Thursday, October 29, 2009

Rochel Imeinu's Yartzeit

Today is Rachel Imeinu's yartzeit. Here are two things I would like to share with you.

Why is Rachel the only one of the imahos that are called "Imeinu"? There's no Sara Imeinu, Rivkah Imeinu or Leah Imeinu? Why is she the lucky one to be called, OUR MOTHER?!
We all know, that Lavan fooled Yaakov and set up that Leah should marry him instead of Rachel. So what did Rachel do? She spared her sister major pain and emarrassment by giving over the simanim to Leah.
When she did this, not only did she give up her olam hazeh, that she would now have to be married to the rasha, Eisav, she also gave up her olam habah. At that point, she had no idea that she would still marry Yaakov. In her mind, by giving up the simanim, she was giving up her whole life - in this world and in the next!
The dream of every Jewish woman is to bring up a family. She wants to be a mother to her children so she can have a part in the future of Klal Yisroel.
When Rachel Imeinu gave the simanim over to her sister Leah, she gave up that dream. She gave up her whole future. She lost her chance to be a mother of the future generations. She would not be the mother of the twelve shevatim. She didn't know that in the end she would marry Yaakov and have a part in being the mother of two of the shevatim.
And that is why she is given the title of Rachel Imeinu. Since she gave up her dream to be a mother of Klal Yisroel, she is called by the beloved title of Rachel Imeinu.

***
Today is a very powerful day, a day when our tefillos can be accepted on a deeper level.
I remember learning the following in 10th grade from my teacher, Reb. Slomowitz…(b’shem omro, I hope it brings the geulah real quick because we really need it!)
When we speak about Rachel Imeinu, we say, “Kol B’ramah nishma…Rachel mivaka al baneha ki eineinu…” a voice is heard on high…Rachel is crying about her children…
The word mivaka seems to be grammatically incorrect. The definition of mivaka is to cause someone else to cry. The question is, why do we use this term for cry? If Rachel is crying for us on high, (as we know that Hashem says that her tears are going to bring the geula, not the tears of any of the avos) why is the term "causing to cry" used?! It should probably say, Rachel boche, Rachel "is crying" because she is constantly crying for us to come out of galus!!!!!
The answer is, that Rachel Imeinu is crying because we Jews are not crying! She is trying to get us to cry out of the pain of galus because we seem to forget where we are. Hashem puts us through soo much pain and suffering in galus and our job is to cry out to Him and BEG Him to take us out! But instead, we try to ignore the pain we are in and try to run away from the pain using all sorts of escapes and distractions. We forget that we are in galus by making ourselves comfortable here. We try to enjoy life to the fullest instead of remembering that we are supposed to be davening to come out!! What we have to do now is cry out to Hashem and beg and plead for Him to take us out!!!
Rachel is trying to get us to cry, to feel uncomfortable in galus! If we don’t feel like we are in galus and we don’t cry out to Hashem, then why should He take us out altogether?! If we are fine where we are, then why should anything change?! The only way to get out is by asking for it! And if Hashem sees we really want to come out, He will take us out!!!!
And I’m telling you, when we come out of this galus, life will be soo beautiful! Life will be soo unbelievable! We will live with total clarity and understanding of Hashem and His world and our job in it! We will feel what Torah means and realize how much we were missing out on beforehand!!
So take out your siddur, take out your tehillim or use your own words to BEG Hashem to bring us out of galus!!
And THEN Hashem will tell Rachel Imeinu, “Minee koleich m’bechee v’einayich midim’ah,” Rachel, you can stop crying, because “v’shavu banim ligevulam,” Bnei Yisroel will return to their boundaries!
May we all have the zechus to see these very words come true!!

5 comments:

  1. Beautifully stated! I was at a speech last night and heard an additional point worth mentioning - the speaker said asked the question, "Why was it Rochel Imeinu who was zoche to have Bnei Yisroel released from galus in her merit? What was so special about the act of giving over the simanim to Leah, that it inevitably freed us?" She told us that the middah of Rochel Imeinu was selflessness. The reverse side of this trait, possessiveness, is what keeps us in Galus. When we treat ourselves as beings that are entitled to our own time, space, possessions, rights etc. we are, in essence, bringing us further and further away from Moshiach! When Rochel Imeinu demonstrated her selflessness, it counteracted the me-ism of our Galus and brought the Geulah. If we can emulate her, we'll certainly bring Moshiach too!

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  2. I have such a gift in my hands!! Devoiry exemplifies every word that she wrote!! She doesnt just say it and then walk away, she lives with the middos of Rochel Imeinu!! Always thinking of others... any time i need any thing in the world to be done Devoiry is ready and no matter how busy she is she will make sure that it is taken care of for me!!pls learn from her middos tovos to go out of your way to make someone else happy!! we are soo lucky to have you share with us such incredible words!! I have no words for you!! The picture that you put of shalom and the ideas are just magnificent!! I'm sure shalom is dancing in shamayim from all of his presents that you are sending him!!
    All this work is done so that we could make a bigger kiddush Hashem!!

    may you see hashem repaying you for all your outstanding chesed!!

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  3. i really like what you wrote about pain! its cool to see it from a diff. perspective.So i think i got it Hshem is making each and evry person go through really hard times now either at home, or with friends,or with school... so that we could come to the point where we say oh my i do not want to stay here any longer!! cuz if evrything would be perfect why would we waant to leave? if things are craxy and we cant take it anymore then we will call out to hashem!!
    wow! this is def. a cool way to view pain. it kind of makes pain sound like its really needed otherwise we would just sleep!!
    thanks so much for this insight i think it changes the way we see things!

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  4. I was asked to speak at our women's Tehillim group for the month of Cheshvan. I hope you don't mind that I want to use your excellent analysis of Rachel Imeinu's passionate cries and power to make others cry as a leading point in my speech. You have a great way with words and are an inspiration.
    Thank you, and may we be redeemed bkarov vyamanu, and may we WANT to be redeemed, l'tovah.

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  5. Rachel-sure, you can use this. I am so happy this inspiration is spreading!

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