I am reminded about a story in the Book of Genesis (ch.29) concerning Rachel and Leah.Traditionally, many people view Rachel as being the extrovert, natural beauty who everyone wanted to be around, whilst Leah was the dowdy self-absorbed ‘plain Jane’ overshadowed by her sister.
Scripture mentions certain details that cause us to pause for reflection. On the one side, we have the evident beauty of Rachel compared with Leah who is described as having eyes that were ‘tenderhearted’ incorrectly translated as ‘weak’ in some Bibles, suggesting that Leah was basically unattractive.
The great sage, Rashi, wrote that the tender eyes of Leah was the expression of a true visionary rather than one with poor eye sight. It represented a heart full of tears and compassion, the mark of a true intercessor releasing the burden of the Lord through intense spiritual warfare. For example, she had been destined as the firstborn daughter to marry the first-born son of Isaac, who was Esau. She understood the heart of Esau; through her intercessions (passionate to the point of weeping before God) the Lord spared her and she married Jacob and bore six out of the twelve sons (who would later become the twelve tribes) of Israel. Here was a woman filled with humility and purity, who walked closely with God and possessed a rare inner beauty above that of her sister Rachel.
Jacob judged by the outward beauty of Rachel, but overlooked the inward radiance of Leah that shone from her tender eyes. Yet, God’s favour rested upon Leah who bore her husband six sons and a daughter, but to Rachel only two.
May God find residence in us because this is what defines who we are in Him. May we be reminded that it’s in His presence alone that we can experience fullness of joy during our celebrations this Sukkot, ‘Z’man Simchateinu’—’The Time of our Joy!’
