Leah Names Judah and Becomes the First to Thank God

Midrash Aggadah, Genesis 29:35

Curated by Arthur·Told by Maggid·

"This time I will praise, etc." (Genesis 29:35). We learn in [tractate] Berakhot: Rabbi Yochanan said in the name of Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai: From the day that the Holy One, blessed be He, created His world, no one came who gave thanks before the Creator until Leah came, as it is said, "This time I will praise the Lord" (Genesis 29:35). Another interpretation: "This time I will praise the Lord." A parable: to what is the matter comparable? To a priest who went to the threshing-floors to receive terumah and tithes. At the time that the owner [of the field] gives him the terumah and the tithe, he does not praise him; but if he gives him extra from his own, he immediately praises him. So too Leah: since she saw that the Holy One, blessed be He, had given her more than three sons, she gave Him thanks.

Themes

MatriarchsTribesZebulunHumorWit

Biblical References

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