Leia and Rachel Print

Leah and Rachel are two sisters and foremothers of the Jewish people. Leia (left). Rachel (right). 6 of the 12 sons of Jacob and 6 tribes of Israel are descended from Leah. She was buried in Hebron, in the cave of the forefathers — the cave of Machpelah, next to her husband, the forefather Yaakov. The tribes of Israel, such as the tribe of Benjamin, the tribe of Ephraim, and the tribe of Menashe, are descended from Rachel. Like her sister Leia, Rachel is considered a great Saint. Foremother Rachel was buried on the road leading from Jerusalem to Beit lehem (Bethlehem), Today the place that is considered the tomb of Rachel, is located very close to the suburbs of Jerusalem. It so happened that after marriage, they became rivals for the love of their husband and childbearing. Rachel was Jacob's beloved wife, but Leah was not. But God made it so that Leah gave birth to 6 children to Jacob, and Rachel only two. The Torah says of Leia that she was "weak" with her eyes. Commentator Rashi explains this phrase: "she wept, thinking that the bandit Esau would get it, and her younger sister the righteous Yaakov." It is said of Rachel in the Torah that she was "beautiful in form and beautiful in face." Yaakov met Rachel at a well of water on the outskirts of Haran, where he had come to escape the wrath of his brother Esau. Yaakov fell in love with the righteous Rachel and agreed to work for her for 7 years for her father, the cunning and greedy Aramean Laban. When 7 years had passed, Laban Jacob's father-in-law held a feast. But during the feast, instead of Rachel, he hid his eldest daughter, Leia, under the wedding veil. The deception was discovered only the next day, but it was too late. Yaakov, in order to marry his beloved Rachel, had to work for Laban for another 7 years.