The parsha (weekly Torah portion) for this week is about going out,  at least if you go by the name of the parsha.

The name of a parsha comes from the first significant word of the parsha, which in this case is a form of the verb, “To go out.”

Our parsha starts with Yakov (Jacob) going out from Be’er Sheva to Haran where his uncle lives.  On the way he has a dream of a ladder, with angels going up and down it, between heaven and earth, and haShem (god) standing over HIM telling him that he will be protected and the land will be given to his offspring.

In the morning, when Yakov wakes up he makes a pillar, pours oil on it, and makes a vow to haShem.  He then goes east and eventually comes to a well where he meets Rachel who takes him back to her father, and Rivka’s brother, Lavan.  Lavan hires him to work for him for whatever price Yakov asks.  Yakov says he will work for 7 years and Rachel will be his payment.

At the end of seven years, Lavan throws a big wedding party, but gives Yakov Leah instead, along with Zilpah as a maidservant for Leah.  In the morning, Yakov challenges Lavan whose answer is that his custom is to marry the older daughter before the younger.  So, Yakov has to work another 7 years to get Rachel, and Lavan tosses in Bilhah to be a handmaid for Rachel.

Leah starts producing children, and as she names them, we are told the reasons for their names.  Rachel gives Yakov her handmaid because she is barren and wants at least a child by proxy.  Leah then gives Yakov her maidservant and she produces children.  Finally, after Leah trades Rachel some Mandrake root, Rachel is able to conceive and give birth.  We now have all the children/tribes but Benyamim (Benjamin).

At this point, Yakov tells Lavan he wants to go home.  Lavan convinces Yakov to stay on a little longer to earn some wealth for his family when he returns.  Yakov uses the old stick-in-the-drinking-trough-trick to acquire lots of sheep and goats and then sneaks off with family and fortune and Lavan’s divination tools (taken by Rachel w/o Yakov’s knowledge).

Lavan gives chase and catches up to Yakov and demands his “gods” back.  Yakov lets him search the camp and Lavan finds nothing.  Eventually Yakov and Lavan make a treaty (after Yakov gives Lavan an earful) and each goes on their way.

All in all, we have just covered 20 years of time.  Not bad.  However, none of this is what struck me about this last week’s parsha.  I actually came to talk about the draft…oh sorry, just a flashback to another lifetime.  🙂

What I meant to say is that what struck me about this parsha is Leah.  I almost called the subject of this email:  “Beauty and the eye of the beholder” in her honor.  I was afraid that might have given too much away though.

You see, if Rachel was incredibly beautiful in form and good looking and the love of Yakov’s life, how is it that Leah merited personally birthing half the tribes, and 3/4 of the tribes if you include the two from her maidservant, and Yoseph (Joseph)?

The key to understanding this (and her involvement in Yoseph’s birth) is in the only description we have of Leah:  the eyes of Leah are soft.

Now to understand what that phrase means, you need to understand a little bit of Hebrew.

In Hebrew, if you do something that another thinks is good, you would say that it was good in their eyes.  So, what the Torah is trying to tell us is that Leah saw everybody’s actions softly and not harshly, meaning that she was compassionate, non-judgmental, and gave everybody the benefit of the doubt.

It is for this reason that haShem rewarded her with the highest reward, it seems, a woman of that time could have (no judgements here please 🙂 :  the birthing of half the tribes including the first born (Reuvan) and the leader of the people Yehudah (Judah whose offspring include the kings David and Shlomo (Soloman) and the mesheach (messiah)), two other tribes through her maidservant, and a part in the birth of Yoseph the first born of Rachel.

Ok, I won’t leave you wondering what part Leah played in the birth of Yoseph.  You see, even though it hurt her that Yakov loved Rachel more, she had enough compassion for Rachel to share the rare Mandrake (or Dudaim in Hebrew) which is used in a fertility potion according to two Jewish sources (according to Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan the sources are Midrash Ne’elam and the Zohar).

You see, up to this point all of Yakov’s other wives had given birth, all except Rachel.  Now rather then lording this over Rachel, Leah instead gave her some of the Mandrake root that her eldest son, Reuvan had found.  It is shortly after that we hear of Rachel conceiving and giving birth to Yoseph.  Coincidence?  I think not.  As this is the only act we hear Leah doing, one can only assume that this was a defining act of Leah.  And along with her, “Soft” eyes,” this act teaches us a very valuable lesson on compassion and the rewards of being compassionate.

May all of us see and be seen with “soft eyes.”

If you want to read what I wrote about this parsha last year, click here.

About the Author

Shmuel Shalom Cohen spent 10 years studying Torah in Jerusalem. Six years ago, he started Conscious Torah to help Jews connect to their tradition in ways they didn’t think possible. Shmuel also started, and is the executive directory of Jewish Events Willamette-valley, a non-profit whose mission is to build Jewish community, pride, and learning. In his free time, Shmuel likes walks in nature, playing music, writing poetry, and time with good friends.