Shabbat Parashas Vayishlach - 5781

Shabbat Parashas Vayishlach - 5781

Rabbi Hal Miller

And it came to pass as her soul was departing, for she died, that she called his name Ben Oni, but his father called him Binyamin. And Rachel died and was buried on the road to Efrat, which is Beit Lechem. [Bereishit 35:18-19]

The Torah tells us that Rachel died in verse 18. What is the purpose for saying

it again in the very next verse? We would not have forgotten that quickly, and

the Torah only gives us information we need.

Malbim's commentary is pretty typical on these verses. He believes the second

of these references has nothing to do with the first verse. Rachel died giving

birth to Binyamin, and Rachel died in a specific geographical location. He gives

a reason for the latter, saying that she died on the road to Efrat rather than in

Efrat because that city was in the region to be inherited by the tribe of Yehudah,

but the road was in the region to be inherited by her new son, Binyamin. While

this does explain the geographical issue, the two reasons seem related, and

he does not answer why her death had to be reported twice.

Ramban notes that, although the mitzvot did not apply to the patriarchs and tribes

since they were before Sinai, they did observe most of the laws, in particular the

ones that applied in Eretz Yisrael "where their sanctity as Israel was complete."

When they left the land, they no longer bound themselves to those commandments.

Yaakov married sisters outside of the land. Now that they were returning, Yaakov

would again be bound in his mind (as one observing but not obligated in observance)

by the command not to do thus, so one of his wives would not be able to enter the

land. Again, this explains why Rachel, the second sister to marry Yaakov, could not

continue forward, but does not explain why the death was related to us twice.

We have a reason why she died at all, we have a reason why she died in that place.

The Torah could probably have told us one time that she died, and given us both

reasons, since they are really closely related, both involving mitzvot of the land. But

there is another reason for her death at that time, one specific to the birth of

Binyamin, one that therefore warrants the repetition in a separate verse.

In Bereishit [30:1], we read of Rachel saying, "Give me children, and if not, I am

dead." We learned many lessons from the conversation between Yaakov and

Rachel then. One thing we did not note there is that Rachel was in fact prophetic.

She was held to her words. She did not have children, although not long afterward

Yosef was born. But that isn't "children", that is "child". Therefore, she was "dead"

already. If she had given birth to twins then, she would not have fulfilled this

prophecy, would not have been "dead". Now, years later, Binyamin was born and

she finally had "children", two being the minimum for the plural of the word.

Yaakov "gave" her children, which was what the two of them prayed for, but now

that God had answered that prayer, it was time for Rachel to pay up. Our second

verse tells us that we are held to our words.