“Rachel saw that she did not bear children for Jacob; Rachel envied her sister and she said to Jacob: Give me children, and if not, I am dead” (Genesis 30:1). “Rachel saw that she did not bear children…Rachel envied her sister” – Rabbi Yitzḥak said: It is written: “Let your heart not envy sinners; rather, be in fear of the Lord all day” (Proverbs 23:17), and you say: “Rachel envied her sister”? Rather, it teaches that she was envious of her good deeds.
She said: ‘Were it not that she was a righteous woman, she would not have borne children.’ “She said to Jacob: Give me children, and if not, I am dead” – Rabbi Ishmael said: Four are considered as though they were dead: A leper, a blind person, one who has no children, and one who became impoverished. A leper, as it is written: “Please, let her not be like a corpse” (Numbers 12:12).32Aaron said this to Moses, imploring him to pray on behalf of Miriam who was afflicted with leprosy.
A blind person, as it is written: “He settled me in darkness, like those long dead” (Lamentations 3:6). One who has no children, as it is stated: “Give me children, and if not, [I am] dead.” And one who became impoverished, from where is it derived? It is from the verse: “[Go, return to Egypt,] as all the men who seek your life have died” (Exodus 4:19).
Were they dead? Were they not Datan and Aviram?33Datan and Aviram died with the assembly of Koraḥ, a few years later. It is, rather, that they became impoverished.