מתה אנכי, a figure of speech, meaning the same as הן אני עץ יבש, “here I am a dried out tree,” in Isaiah 56,3.

ויחר, because she had said: הבה לי!. This sounded as if Rachel’s having children was something within the power of her husband. His anger was on behalf of his Creator, G’d, Who had been insulted by Rachel’s words. He had to ignore his love and commiseration for Rachel’s plight seeing she had been guilty of such a fauz pas.

אשר מנע ממך, Yaakov had detected clear physiological symptoms indicating that Rachel was incapable of conceiving.

בוא אליה, this was Rachel’s answer to her husband’s accusation. She had not meant that it was within Yaakov’s power to make her pregnant, but she wanted to nurse a child by the next best method, that of becoming foster mother to her handmaid’s child.

ואבנה גם אנכי ממנה, so that I will have a share in posterity just as has my sister through her children.

ממנה, a recipe found in Megillah 13 for barren women to be jealous of other women who have no problem conceiving in order for their own organs to respond in a manner that helps them conceive.

דנני אלוקים, G’d was just and fair in not granting me children.

וגם שמע בקולי, but even so He did accept my prayer.

ויתן לי בן, someone who will look after me in my old age., seeing he has been born on my knees, i.e. will be raised by me. When Yaakov’s senior wives, Rachel and Leah made such statements, they thereby signaled their agreement to freeing their handmaids who had possessed slave status up until then. They did this by referring to the sons of the handmaids as בנים, children, rather than as עבדים, slaves. If their mothers had been slaves, the children would have to be viewed and treated as slaves. We have proof of this from Exodus 21,4 האשה וילדיה תהיה לאדוניה, “the woman and her children will belong to her master.” This is the reason why these matriarchs did no longer have the mothers of the handmaids’ sons perform menial tasks for them as they did before these women were given to Yaakov to have children with. This was quite different from when Avraham had said to Sarah that Hagar, mother of Ishmael was “in your hand, do to her what you like,” i.e. she continued in her status as slave. They are always listed as בני יעקב, and participate fully in the inheritance, as opposed to a slave who cannot inherit as anything given to him automatically belongs to his master. In the case of Ishmael, the Torah had made sure by saying כי ביצחק יקרא לך זרע “for your (Avraham’s) seed will be perpetuated through Yitzchok, that we would understand that Ishmael was not Avraham’s heir. (21,12)

נפתלי אלוהים נפתלתי, the word נפתולי is a variant of the word פתיל as in צמיד פתיל, a tightly fitted lid (Numbers 19,15) Rachel meant that her cleaving to her husband was an attachment containing spiritual, religious dimensions, making the bond between them immeasurably stronger.

עם אחותי, I did this jointly with my sister, both of us having liberated our respective handmaids in order to enable them to become mothers of the founding fathers of the Jewish people. This is what they meant when considering the sons of these former handmaids as בנים instead of as עבדים. Accordingly, Leah had already liberated her handmaid Zilpah before Bilhah had given birth to Naftali. How else could 8 of the 12 tribes have been born within 7 years of Yaakov’s getting married? 6 of these sons were Leah’s and 2 were Zilpah’s. Assuming each pregnancy lasted 9 months, and further assuming that none of these pregnancies occurred simultaneously, 8 times 9 months amounts to 72 months, i.e. 6 years. Unless Leah had given her handmaid to Yaakov before Naftali was born there would not have been enough time for Joseph to have been born at the end of the second 7 years of Yaakov’s service. At that time, after Joseph’s birth, Yaakov requested permission to go home to his parents.(3,26). The only alternative to our calculation would be that all the children were born after only 7 months pregnancy, and that none of the mothers observed even basic days of ritual impurity before again sleeping with their husbands.

גם יכולתי, I have achieved what I had planned by giving my maidservant to Yaakov.

בא גד, this one came coincidentally, for I had not planned to bring him into the world, seeing that I had stopped giving birth. The reason why the word is spelled as a single word with the letter א missing, is to indicate that the conception and pregnancy was not planned but occurred gratuitously. Her pregnancy had somehow become terminated after it had begun. We find a similar construction of the word בגד in Job 6,15: אחי בגדו כמו נחל, “my comrades are fickle like a wadi.”

באשרי, this son is part of my bliss, my happiness, because he is also a son for me.

וילך ראובן, when he saw that his mother was unhappy that she was no longer having children,

וימצא דודאים, a pleasant smelling herb, the fragrance stimulating the human organs related to conceiving and giving birth. Our sages (Baba Kamma 82) said garlic has a similar effect on people and that this is the reason why one eats garlic on Friday nights when the husbands cohabit with their wives. The Dudaim appear to have been known as producing a similar effect. It is possible that the Dudaim had an even better effect in stimulating the feelings of love between a man and his wife. This idea is based on Song of Songs 7,13-14 שם אתן את דודי לך, הדודאים נתנו ריח, “there I will give my love to you, the mandrakes yield their fragrance.” Our verse would testify both to Reuven’s righteousness and his intelligence. especially considering that at that time he could hardly have been older than 4 or five years old.

Isn’t it enough that you took. You should not have agreed to become my co-wife in the first place, since the Torah disapproves of marrying sisters.

Would you also take. Do you now wish to increase Yaakov’s love for you and his hatred for me?

לכן ישכב עמך הלילה. In order that the effect of your sleeping with him will become effective before I can use the effect of the mandrakes. You will therefore not suffer any damage if you give me some of the mandrakes now. This is all the more so if, as our sages contend, these mandrakes were ownerless and had never belonged to anyone specifically. (Bereshit Rabbah,72,2)

You will come to me. This will entail no injustice since Rochel agreed. Like Adam before the sin, the Patriarchs and Matriarchs related to reproduction as nothing other than a way to produce more servants for Hashem.

וישכב עמה בלילה הוא, willingly, not reluctantly. He appreciated her urgent desire to have more children fathered by him.

וישמע אלוקים אל לאה, because she had used both natural means, and then, failing to succeed, relied on prayer. She herself is on record as confirming this when she said נתן אלוקים שכרי אשר נתתי שפחתי לאישי, “G’d has given me my reward for having offered my handmaid to my husband. Giving Zilpah to Yaakov was considered by her as a way of relying on natural means of having more children, seeing she had come to the conclusion that she could not have any more from her own womb.

Elokim has given. Hashem gave her Yissachar in reward for her first effort in giving Yaakov her maidservant and He gave her Zevulun in reward for her second effort in trading the jasmine flowers for an additional night with him.

A goodly portion. She was deserving of reward because her only intention was to increase Hashem’s honor.

Elokim remembered Rochel. He remembered the efforts she made to produce offspring for Yaakov by giving him her maidservant and acquiring the jasmine flowers.

And Elokim perceived (literally, “heard”). After she made the two efforts mentioned above, she then prayed to Him and He heard her prayers.

את חרפתי, that G’d had consistently accepted my sister’s prayers while seemingly ignoring mine.

יוסף ה' לי בן אחר. On account of having given my handmaid to my husband a second time. G’d has granted my sister also another son on account of that.

שלחני ואלכה, even though Yaakov did not own any livestock at that time, seeing he had crossed the Yabbok with only his walking staff, he did have enough provisions and cash for himself and his extensive family. Had he not possessed these, it would have been irresponsible in the highest degree to undertake this kind of a journey relying on G’d’s miracles to sustain him. Furthermore, it is inconceivable that Lavan a wealthy and respected individual in his town, would consent to let Yaakov take his wives and children, Lavan’s own family, on a journey in which they would face death from starvation. Lavan’s objection to Yaakov’s departing at this time was based on self-interest. He pleaded with him, seeing he knew that his wealth had been due to Yaakov’s presence and he did not want to lose the source of his financial success.

אם נא מצאתי חן בעיניך, if you love me at all, as would be appropriate for people of the same flesh and blood. It is not proper for you to abandon me at this stage. Why would he term Yaakov’s leaving for his own home as abandoning Lavan? נחשתי, I am absolutely convinced that my good fortune during the last 14 years commenced with your arrival at my doorstep. As the Talmud Berachot 42 puts it:תכף לתלמיד חכם ברכה, attaching oneself to a Torah scholar and playing host to him results in the host receiving Divine blessings. [the Talmud quotes our verse as its source. Ed.]

Ad-noy has blessed you with my coming. Lavan attributed his prosperity to Yaakov’s fortune whereas Yaakov insisted it was due to his effort. But one way or another, it was true that Hashem had blessed Lavan with his coming.

אתה ידעת את אשר עבדתיך, do not attribute your sudden wealth to the power of your teraphim, i.e. to influences connected with your horoscope, but attribute it to the faithful manner in which I tended your flocks, and to my expertise as well as my dedication in maximising the potential connected with the craft of being an expert shepherd.

ואת אשר היה מקנך אתי, the herds had contained defective animals, maimed ones, etc.; I cured those using my expert knowledge in raising sheep, and cattle.

ויברך ה' אותך לרגלי, still, when you said that the Lord blessed you during my presence here, this is true beyond a doubt;

When will I also do. When will I have the opportunity to bring blessing to my own house the way you have brought it to yours through my presence

מתי אעשה גם אנכי when will it be my turn to do something blessed by the Lord for my own household? The kind of wages paid to shepherds are not adequate to enable me to accumulate some wealth for my family as you have succeeded in doing for your family.

?מה אתן לך, so that you will achieve what you hope to achieve?

לא תתן לי מאומה, if the Lord will see fit to bless me, He will certainly not deny you what you are entitled to. Our sages have a rule that a person cannot negatively influence what his fellow human is entitled to. (Yuma 38)

הסר משם כל שה, the young ones, not the adult ones; so that some of them would give birth to young ones with the same skin patterns as the younger ones and will be part of my share.

My righteousness … when it comes before you. Or, “When my righteousness shall go to show my wage, it will testify before you” — i.e., Hashem will reveal what Yaakov deserves for his faithful service by altering the coloration of the lambs.

לו יהי כדברך, so that you will be satisfied with the results of your own proposal. [Lavan assumed that Yaakov had shot himself in the leg with his proposal. Ed.]

ויסר ביום ההוא את התישים, after Lavan had agreed to Yaakov’s proposal he removed not only the females with such skin patterns as Yaakov had mentioned, etc., but also the males both young an mature ones. [His objective was to make it almost impossible for Yaakov to prosper by relying on genetic factors. Ed.]

לנכח הצאן, he positioned the staves before the line of vision of the sheep in order to make them look when this work was performed, and this experience would be anchored in their imagination at the time they conceived and were pregnant. Visual impressions formed during such periods are of lasting value and usually produce some effect in the young animals born as a result of that pregnancy.

אל עקוד וכל חום בצאן לבן, this was after Lavan had already reneged and changed the rules of the contract by allocating to Yaakov newly born lambs with different skin patterns than had been agreed to originally.

ובהעטיף הצאן לא ישים, in order that Lavan should not think that the results which so clearly favoured Yaakov could have been achieved only through deceitful activities on his part.

ויפרץ האיש, he surpassed all the boundaries of what is considered possible in amassing a tremendous fortune in a short time all through shepherding flocks of sheep and goats.