Day 6 · Chanukah 2025

Lighting six candles tonight stands for, in my view:

Abraham & Sarah
Yitzchak & Rivka
Yaacov & Leah

“Gabriel,” you might ask, “have you forgotten Rachel, the wife of Yaacov?”

God forbid. I haven’t.

And yet, at Ma’arat HaMachpela, it is Leah who lies beside Yaacov—not Rachel. Why?

Rachel is buried in Efrata, on the way to Bethlehem. Her tomb carries an emotional weight almost unmatched in Jewish memory. Few places are as soaked in tears, longing, and holiness as the Tomb of Rachel.

Leah, we are told, had tender eyes—softened by years of crying. She felt second-best, less loved. And when she confronts Rachel accusing her of “stealing” her husband—Rachel does not shout, does shrivel, does not become emotional. She........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)