Rachel’s Chessed

The stories in פרשת ויצא are filled with drama. We have the love story between Yakov and Rachel, the role that poor Leah played, and the difficulty of dealing with the deceitful Lavan.

It is probable that Rachel’s act of faithfulness to her sister, Leah, is one of the most admirable positive behaviors in all of Tanach.

Rachel was not prepared to see her sister humiliated, had she exposed Lavan’s deceitful plan. She allowed her own personal feelings of love for Yakov, to be put on hold, so that her sister would be able to become one of the matriarchs, and not be forced to marry Eisav.

For this reason, Rachel had eternal merit. Her prayers after the destruction of the Temple, and the subsequent exile, were heard over those of the patriarchs. She was able to remind Hashem of her mercy towards Leah. This allowed Hashem to be merciful to the Jewish people.

Rachel is to be remembered and emulated for her tremendous act of Chesed, and we should learn to follow her example.