blogs/rabbi-huberman

If you have ever attended an unveiling service, or felt lost as a Jew within the larger secular world, then this week’s Torah portion calls out to you.

And it all revolves around a remarkable person, Rachel, whose tears have comforted the Jewish people for thousands of years.

Indeed, there is a lot going on in this week’s Torah portion.

Jacob and his brother Esau kiss and make up. Jacob’s name is changed to “Israel.” There are accounts that Dinah, Jacob’s daughter, has been assaulted.

But often, lost within these complex Biblical accounts, is the death of our matriarch, Rachel, who gives birth to Jacob’s favorite son, Joseph, and later passes away on the road to Bethlehem while giving birth to Benjamin.  

Jacob is devastated. Rachel is the woman he worked for 14 years in order to be able to marry.  

The Torah records that in his grief, “over her grave, Jacob set up a pillar: it is the pillar at Rachel’s grave to this day.” (Genesis 35:20)

This heartfelt act, performed by a heartbroken husband, inspired Judaism to create the unveiling ceremony — the placing of a stone over a loved one’s grave — traditionally performed between 30 days to a year after a person’s passing.

So who was Rachel anyway?

It was Rachel who — according to tradition — coached her older unmarried sister, Leah, so that she could wed Jacob ahead or her — thus sparing her older sister public humiliation.

It was Rachel, who offered maidservant Bilhah as a sexual partner and surrogate mother when she was not initially able to have children.

No wonder Jacob mourned this selfless woman.

To this day, Rachel represents that special place each of us holds for a departed loved one. Her burial site, Rachel’s Tomb, located about four miles south of Jerusalem and about a mile north of Bethlehem, serves as a constant tribute to this remarkable woman.

But there is more.

Because Rachel was not buried in the traditional family cave near Hebron, she has served as the primary matriarch watching over those who have lived — and continue to live — in the Diaspora.

For we as Jews outside of Israel, never feel completely at home. Indeed, her tears have, and continue to dot Jewish history.

When the Assyrians defeated and carted off the 10 tribes of Israel nearly 2,800 years ago, or when the Babylonians destroyed our first Temple in 586 BCE, causing a mass Jewish deportation, the prophet Jeremiah speaks of '”Rachel weeping for her children.” (Jeremiah 35:15)

Our tradition recounts that Rachel asked God to forgive the Jews of the day for assimilating — dabbling in idol worship and various acts of immorality. 

The Midrash — our ancient collection of insights, interpretations and legends — describes Rachel crying for an end to her descendants' suffering.

"If I, a mere mortal, was prepared not to humiliate my sister and was willing to take a rival into my home, how could You, the eternal, compassionate God, be jealous of idols, which have no true existence, that were brought into the Temple in Jerusalem?” she pleads.

And so, over history, Rachel has been there every time a Jewish person has been persecuted, or oppressed, or humiliated. She tightly holds our hand when we or our children experience anti-Semitism.

She is the mother of our tears.

During these modern times of relative peace and freedom, it is easy to forget Rachel. But let us never forget that anti-Semitism in our country and within the world continues. Israel is surrounded by neighbors who are fueled by the most despicable intentions.

But then there is the spirit of Rachel which tradition tells us will never rest until all of the tears of the Jewish people have dried.

For while we enjoy great freedom in the United States and the western world, we remain constantly on edge.

We prefer to fit in. We cringe for all Jews when members of fundamentalist communities approach the Supreme Court for permission to gather en masse and unmasked.

In my imagination, I picture Rachel, as the quintessential Jewish mother — forever with a bit of worry and oy in her heart.

It is why Rachel's example endures within our tradition. We remember her at every unveiling as we re-enact a ceremony initially performed almost 4,000 years ago.

Over Jewish history, Rachel has been immortalized as the guardian of Diaspora Jews. But in the end, she remains in our hearts as a true and compassionate human being, who dies in childbirth, who sacrifices so much to protect her sister, who loves her husband, and, ultimately, helps create a future for her people.

Od Rachel Chaya. Rachel’s spirit lives on.

For as long as we are in exile, or continue to look over our shoulders, Rachel will remain with us.

May her name always be for a blessing.

And one day, may she rest in peace.

Shabbat Shalom, v’kol tuv.

Rabbi Irwin Huberman

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