrew root la’ah, means to be weary and tired, a state which once characterized Leah. She then rose to the status as Yaakov’s wife and mother to half of the shevatim! It is Leah who is buried in the cave of Machpela beside Yaakov, together with the other illustrious pairs of patriarchs and matriarchs. 

Our first introduction to Leah is a description of her tender eyes¹, in contrast to Rachel who is portrayed as beautiful and serene. Leah cried bitterly for many years over her destiny to be Eisav’s wife². Ultimately, her prayers were so powerful that not only did she marry Yaakov, but she married him even before his pre-destined wife Rachel did. Leah, out of all four wives of Yaakov, gave birth to most of the Shevatim, the progenitors of the Jewish people. The contrast between Leah’s feared fate and her actual reality is incredible. Indeed, the name Leah, from the Hebrew root la’ah, means to be weary and tired, a state which once characterized Leah. She then rose to the status as Yaakov’s wife and mother to half of the shevatim! It is Leah who is buried in the cave of Machpela beside Yaakov, together with the other illustrious pairs of patriarchs and matriarchs. 

Leah was not ordained to marry Eisav because she was intended to marry an evil man, rather, it was within Leah’s female potential to bring out the best in Eisav and help him acquire Olam Hazeh. Rachel, on the other hand, was designated as the ideal partner for Yaakov, to help him acquire Olam Habah. Together, the four of them were set aside as the fathers and mothers of the Shivtei Ka-h, the holy tribes of Yisrael. When Eisav rejected his mission and Rivka arranged for Yaakov to receive the material blessings which Eisav would have received, Yaakov was now destined for two missions: Olam Hazeh and Olam Habah. To achieve this, he needed the female spiritual influence of both Rachel and Leah. Thus, a deeper picture emerges, one which travels far beyond the seeming sisterly rivalry and multiple marriages in the parsha. 

We often view Rachel as the beloved wife of Yaakov and Leah in some sense as less. This is an impression we may build from the language of the pesukim where Leah is called ‘hated.’³ Rebbetzin Leah Kohn⁴ discusses the constant references to Leah’s status as the ‘hated wife.’ Although the Torah does not explicitly write that Yaakov hated Leah, it says that Hashem saw that Leah was hated. Additionally, with the birth of her first three children, Leah makes numerous references to her children bringing her closer to her husband which we understand on the surface to mean that she felt unloved⁵. Reuven: Hashem ra’ah (saw) Leah’s humiliation and now her husband will love her. Shimon: Hashem shama (heard) that Leah was hated and Levi: this time her husband will yilave, come close to her. Rebbetzin Kohn points out that although Leah is called the ‘hated’ wife, it is not a hatred which is generated by Yaakov. 

Rather, it is a way of aligning Leah with her original soulmate, Eisav, who is known as the ‘hated one’ in the Torah. Against that backdrop, Rebbetzin Kohn suggests that Leah’s naming of her children is not a manifestation of her sadness over her husband’s hatred, rather it expresses her insecurity that perhaps she should not have married Yaakov. Leah feared that it was Lavan’s trickery that led to her marriage to Yaakov and perhaps she made a wrong choice. With each child, Leah felt further validated by Shamayim that she had indeed made the right decision and she was destined for Yaakov. Leah therefore predicted, through her children’s names, that Yaakov would recognise her righteousness and move closer to her. Rather than an expression of emotional misery, Leah is speaking from a place of spiritual doubt which is resolved for her through the births of her sons. Each birth is part of her journey to clarity.

The Midrash Eishet Chayil uses the pasuk for Leah ‘She seeks wool and linen, and her hands work willingly.’⁶ In Jewish law, wearing a combination of wool and linen is forbidden, known as the prohibition of sha’atnez. The Midrash Hagadol tells us that Leah foresaw that she would have descendants who would permit things which are forbidden – referring to the mixture of wool and linen which is allowed only in the garments of the Kohein. As Leah was the mother of Levi, her descendants are the Kohanim and therefore the only group of people who are allowed to wear this mixture of wool and linen. The highest level of teshuva is attained when a Jew not only gets rid of one of their aveirot, but when they are able to transform the aveira into a mitzva. They thus conclude the teshuva process not only with a clean slate, but with extra merits. Externally, a physical mixture of wool and linen is abhorred by the Torah, however, when it is worn by the Kohanim, who facilitate the teshuva of the Jewish people, we see up close the deep reality of uplifting an aveira into a zechut. 

This is a fitting representation of Leah. When we look at her life superficially, we may see an unloved, tear-stained wife who is desperate for her husband’s affection. When we look closer, we see Leah’s greatness. We see her deep desire for her marriage to be considered favorable in Heaven, we see her dedication to her mission to help Yaakov reach his potential in Olam Hazeh and the far-reaching effects of her tefillot. Leah is associated with shatnez in her pasuk in Eishet Chayil, something we could easily dismiss as negative. But even this incomprehensibly forbidden mixture results in something beautiful: the atonement achieved by the avoda of her descendants, the holy kohanim. May we, like Leah, merit to penetrate the spiritual depths of whatever situation we find ourselves in, even when our greatness may not be visible to others.

¹ Bereishit 29:17

² Rashi, Ibid

³ Bereishit 29:31

⁴ Article on Torah.org: https://torah.org/learning/women-class56/

⁵ Bereishit 29:32-34

⁶ Mishlei 31:13