Midreshet Amit

• LIVE TORAH:
• Academic Program
• Yimei Iyun
• FAQ
• Recent Shiurim
• View by Parsha
• View By Chag
• Search Database
• Ask the Rav

In this week’s Parsha, Parshat Vayishlach, a horrible tragedy occurred. Rachel, one of our matriarchs, dies in childbirth on her way to Chevron. What stands out most in these pesukim is Yaakov’s silence, we do not see him publicly mourning or eulogizing his most beloved wife. Why does he react that way? There are many ways we see that Yaakov was truly distraught, however he managed to look at his wife's death in a positive way. Rachel will her dying breath names her son  בן אוני because she gave birth to him in great pain. However, the gift that came out of this awful tragedy was a healthy 12th son born. After she passed away Yaakov decided to call him Binyamin ("the son of my right hand"); he did not want to be reminded of Rachel’s death every time he called his son’s name. We see that Yaakov tried looking at the situation in more positive outlook by naming his son Binyamin which means "a strong hand".

Regardless of the death of his wife Yaakov was lucky to have his last son born in Eretz Yisrael. It could have taken him only a day to bring Rachel and bury her in Maarat Hamachpaylah and unite her with her family, but Yaakov decided to do a greater mitzvah of burying her right away.

Yaakov placed a monument over Rachel's grave to enhance her burial and to mark the spot as a step in the journey of the family. Yaakov teaches us that during difficult times we should always look for the positive. This past week we've all experienced a horrible situation as Ezra Schwartz was traveling down the same road as Rachel Imanu returning from Chesed and was murdered. Even though this was such a tragedy for all of Klal Yisroel we can learn from the reactions of Rachel’s family, Yaakov, and Ezra’s incredibly strong family to remain strong and optimistic and to use their deaths as a way of strengthening ourselves in a time of tragedy