Gen. 28:10-33:3
Précis: As Jacob travels towards the household of his uncle Laban, he dreams of a ladder (or ramp) to heaven, with angels ascending and descending. Jacob meets and falls in love with Laban’s younger daughter, Rachel. Laban agrees to the match if Jacob works for him for seven years. Laban switches the older daughter, Leah, for Rachel; Jacob works an additional seven years for Rachel’s hand. Jacob then works for Laban another six years and acquires great wealth and flocks. During the stay with Laban, most of the children of Jacob are born. At the conclusion of the parasha, after tense negotiations with Laban, Jacob leaves with his possessions and family.
Gen. 30:1-2 “When Rachel saw that she had borne Jacob no children, she became envious of her sister, and Rachel said to Jacob ‘Give me children, or I shall die.’ Jacob was incensed at Rachel and said, ‘Can I take the place of God, who has denied you fruit of the womb?’”
Rabbi Melissa Crespy has written a d’var about Rachel’s prayer and Jacob’s rebuke (MyJewishLearning.com, 12/6/16).
She calls Jacob’s reaction “particularly galling.” Rachel is the wife whom he loves deeply, and she is a woman who has seen her sister Leah bear Jacob three sons. Crespy cites Midrash Rabbah (71:7): “Said the Holy One, Blessed be God, to him [Jacob]: ‘Is that a way to answer a woman in distress?’”
Subsequent Sages attempted to explain or soften Jacob’s response, suggesting that Jacob spoke out of frustration and that he intended to explain to her that she should make her request to God, and not to him. Nevertheless, Jacob’s response to a woman in distress was at best unkind.
I cannot help but think of the scores of women who have been subjected to far worse treatment than mere words: the victims of Jeffrey Epstein and his fellow users of girls and women. I frankly cannot fathom the response of some that they doubt the claims of these distressed women. To borrow a phrase from Rabbi Crespy, it is particularly galling.
