“Leah went out to meet him” – it teaches that she did not allow him to wash his feet.8After coming in from labor in the field she did not allow him to go to his tent, which he shared with Rachel, to wash himself. “And said: You will consort with me” – Rabbi Abahu said: The Holy One blessed be He saw that her intention was exclusively for the sake of Heaven, to produce tribes. That is why it was necessary for the verse to say: “God heeded Leah” (Genesis 30:17).
“And said: You will consort with me” – Rabbi Levi said: Come and see how pleasing the mediation of mandrakes was before the One who spoke and the world came into being, as, by means of the mandrakes, two great tribes in Israel were produced – Issachar and Zebulun. Issachar sits and engages in Torah study, Zebulun sets out to the seas and comes and provides for Issachar’s mouth, and the Torah proliferates in Israel – “the mandrakes emitted fragrance” (Song of Songs 7:14).9They emitted a pleasant fragrance before the Lord.
“Leah said: God has given me my reward, because I gave my maidservant to my husband. She called his name Issachar” (Genesis 30:18). “Leah said: God has given me my reward [sekhari]…She called his name Issachar.” Issachar was the ninth of the tribes, but he brought his offering second to the king.
That is what is written: “On the second day, Netanel ben Tzuar, prince of Issachar, presented his offering” (Numbers 7:18). Why was that? It is because he was a Torah personality. That is what is written: “From the children of Issachar, possessors of understanding of the times” (I Chronicles 12:33).
What is “of the times”? Rabbi Tanḥuma said: Of the propitious time for everything. Rabbi Tanḥuma said: Of intercalations.10Intercalations of years and months “Their leaders were two hundred, and all their brethren at their command” (I Chronicles 12:33) – Issachar would produce two hundred heads of the Sanhedrin, and all their brethren in accordance with them, and they all agreed to rule halakha in accordance with them, and he would answer them with halakha like a halakha transmitted to Moses at Sinai.
From where did Issachar come to all this prominence? It was from Zebulun, who would engage in his commerce, and would feed Issachar, who was a Torah personality. That is what is written: “Zebulun will dwell at the shore of seas” (Genesis 49:13). When Moses came to bless the tribes, he had the blessing of Zebulun precede the blessing of Issachar: “Of Zebulun he said: Rejoice, Zebulun, in your departure, and, Issachar, in your tents” (Deuteronomy 33:18) – Rejoice, Zebulun, in your departure11Departure on business trips. from the fact that Issachar is in your tents. Some say: There is reward [yesh sakhar] in the tents of Zebulun.