Rachel's Tears

Thus says God: A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping, Rachel weeping for her children; she refuses to be comforted for her children, because they are not. Thus says God: Refrain your voice from weeping, and your eyes from tears; for your work shall be rewarded, says God; and they shall come back from the land of the enemy. And there is hope for your future, says God; and your children shall return to their own border.                           Jeremiah 31:14-16

            The question which begs asking is why is it specifically Rachel who cries and not the forefathers nor the other mothers of Israel?

            Rabbi Moshe Avigdor Amiel [1882 – 1946] cites Midrash Eicha Rabba, which teaches that God, as it were, cried when He destroyed the First Temple, and called on the prophet Jeremiah, bidding him to summon Abraham Isaac Jacob and Moses from their graves, since they know how to cry. However, neither the fathers nor the master of all prophets were able to console the Holy One, blessed be He, until Rachel appeared [in the Hebrew, literally "jumped"] before Him, and as the result of her words, the mercy of the Holy One blessed be He was kindled, and He said: "for your sake, Rachel, I shall return Israel to its proper place." The Midrash concludes: this is what is written " Thus says God: A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping, Rachel weeping for her children; she refuses to be comforted for her children, because they are not. Thus says God: Refrain your voice from weeping, and your eyes from tears; for your work shall be rewarded, says God; and they shall come back from the land of the enemy. And there is hope for your future, says God; and your children shall return to their own border."

            Rabbi Amiel writes that according to this Midrash, in fact the forefathers and Moses did cry over the destruction of the Temple and the suffering of Israel, and therefore, the question must be rephrased: why did God accept the cries of Rachel and not of the forefathers or of Moses?

            The Midrash explains that Abraham's argument before God was based upon the merit of his overcoming his natural feeling of mercy and readiness to offer his beloved son as a sacrifice to God. Isaac, in turn presented his merit of having been a willing participant in being bound on the altar at Mount Moriah, even extending his neck towards his father's knife. Jacob reminded God that he risked his own life to protect his children when he faced his brother Esav and his four hundred men. Finally, Moses pleaded that for forty years he was Israel's faithful shepherd and "ran before them as a horse throughout the wilderness."

            The case Rachel presented was the reminder that when her father gave her sister Leah to Jacob as a wife in her place, "I had mercy on my sister, lest she be disgraced, and instead of being jealous, I treated her with compassion." [see Rashi's comments on Genesis 29:25]

            Based upon the Midrash, Rabbi Amiel notes the distinction between the argument of Rachel and of the fathers and Moses: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Moses taught us how to die for the sanctification of God's name, while Rachel taught us how to live for the sanctification of His name.

            When Lavan switched Leah for Rachel, Rachel did not know that she too would be able to marry Jacob, and she was willing to give up her beloved to prevent her sister's shame. Rachel was willing to sacrifice her emotional life, not for the sake of heaven, but for her sister's sake. This is the reason God's ear was attuned specifically to Rachel's crying.

            While our Midrash clearly deals with the first destruction, its elucidation according to Rabbi Amiel affords a relevant application to the destruction of the Second Temple as well. The merit of Rachel is in the realm of bein adam l'havero, between man and fellow man. Since the Second Temple was destroyed as the result of sins between man and fellow man, as our Sages (Babylonian Talmud Yoma 9b) taught that the destruction resulted from "baseless hatred," Rachel's acts constitute the rectification which will bring the establishment of the Third Temple.