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Worlds and Wives
Adapted and summarized by Rabbi Joseph Marcus from
Torah Ohr, parashat Vayeitzei
And Laban had two daughters...." (Gen. 29:16)
The Zohar, commenting on the verse, "Who is
this that looks forth as the morning..." (Songs 6:10) makes the following
statement: The words "who" (in Hebrew, "mee") and "this" (in Hebrew, "zote")
denote two worlds. "Who" symbolizes the most supernal sphere, the unknowable
beginning of all things. "This", is a lower sphere, the so-called "lower
world".... (Zohar, Terumah, 126b and 127a)
...Jacob, "the complete one," united the two worlds as
one. He united them above, and he united them below, and from him issued the
twelve holy tribes after the supernal pattern. Jacob, who was "a man of
completeness," (Gen. 25:27) brought harmony to the two worlds. Other and lesser
men, who follow Jacob's example merely uncover nakedness both above and below...as
it is written, "You shall not marry a woman and her sister...." (Lev. 18:18)
Jacob's two wives, Leah and Rachel, are embodiments of
two worlds: "the unknowable" world of thought, and the "lower world," the world
of speech. Leah embodies the world of thought, the hidden world, known as
Alma di'itkasya. Rachel embodies the world of speech, the revealed world,
known as Alma di'itkasya.  | | " Leah...gives birth to seven children, six boys and one girl, just as bina gives birth to the seven emotions..." | | |
(Similarly, Rabbi Chaim Vital writes that the
generation of the Exodus stem from the world of thought. They therefore did not
wish to enter the land of Israel, the world of speech, but rather wished to live
in the desert where they lived a spiritual existence and experienced Torah and
mitzvot in the realm of thought alone.)
Leah is "the older one", in Hebrew "ha'gedola".
This can also be read as " hei gedola", "the great [letter] hei,"
referring to the first hei of G-d's Name, which embodies bina.
Rachel is "the younger one", in Hebrew "ha'ktanah ", which can be read as
"hei k'tana", "the small hei", referring to the second hei
of G-d's Name, which embodies malchut, the lowest sefira. In man's
service to his Creator, Leah corresponds to the study of Torah, which must be
understood with one's bina, and Rachel to the mitzvot that are
accomplished through speech and action (Sefer Hamamarim Melukat, 1:211.)
(Leah therefore gives birth to seven children, six
boys and one girl, just as bina gives birth to the seven emotions - six
masculine - chesed through yesod, and one feminine - malchut.
- from Ohr Hatorah, Vayishlach 250a)
The difference between Rachel and Leah is seen in
their children as well. Leah's children were shepherds. They lived in the world
of thought, apart from society and the mundane world. Rachel's child, Joseph,
lived within the world. He remained a tzadik even in the most degraded
land, even while immersed in the role of its governance.
(Similarly, Benjamin, "son of my right," was
originally called "ben oni", "son of my pain", symbolizing the fact that
Benjamin embodies the concept of teshuva, turning pain and death - the
"left side" - into "right", i.e. beauty and life. The sons of Leah, by contrast,
are stones of natural beauty that begin and end in the realm of holiness, the
world of thought.)
While the Temple stood, the Land of Israel was
permeated primarily with the world of Rachel, speech and revelation. G-d, as it
were, "spoke" to His world. Divinity was revealed. Consequently, the land was
filled with wisdom, Divine Inspiration and prophecy. This revelation was most
intense in the Holy Temple and in the Holy of Holies. Daily miracles were seen,
such as the heavenly fire that descended and consumed the offerings. | | " Prophecy was possible only in the Land of Israel..." | | |
(That prophecy was possible only in the Land of Israel
can be seen from the story of Jonah. When Jonah was told by G-d to rebuke Ninveh,
he "ran away" from G-d (Jonah 1:3). Rashi explains that he left the land of
Israel thinking that he would no longer have prophetic vision, since prophetic
vision was granted only in the Land of Israel. He did not wish to carry out G-d's
command because he feared that the inhabitants of Ninveh would repent and
thereby bring judgment upon the Jews,who had failed to repent despite the
repeated rebuke spoken by their prophets.)
After the destruction of the Temple, Israel was exiled
and, with them, the Shechina. Rachel was no longer the world of speech
and revelation but was "like a sheep (in Hebrew, 'rochel') muted
before her shearers." (Isaiah 53:7) Leah, however, does not go into exile, she
is called the "closed mem," a letter that is closed on all sides,
symbolizing its invulnerability to darkness. (Rachel, on the other hand, is
called the "open mem," open on one side, and vulnerable to the forces of
exile.)
The Land of Israel became permeated with the world of
Leah, thought, which is in truth loftier than the world of Rachel, just as
thought, in contrast to speech, is a more spiritual and refined facet.
This created a paradox. On the one hand, divinity was
now less revealed. On the other hand, the great tzadikim in the Land are
now capable of grasping loftier dimensions of the Divine than those perceived by
their equals in Temple days. This is because they can now perceive matters as
they exist in the world of thought before their descent into the world of
speech. Thus the Arizal, for example, perceived matters of the greatest
profundity that eluded the great tzadikim of earlier generations. | | " Jacob's primary focus in life was to bring divinity into the farthest place..." | | |
Jacob shows a preference for Rachel, while Leah is
"scorned". This is not because Jacob has no appreciation for the lofty world of
thought. Rather, this was because Jacob's primary focus in life was to bring
divinity into the farthest place. In the Zohar, Jacob is compared to the middle
pole (the "briach hatichon") that went through the walls of the
Tabernacle from one end to another (Zohar III 186a). It is his task to draw the
light of the highest spheres to the other end, the lower worlds. Thus we read in
the Standing Prayer: "G-d of Abraham, G-d of Isaac and G-d of Jacob...."
The Hebrew equivalent of the word "and" is the letter vav. Jacob's
life of drawing down the supernal light from the highest levels to the lowest
resembles the letter vav, a straight, vertical line.
He therefore loves Rachel more than Leah, since his
passion and desire is to bring the highest light of keter into the lowest
sefira, malchut, the world of revelation, so that divinity is
apparent to all.
Yet, as the Zohar writes, Jacob unites both Rachel
and Leah. Although his primary focus was the world of Rachel, he was married
to the world of Leah as well. His life was a synthesis of descent and ascent,
Speech and Thought. His focus, however, was Speech. (Jacob is, as the Zohar
calls him, "a man of completeness". In the sefiriotic scheme he is tiferet,
the unifier of his predecessors, Abraham and Isaac - chesed and gevura,
"return" and "yearning". Although tiferet is the balance between kindness
and restraint, kindness is the more powerful element. Similarly, Jacob combines
the "return" of his grandfather with the "yearning" of his father, but places a
greater emphasis on the "return".)
After the birth of Levi, Leah declares, "This time my
husband shall cleave to me" (Gen. 29:34). It was certainly not her intention to
negate the need for the world of actuality, i.e., the fulfillment of Torah in
speech and deed. Leah understood the need for Jacob to descend to the world of
Rachel. Her argument was that Jacob's primary focus should be the world
of thought.
Her argument is reflected in the behavior of the
"early pious ones" who would spend nine hours of their day in prayer. (Berachot
32b)
Jacob, however, knew that this was the path of only a
select few. Most of Israel is primarily involved in the world of speech and
deed. He therefore made his tent with Rachel. At the same time, he was married
to Leah, acknowledging the need for thought and transcendence.
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