Rachel’s Loyalty

The loyalty demonstrated by Rachel Imeinu towards her sister, Leah, was one of the greatest acts of kindness in the entire Torah.

She could have easily spoken up when she realized that she was not being given to Yakov in marriage. She would not allow her sister to be shamed or embarrassed, and waited seven more years, according to most opinions, before she was united with her true love, Yakov.

There is only a slight reference to this before the birth of Yosef. The Torah tells us that Hashem remembered Rachel. The interpretation to this verse is that He remembered the kindness that she showed to her sister.

Rav Elazar Abuchatzeira once said that we learn from this devoted act, that we must never destroy another Jew. Even if we were wronged to the point that someone caused us monetary loss, and we sued him and won the case, we may not necessarily collect our debt.

If we learn that collection of the debt will cause him to lose his business and his wife, and he will be destroyed, we will not receive any blessing from this money.

Our Mother Rachel taught us compassion. We are not supposed to take revenge and be so vindictive towards our fellow Jew. She taught us that we must love every Jew, even though many Jews make this Mitzva very difficult to observe.