The LORD Saw Leah Was Hated and Made Her the House

"And the LORD saw that Leah was hated" (Genesis 29:31). Rabbi Shmuel bar Nachman opened: "For the LORD listens to the needy, and His prisoners He does not despise" (Psalms 69:34). Rabbi Binyamin bar Yefet said: The end of this verse does not match its beginning, nor its beginning its end; it should have said, "For the LORD listens to the needy, and prisoners He does not despise." Rather, "the LORD listens to the needy" refers to Israel, for Rabbi Yochanan said: wherever it says poor, low, oppressed, afflicted, and needy, Scripture speaks of Israel. "And His prisoners He does not despise" refers to the barren women, who are imprisoned within their houses, and once the Holy One, blessed be He, remembers them with children, they are lifted up. Know this, for behold Leah was hated in the house, and once she was remembered [with children] she was lifted up. "And the LORD saw that Leah was hated." That she had done as the hated one does, for she had been destined to marry the hated one [Esau], for such were the conditions, that the elder marry the elder and the younger the younger. And everyone reviled her: seafarers reviled her, travelers reviled her. They would say, "This Leah, her hidden side is not like her revealed side; she seems righteous but is not, for if she were righteous she would not have deceived her sister." When our father Jacob saw the deeds, that Leah had deceived her sister, he resolved to divorce her. But once the Holy One, blessed be He, remembered her, he said, "Shall I divorce the mother of these?" And in the end he acknowledged the matter, as it is written, "And Israel bowed himself upon the head of the bed" (Genesis 47:31). Who was at the head of Jacob's bed? Was it not Leah? "And Rachel was barren" (Genesis 29:31). She was the mainstay of the house. The majority of those reclining were of Leah's, yet even so they make Rachel the mainstay; "and Rachel was barren," the mainstay of the house. Because matters depend on Rachel, therefore Israel are called by her name, "Rachel weeping for her children" (Jeremiah 31:14). And not by her own name but by the name of her son, as it is written, "Perhaps the LORD of hosts will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph." And not by the name of her son but by the name of her grandson, "Is Ephraim a precious son to Me?" (Jeremiah 31:19).